my other projects… 

Robotics

March 2020

This was a ROS based project using the 7 DOF robotic arm PANDA. The project gave my team and I free choice to select an application for the robot. We decided to code it to play a xylophone! The project involved ROS based programming on a Linux machine, performing virtual simulations in Gazebo. The PANDA would “listen” to the notes played by a user using an algorithm I designed implementing a FFT in python. The robot arm would then play this sequence of notes back to the user.

Speculative Design

March 2020

This was a solo module that encouraged a little know form of design called speculative design. This involves exploring current events and their consequences through designing within imagined futures. The context I chose centred around the 2019 mass protests across the world. I developed a solution to harness the potential for collective protest seen in Hong Kong by digitally connecting protesters. This solution sought to produce a low cost alternative for protesters whilst allowing them to retain digital anonymity.

IoT Work Rate Tracker

January 2021

This was a project looking to help me with the troubles of working from home during lockdown. Finding it difficult to take regular breaks and know how effectively I was working I developed a set of sensors to record my work rate, detect distractions and then display this on a publicly available dashboard and immediately in my room through a set of LEDs. The work rate detection was done through a Python program on my laptop monitoring keystrokes and mouse movement. This was coupled with a PiCam running a TensorFlow Lite model to detect: a) whether I was sat at my desk, and b) whether I was in a focused or distracted state. This information was then uploaded to Firebase through a Node.js server, where real time and historic data could be viewed on a dashboard. This produced some really useful insights, such as my most (and importantly least) productive hours of the day!