Welcome
You have reached the small part of the Internet that I use to document my work, achievements and experiments. This is a part blog, part website, part portfolio that I am building upon as I do new stuff. I am also revisiting past work and adding detail retrospectively whenever I get around to it.
On this site, you will find articles about competitions that I’ve entered, devices that I’ve designed, and code that I’ve written. If you see something on here that isn’t as in-depth as you’d like, chances are if you follow me (links at the bottom) I will provide more insight sooner or later. Also, if you have any questions or suggestions about anything I’ve written, please leave a comment on that page.
My story
I am currently undertaking a graduate training programme organised by TTE Systems Ltd, which involves a 2-year work placement at an electric commercial vehicle company in North East England, along with a part time MSc in Reliable Embedded Systems at Leicester University, due to complete in December 2013. My ambitions are to make an impact in the research and development of intelligent systems, vehicles and devices.
I studied for my first degree at Middlesex University, graduating in July 2011 with a BSc (1st Class Honours) in Engineering Product Design. Prior to starting this course, I gained over 5 years’ experience working as a CAD Technician for various structural engineering consultancies.
Whilst at Middlesex, I became increasingly interested in intelligence of machines, and their awareness of their surroundings, as well as the ways in which people interact with products and machinery. An early project was an entry for the BraunPrize 2009 International design competition. This was a prototype for an intelligent “ecologically sensitive” kettle, which monitors the behaviour of its users and spots patterns in routine in order to try to encourage more economical use.
I also completed a year-long placement at Middlesex University’s Autonomous Systems Lab (ASL). My most notable achievement from this placement would be my work on an autonomous bartender robot. This became a study, not only of the intelligence capabilities possible on a very limited budget, but also of public reaction to robotics and their expectations of machines.
The work for my degree culminated with ConstructAR, which is an on-site communication tool for the construction industry. This was an investigation into how machine intelligence such as self-localisation and orientation sensing can be used to provide a passive, instructional aid to the tasks carried out on-site, without endangering the current methods to which construction workers have become accustomed.
Outside of my studies, I have a great passion for classic Volkswagens. I am currently restoring and modifying a 1971 beetle with plans to install a megasquirt-based electronic fuel injection system to the classic air-cooled VW ‘flat four’ engine.
