About Me
I'm Megan Lau from San Jose, California.
Motivated by high school FIRST robotics experiences, I chose to study mechanical engineering at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana.
I spent my time in school doing race car chassis design and manufacturing in FSAE Electric. On top of gaining practical engineering experience at Delphi Technologies (Kokomo, IN) and through curriculum in other countries, I have worked as a research assistant at DeBoer Lab to understand how to better support under-resourced students through engineering education.
During my spare
time, I enjoy capturing moments with my DSLR camera, and playing with Adobe Photoshop
and Illustrator. In college, I also loved challenging myself at hackathons
with not just sleep deprivation, but also coding to make physical creations come to life!
Projects
Paraplegic Drive Assist (Spring 2017)
Overview
Task // In a sophomore mechanical engineering design course (ME 263), our class was tasked to design any assistive device. Other tasks include conducting market research, searching for relevant patents, 3D modeling, doing a Design for Assembly (DFA) analysis, and prototyping.
Our Audience // My team decided to address the need for hand-operated vehicles used by those whom experience difficulties with leg movements and paraplegics, or individuals paralyzed from the waist down. Due to limited leg movement, these people cannot operate a standard commercial vehicle and must use a device that can control both foot pedals while steering the wheel.
Project Goals // Aiming to design a fully mechanical system that avoids issues with existing products while keeping human-centered design considerations in mind, we wanted to ensure the final product is ergonomic / comfortable, safe to use, not obstructive to any driver, and inexpensive. At the end of the semester, our team (Team DREAM) will have eventually created “DREAM Driving” so people who cannot operate the foot pedals in a car may drive whenever and wherever they want.
How It Works
This driver assistive device has intuitive hand controls, such that the user need only push the entire handle to control the brake pedal and pull on the lever to accelerate. While the user steers with one hand, the other is placed on the hand controls, which consists of a typical bicycle grip and bike brake lever secured to one end of an L-shaped tube. This tube is attached to a single-plane pivot that is mounted on the vehicle’s dashboard. Starting from within the L-shaped tube, two bowden cables run along the kick panel and run behind the car pedals with 3D-printed attachments. When force is applied to the hand controls, the cables pull on their respective pedals back towards the front of the vehicle.
Background Research
The Market // Existing products / benchmarks on the U.S. market were found to be... (1) ineffective, (2) fragile, (3) difficult to install, and (4) intrusive to non-handicapped drivers (device would cover the steering wheel and/or foot pedals). Products like electronic hand control systems function very well, but are not affordable solutions (e.g Kempf, Guidosimplex). We combined these with findings from interviews with members of our target audience to create House of Quality, detailing consumer and engineering requirements. See our project poster below!
CATIA V5 Surface Modeling
Audi R8
As a first surface modeling project, I decided to challenge myself with CADing
the body of a car. I focused on learning to make surfaces with freestyle curves
based on existing drawings.
After finding the blueprints of the Audi R8, I
used the Sketch Tracer workbench to import, position, and scale the four views
(front, back, top, side) to a common axis. Afterwards I used the 3D curve tool inside the
Freestyle workbench to draw individual paths for half of the car, then adjusted
the cartesian coordinates and imposed tangency for each point. Finally, I moved on to
filling the paths in Generative Shape Design, and finally mirroring the surfaces
to create the entire vehicle.
Canon T2i Digital Camera
Unlike the Audi R8, I used this exercise to further develop surface modeling
skills while practicing 3D modeling real-life objects without blueprints or drawings.
Measuring my own camera with calipers, I translated dimensions of five different
parts of the camera into a surface model. Inside generative shape design, I first
modeled the lens by creating cylinders and using the circular pattern to rotate
small square ridges that represent the rubber grip used to adjust focal length of
the lens. Next, I used curves in both the frontal and profile planes to create both
the sun shield and lens cover. With both generative shape design and freestyle workbenches,
I drew paths and moved individual points to create a rough model of the camera body. T
he last component is the knob used to switch between different camera modes (e.g.
portait, automatic). Similar to the grip on the lens, I rotated small ridges on a conical
frustrum to complete the CAD exercise.
Autonomous Suitcase
My friends and I decided we wanted our carry-on luggages to follow us around the airport so we could have a hands-free journey sometime in the near future. We thought of problems like how to support the luggage, move the entire apparatus, and have the frame follow its user.
With an Xbox Kinect and prior experience with brushless skateboard motors, we split tasks amongst each other. As two people CAD-ed and laser cut the luggage frame using MDF boards, I worked with another friend to write the necessary program in Python which would allow the system to move. We utilized ROS python packages to control the skateboard wheels and speed controllers. Then, integrated Kinect's existing motion tracking code such that the wheels would move forward and turn in the same direction as the person being tracked by the Kinect. Thus, code + MDF luggage frame = Autonomous Suitcase!
Topics I Enjoy
- Autonomous Vehicles
- Adaptive controls
- Turbulent fluid flow
- Turbocharged engines
College Coursework
Spring 2019
- Autonomous Systems & Controls — applied control theory in simple pendlum systems and complex miniature robots
- Senior Design — worked with team to create test fixture that simulates real life road conditions
- Python — learned Python language syntax, libraries, and structure
Fall 2018
- Computational Fluid Dynamics — modeling of flow behaviors about rigid bodies using ANSYS and Matlab (aerospace course)
- Finite Element Analysis — modeling of stress, strain, deformation, buckling, (and more) of rigid bodies
- Measurement & Controls — using LabView and NI myRIO-1900 to characterize and design electromechanical systems
- Machine Design 1 — kinematic and dynamic force analysis on physical systems; use knowledge to design purely mechanical mechanisms
- Manufacuring Processes — manufacturing materials, plant processes, and newer technologies (e.g. robotics in manufacturing, additive manufacturing)
Spring 2018
Engineering Term Abroad: Shanghai, China — Shanghai Jiao Tong University
- Intercultural Teamwork — use Hofstede's cultural dimensions (e.g. power distance, long-term orientation, individualism/collectivism) to analyze personal observations on Chinese culture
- Chinese Culture — insight on Chinese people, customs, and way of life
- Heat & Mass Transfer — model heat and mass transfer processes (conduction, forced/natural/combined convection, radiation); identify transport processes in various applications; conduct experiments to solve open-ended heat/mass problems
- Thermodynamics II — analysis of transient energy, exergy, compressible flow, and property relations; applications of thermodynamics to materials like gas mixtures
Summer 2017
Study Abroad: Testing Compact Power Systems — Polytechnic University of Valenica, Polytechnic University of Cartegena (Spain)
- Two weeks in Valencia... Daily lectures/labs regarding optical and intrusive techniques (e.g. lasers for Schlieren imaging, PIV, hot wire anemometry) for evaluating IC engines; Learned to processing digital data by creating calibration curves, synchronizing signals, remove noise from signals and more
- Three Days in Cartagena... Site visits to power plant, Spanish Air Force, diesel engine manufacturer
- Two Days in Madrid... Fun!
Other Courses:
Linear Circuit Analysis; Intro to Mechanical Engineering Design; Dynamics; Statics; Thermodynamics I; Partial Differential Equations
Contact
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