engineering portfolio
rayzer - the remote-controlled robot swimming manta ray toy

Design Nature Project at Olin College Timeframe: Fall 2007 Location: Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering, Needham, MA (USA) Key competencies: Computer Aided Design, laser cutting, waterproofing, user-oriented design

Rayzer is a remote-controlled robot swimming manta ray toy built as the culminating project for the Design Nature class at Olin College. The Design Nature class represented my second formal exposure to design and the design process, after gaining initial interest in the subject from my International Baccalaureate Design Technology class in high school. The objective of our final project was to take inspiration from nature and, specifically, from water animals to build a toy for fourth grade children. Ours was one of the only team that did extensive research on our user group, leading to the insight that many children in the age group we were targeting, were interested in action figures. We, therefore, decided to contextualize our robot by designing it as a ship for the fictional superhero character “Manta Man”.

In addition to gaining an initial taste of user-oriented design, this project represented a significant learning experience in relation to the technologies and techniques used to build the final product. It fully encapsulated the idea of hands-on learning, an aspect that Olin College strives to integrate in many different parts of its curriculum. I got a chance to develop my computer aided design (CAD) skills through designing Rayzer’s body frame and the fins together with other members of our team. In addition, we were able to test out a number of different manufacturing techniques, including the laser cutter, to machine the Delrin parts for our final assembly. I also worked on designing a waterproofing system for our servo, which was achieved by dismantling it and protecting inner components and the outer body using silicone caulk. Finally, I also worked on Rayzer’s buoyancy system which was implemented using blue foam pieces designed to fit perfectly into the inner empty spaces of the robot.

The final product was presented to a group of fourth grade children at the end of the school semester. Each child was given an evaluation sheet and we had to our best to present and demonstrate our toy to this group of very honest and insightful evaluators! As with most of my projects, we invested a lot of time into marketing our toy and the accompanying Manta Man action figure, which was very appealing to the children, who gave us very positive overall feedback.

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