MECH IT WORK
Normally done at the beginning of a new semester (but open anytime), we meet up and brainstorm new ideas. The process of brainstorming is casual and laid back. Someone gets up from the crowd, does an elevator pitch, others chime in--spinning up, twisting, improving the idea, encouraging others to express interest and that's how our teams are formed! This active practice on forming ideas and a community is what we look forward to every semester!
When a new team is formed, it is this part of the journey where the freedom is in the hands of the group! Before funding a new project, we encourage a new team to research, document, and budget their unique idea. After coming to an agreement, we then motivate each group to find their fit: collaboration time, coding resources, etc. It is the team that brings a project to life, it is a team’s various skills and personalities that bring out the best and most challenging in us. And ultimately--big or small, favorites or underdogs--it is all our teams within MECH that keep an organization like us alive.
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Leading a project as a freshman can be daunting, being a Chemical Engineering major who wants to code seems challenging, thinking of a new fresh idea can be frustrating. We understand that not everyone enters our meetings with all their desired skills. That is why we exist right?
PASt Projects
Iron Man
Trystan Frease
A 4 year project focused on recreating the
Iron Man suit. The exoskeleton was presented at Expo 2020, it is able to lift a staggering 100 lb.
Scott de Silva
Mouth-Activated Marshmallow Launcher, is an autonomous launcher based on facial detection and motion. It is controlled through a Raspberry Pi, utilizing air compression and servos. It was presented at Expo 2017.
MAML
Eve
Maria Fontiveros
An interactive, fully 3D printed, neodymium earth magnet floating version of the robot Eve. Sensor activated commands also included. Presented at Expo 2017.
robotic arm
Haider Ali Khan
Creating a robotic arm that is linked to a
wearable that perfectly mimics the
movements of a hand. This is designed to
be able to pick up objects, and other mechanical movements.
Spider Bot
Tracy Pham
A unidirectional 8 legged bot that is controlled by servos and stepper motors based on feedback from an array of ultrasonic sensors powered through an Arduino.
BAYMAX
Isabela Guerra De Carvalho
A smaller version of Baymax with a 3D printed skeleton and speech recognition software designed to
perform a personalized health analysis of resting and active heart rates at the USF Engineering Expo