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About Me
About Me
My name is Sarah Alizadeh and I am currently a senior at Boston University studying Mechanical Engineering. I have extensive experience in robotics, CAD, circuits, coding, and design.
My Projects
My Projects
Stop Motion Robot
Stop Motion Robot
This stop motion camera robot focuses on objects in it's frame. The robot is connected with a raspberry pi, distance sensors, and a camera. If the camera senses motion, it returns a video display of the objects in front of it. The robot will proceed to stop moving, if the object in motion is within a specified radius. The inspiration of this project comes from how car's react when they encounter solid boundaries in front of them.
Birthday Cake
Birthday Cake
I competed in the Lutron Lighting Innovation Competition at Boston University along with three of my peers. The prompt was to create an activating mechanical design piece that centers around lighting. We created a birthday cake that played happy birthday with a matching light show. The top of the cake spun as the lights flickered. The base was 3D printed with a circuit and Arduino inside to control the motor and lights.
Our team won best Upperclassmen team!
FigureForge
FigureForge
After graduation college, noticed that some students were having trouble creating graphs for their classes, lab reports, or presentations. Existing tools were either too complicated, required coding, or cost money. FigureForge is a website that transforms CSV and Excel datasets into clean, customizable figures in just a few clicks. Users can generate plots, customize nearly every aspect, and export without writing code. This website is still being iterated and continuously improving with user feedback and experience.
Motor speed control
Motor speed control
This project involves car moves down a 10 foot path with a 1 foot bar on the front without it falling over. This is the car I built to compete in the competition and move 5 to 10 feet and return without the 1 foot bar on top falling over. The wheels, motor holder, and wheel stoppers were all 3D printed. I also used an ardiuno and power amplifier to control the motor with 12 volts.
Electrified Water Interruption Device (EWID)
Electrified Water Interruption Device (EWID)
The EWID is a safety device that monitors a water basin for stray electrical hazards and shuts off power to other systems via a solid state relay. The circuit acts in series with the main power source and does not interrupt the voltage or current draw when functioning nominally. When a hazard is detected through the probe, the device shuts off power and requires a manual reset to allow power flow. Component testing of the device produced successful operation of each subassembly including accurate sensing ability, output signal, and power interruption. Utilizing analog circuit theory, the EWID’s failsafe operation properly maintains low voltage levels in the water and mitigates electrical hazards in various environmental conditions. The device’s waterproofing functionality was tested against IP standards to rate the device, and an operation manual with recommendations will be provided to the client.
Engtopia - The Automatic Board game
Engtopia - The Automatic Board game
I created an engineering game board called Engtopia that allows a player to move through the courses needed to graduate as a mechanical engineering student at Boston University. Each player takes turns flipping a card from the pile which will either allow the player to move forwards or backwards, depending on the engineering specific explanation. I used two stepper motors to control the movement in the x and y direction and 3D printed a part that allows the belt to slide on one side and be fixed on the other with screws. There is also a mini stepper motor that controls the movement in the Z direction where the magnet can pick up or release the game piece.
Research
Research
When I first joined the Soft Robotics Control Lab at Boston University, I created the first pneumatic limb based off the current iteration that used Shape Memory Alloy to actuate. The goal was to create a pneumatic limb that could inflate and deflate without human interaction. The pressure is monitored and the limb fully deflates when it reaches a set pressure threshold. I assembled and evaluated the prototype by integrating it into circuits controlled by Arduino micro-controllers, pumps, and solenoids. This system is necessary to monitor the air pressure in our pneumatic robots, so they do not puncture.
This project involves a pneumatic gripper I created to simulate forces on numerous objects. The series of images shows the limbs being actuated, the box being lifted, and limb deflation to drop the box. Using python and camera vision, the pressure was measured along side the position of the box. We completed various tests to establish a safety boundary that was validated by mathmatical expressions.
Before entering my Masters, I joined the Mechanics of Slender Structures Lab at Boston University and worked in parallel with Professor Dunlop and Professor Larkin from the Biomedical Engineering department, where I have been working on computational models of bacterial growth, colony formation, and gene transfer. A major focus of my work was developing and refining simulations of bacterial colonies using LAMMPS, Python, and Blender to render the images. I modeled individual bacteria as mechanical structures capable of growing, dividing, interacting, and reorganizing as the colony developed. I also worked on simulations of gene transfer in E. coli (seen below), investigating how factors such as cell proximity, transfer probability, and the number of donor cells influence the spread of genetic material through a growing colony.
Further Links
Further Links
The following links below include my profile shown in the Soft Robotics Control Lab, profile on Han tutoring and Test Prep, Influential Woman Feature, and my feature in the Boston University Brink Website.
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