I'm Akash Ramaswamy and here are some engineering projects I've worked on.

Please enjoy!

Robotic Spherical Parallel Manipulator

What?

  • Final Year Project with Monash Nova Rover (MNR).

  • Purpose: To improve upon previous 3-DoF robotic wrist joint, focusing on weight and budget.

How?

  • Inspired from Agile Eye & Wrist research papers by Gosselin and Angeles.

  • Project involved extensive use of CAD, FEA, 3D printing, machining and gear cutting.

Result

  • Reduced weight by 33% and cost by more than 50% compared to previous robotic wrist design.

  • Learned and improved many skills during the process.


Automated Plugboard Tester (Ongoing)

What?

  • Railway relay plugboards (shown above) have indexed holes to ensure the correct relay can be plugged in.

  • Created a plugboard tester, to verify correct drilling of the indexed holes.

How?

  • Used Siemens PLCs and HMIs.

  • Fixture included switch testing probes, a barcode scanner and 3D printing.

  • Programmed with ladder and SCL.

Result

  • The speed and reliability of testing was significantly increased.

  • Modular so it can be easily upgraded.

Gear Cutting and Machining

What?

  • For a Spherical Parallel Manipulator robot I was designing, torque needed to be transferred at an angle of 54.74°.

  • Many solutions were investigated, involving universal joints, Rzeppa joints and flexible shafts, until I settled on bevel gears.

How?

  • As 54.74° was not a standard bevel gear size, custom gears needed to be machined.

  • I had no experience with gear cutting and so I needed to learn from scratch.

Result

  • Through YouTube tutorials and tinkering, I successfully learnt how to cut my own gears

  • I learnt a lot about good mechanical design and machining practices.

Monash Nova Rover Robot Arm Team Leader

What?

  • In 2020, I was elected as the Robotic Arm Team Lead at Monash Nova Rover, an engineering student team specialising in the development of analogous Mars rovers.

  • This involved leading a subteam of 10 student engineers in the design and construction of a 6-DoF robotic arm, capable of lifting loads of up to 5kg, and performing dextrous tasks such as inserting USB drives and typing on keyboards.

  • This video (right) gives a short summary of the achievements of the year.

Robotic End-effector

What?

  • In 2019, my first project on Monash Nova Rover was to design and manufacture an end-effector for the team's robotic arm.

How?

  • The end-effector uses left hand and right hand leadscrews actuated by a double shafted worm gear drive to move the jaws in opposite directions, providing a simple way to provide a powerful grip.

  • The build utilizes welded aluminium sheet to provide a strong, lightweight and aesthetic design.

Result

  • The resulting end-effector has been used for 3 years and has performed reliably at international competitions like URC, with little maintenance.

Get in touch at akash.ramaswamy@gmail.com