Ryan Gauthier

The Excavating Arm

My final year at CSUF revolved largely around this auspicious piece of equipment. From initial idea formation to design to manufacturing to some physical testing, I was able to build a functional chassis-mounted three degrees of freedom robotic arm.

This project largely involved first-order modelling, heavy CAD drafting, time in the machine shop, hardware and actuator selection, participation in design reviews, and several write-ups.

Wifi-Enabled Button Presser

The second semester of the 2018-2019 school year saw me undertake a redesign/refabrication of a subsystem that had been lost with the graduation of the particular alumni responsible. Starting from only the model, I had to reselect parts and redesign the whole thing, taking the opportunity to move from the UART-based communication previously used to a Wifi-based one on the advice of a senior member.

This was my first exposure to the use of the ESP32, solenoids, linear regulators, relays, transistors, and 18650s.

Master Budget Script

During the first semester of the 2018-2019 school year, I took it upon myself to add additional functionality to our budget process, which was already run through Google Sheets.

Considering I had 0 javascript experience when I started, I think I did pretty well, though the script went heavily underutilized. I tested the script recently and it's still working, and I'd be more than happy to show it off if asked.

Rotating Antenna Mast

The 2017-2018 school year was my first year in Rover. I was charged with getting the antenna mast to rotate when supplied an angle externally through counting steps and a potentiometer.

This was my first exposure to the Arduino IDE, stepper motors, drivers, and potentiometers.

Raspberry Pi Server

I've got two of these things lying around, and the eventual goal is going to be hosting this website on them and integrating some additional sensors through their GPIO pins so I can either make an internet-enabled baking robot (it accepts cookies and then makes them) or some general interface/ hub for my future projects

Stair Climbing Robot

Movings sucks. Carrying heavy things over stairs is one of the worst parts. It'd be sick if a mobile robot and some fancy bar codes could identify a box, move it around, and store it in the transport vehicle with little oversight, wouldn't it?