For my senior capstone project, I, along with a team of mechanical engineers, decided to tackle a major global issue: sustainability. We narrowed our focus to recycling, specifically 'tanglers' in recycling. Tanglers are long, flexible materials that disrupt machinery in the recycling process, such as plastic bags, hoses, and cords. They can cause up to an hour of downtime per 8-hour shift, significantly disrupting the efficiency of the recycling process. Currently, there are no solutions other than notifying people that the items are not recyclable or remedial solutions to remove the tanglers. Our team decided to tackle this issue from a mechanical perspective, ensuring that even if people tried to recycle tanglers, they would not cause significant downtime. My primary role on this team was as the Electronics Lead, dealing with all electronics in our device. Additionally, I served as Manufacturing and Analysis Support, where I helped manufacture parts for our product and conducted analysis to ensure our device would work as expected.

You may notice this section is a little less detailed than the other project descriptions. This is because we are currently in the process of trying to patent this design, and I do not want to give too many details before we receive the patent. I would love to showcase this project more in the future, so come back soon and hopefully I will be able to!

3rd Place - Malott Innovation Awards (Flagship Award for Purdue ME Senior Design)

1st Place - PESC Industry Impact Award