Robert Hamisch
- What skills do you have that may be relevant to developing the Global Village Construction Set (GVCS)?
I posess a Bachelors degree in mechanical engineering and therefore have knowledge of product developement, building models in CAD or even FE-models for analysis, as well as mechanics, dynamics and so on. Apart from the skills needed to acquire such degree i am very creative, solution-oriented and motivated.
In conclusion, my relevant skill is being able to design machines needed for the GVCS and produce technical documentation to international standards.
- Which of the projects interest you? What constraints and flexibility do you have in terms of the project you select?
From the 'Subject matter experts' wiki-page i would be interested e.g. in the car and truck design or the 6 axis robotic arm. But as i wrote before as you have more insight into the matter i am flexible to design whatever is most needed, given a time of 6 month is enough (time i have for my master thesis). Also i would have to coordinate my project with a professor to make it a master thesis.
- Please provide work samples or resume that demonstrates your skills.
My first go at product developement was a course in University roughly translated 'Introduction to Mechanical Engineering' where the goal was to design a cargo-blimp with given restrictions. The concepts where then judged by professors and representatives of german mechanical engineering companies. My team scored 3rd out of 42 teams.
For my Bachelor Thesis i designed a virtual prototype of a driving simulator motion base in MSC ADAMS and controled it using MATLAB/Simulink. I recieved the highest possible grade on my thesis (1,0).
Last year i took part in a mechanical engineering contest for master students called Stahl fliegt translated to Steel can fly where the aim was to build a modelairplane using only steel and rubber bands. The team of 3 i was a part of won one of the 3 available awards, namely for innovation. More than 20 teams from all mayor german engineering universities participated in the contest.
- How much time do you have available to GVCS development, and over what time period? Please propose a general timeline of the milestones you are intending to reach. This will determine the scope and size of your project.
The duration of my thesis is planned for 5-6 consecutive months. In this time i would like to come as far as possible in developing one of the 50 GVCS machines, preferably having finished design and technical documentation.
- What other activities will you be engaged over that time period? This helps us to assess how much time you can realistically contribute to the effort.
As my GVCS project would also be my master thesis it would be my main focus and as i want to recieve a good grade i will put as much time and energy in to the project as possible.
- What do you intend to contribute to the GVCS? How is that consistent with your own interests?
I believe the idea behind GVCS makes sense and i believe that my engineering work can help in reaching its goal of open-sourcing machinery. Combining my thesis with your project i have the ability to actually do good for some people in need and, as cheesy as it sounds, maybe improve the world a tiny bit. The motivation with which i would tackle my design is helping me on the other hand to score a good grade --> good job --> good life. It seems like it could be a win-win situation.
- What motivates you?
Being able to form an idea from a blank piece of paper to a product i hold in my hands is why i chose mechanical engineering as my career. Seeing my developed product for real makes me proud. Being able to contribute to a good cause and maybe someday seeing my product be in use to help someone is the biggest motivation i can imagine.
- Are you willing to put all of your results under a CC-BY-SA label or similar open license?
Yes !
- When can you start on the development?
First possible date would be the 15.4.2014, given that everything is cleared up with my university.