Ahmed Alazzawi

Robotics Engineer

01

About me

I am a self-motivated recent graduate from the University of California, Santa Cruz with a bachelor's degree in Robotics Engineering. Throughout my time at UCSC, I was involved in many academic and extracurricular engineering projects that are fully detailed below. I was able to gain and strengthen many of my engineering and personal skills through these projects. I am passionate about rocketry, aviation, as well as autonomous robots and vehicles of all types.

My multidisciplinary experience includes embedded software engineering, electrical engineering, systems engineering, and flight controls software. I am currently seeking opportunities to use and strengthen my engineering and problem-solving skills.

02

Experience

March 2022 - June 2022

UCSC Mechatronics Lab Teaching Assistant

Lab Tutor
- Answered student's lab questions with emphasis on conceptual learning.
- Debugged student projects using oscilloscopes, signal generators, and more.
- Verified student project designs and state machine logic at a systems level.
- Taught students methods of debugging software and circuits as well as how to use lab equipment such as oscilloscopes and signal generators.
December 2021 - June 2022

Autonomous Water Sampling Airship

Embedded Software & Systems Engineer

UCSC Robotics Engineering Capstone Project Read about this project here.
- Used Agile methodologies to plan sprints goals and tasks to remain on track, develop, implement, and test project components, as well as provide deliverables in a timely manner.
- Built autopilot software for a custom UAV with 2 vectored thrust mechanisms and an inverted ruddervator (A-tail) using C++ and ArduPilot software.
- Collaborated with a team of engineers to design the embedded systems for a water sampling payload to be deployed at 10ft above water surface and submerged under water to collect important data.
September 2021 - December 2021

UCSC Mechatronics Course

Mechatronics Engineer / Student

Five Week Final Project Read about this project here.
- Programmed a hierarchical state machine for a fully autonomous, event-driven, four-wheeled robot in C using a preexisting Events and Services Framework on a PIC32 microcontroller.
- Designed multiple software libraries in C to drive an autonomous robot into successfully completing multiple tasks.
- Integrated multiple analog and digital sensors into an event-driven framework.
Course Projects Read the course description here.
- Designed and prototyped analog filtered signal detection sensors capable of detecting signals from 10ft away. Read about this project here.
- Programmed motor interface for Servo, Stepper, and DC Motors.
- Programmed event-driven finite and hierarchical state machines for an autonomous maze solving robot. Read about a similar project here.
- Designed and laser cut a prototype of a 10x10x10in two-wheeled vehicle using SOLIDWORKS.
- Used Oscilloscopes, Power Supplies, Signal Generators, and Digital Multimeters to design and debug projects.
May 2021 - June 2022

UCSC Rocket Team

Payload Subteam Lead & Embedded Systems Engineer

2022 NASA Student Launch Initiative Competition
- Led the largest technical subteam and took responsibility for project planning and delegating tasks.
- Led discussions with NASA engineers during 3 key design review presentations.
- Set a team record for the highest scored design on NASA reviewed documents of 6/7 - "Superior Quality for Payload Design". Read about this project here.
September 2019 - June 2022

UCSC Rocket Team

Payload Embedded Software & Electrical Engineer

Worked as part of a multi-functional engineering team to design and build robotic systems to be launched and deployed by a model rocket at various altitudes as well as complete a set of tasks for NASA’s yearly Student Launch competition

2020 - 2022 NASA Student Launch Initiative Competitions
- Developed a state estimation system to track a rocket's trajectory and log sensor data in Python. Read about this project here.
- Developed a system to autonomously eject a rocket's payload after sensing apogee and separation events using C++, an Arduino, and other sensors and electronics. Read about this project here.
- Designed circuits and wrote Python software for a robot to be ejected from a descending rocket and autonomously land then self-level with less than 5 degrees of error using a Raspberry Pi, an IMU, and four DC motors. Read about this project here.
- Documented and presented designs to NASA engineers at at nine total design review milestones.