Message to Readers….
Memo to visitors from the project founder, David Malawey:
The team has grown so fast in the last 18 months that we are not sure currently how to organize it. The audience for this page is evolving rapidly, as well as the information sought by this audience. As I write this memo, (December 2023) there are new branches of the robotics project forming in multiple continents. Some efforts are grassroots and some efforts are top-down business-driven. We have new leaders for a hub to be located in Lagos, Nigeria for example. This is a blend of academic action, grant-seeking action, students involvement, government collaboration, etc. The people who I call our “leadership” are the people who take steps to create milestones and we do not hold anyone back from doing so.
We have roboticists in Turkey waiting for our next steps – funding will be pulled in (likely) from Intel corporation, and training new trainers will happen with handshaking between Malaysia faculty members (from over 6 major universities) who onboarded in early 2023, to help us establish a hub in Turkey. We have one stellar independent roboticist named Halid who (he doesn’t know it yet) is fully equipped to lead an instantiation of an open robotics hub supported by SCUTTLE – and hopefully we will name it SCUTTLE Turkey! Engineers and creators from many more countries are doing the same, and the sky is the limit if you want to get involved!
There are team members affiliated with the actual pure-and-basic business in Texas, and simultaneously there are new faculty teaching SCUTTLE here in the same town (College Station) in their university courses. They also have their TA’s (grad students) developing modifications and new designs to support each particular laboratory curriculum. We consider all of them team members. The “Team” is not exclusively made of people hired by our business.
And, at this very moment our pure-and-basic business in Malaysia is evolving more rapidly than we can document. There are new interns each semester, there are new roles being assigned to our existing team members, and there are more than a dozen businesses throughout Malaysia and Singapore who are partnering with the PLT. Some of these businesses have over 10 years of successful implementation in IT processes, Manufacturing systems, Sales of educational kits, and so on! I cannot honestly predict who at this very moment will be an “official” team member 6 months from now and each time I meet and greet with a new engineer or entrepreneur on our SCUTTLE Project Team, I’ve already missed out on meeting four more from the same week.
Things are quite decentralized. Remember that we are working with several cultures and expertise areas – for some readers, you’d expect all major updates to be posted on our website but that simply is not how the world works anymore. Some businesses put more content on Youtube or Facebook or Github than on their website by a large margin. Our situation, keeps changing too fast to pin it down. My goal with the website was to help connect people with each other in this project and I will continue this goal but please (for those of you who are starting to learn about our project) use your own interests to find our content (technical items on youtube, educational activities reported on instagram, new business milestones on LinkedIn) that is matched to your interests and reach out to the authors where you see #SCUTTLErobot content and the authors will always do their best to steer you into the bigger group ☺
Best wishes for the end of your year and happy holidays, from David! 2023.12.19
Key Contributors
Patrick is an R&D engineer with a background in Aerospace and over 12 years of experience in software, build and operations engineering. He is carving new paths with Robot Operating System (ROS) onboard SCUTTLE and creating a knowledge base together with our community members through Discord and Github code exchanges.
Patrick van der Velde
Jorge moved to Texas from Colombia at 18 and fell in love with robotics. He is a 2022 Master of Science graduate from mechatronics engineering, and a researcher in Texas Transportation Institute. Starting as a student of Mobile Robotics, he later led lab instruction and responded to 2020 lockdown with an unprecedented telepresence teaching solution.
Jorge Roa
As of fall 2021 Daniyal is a student in mechatronics engineering. He has a deep interest in engineering automated systems. He has built & delivered robotics systems for NASA and is currently researching autonomous navigation for robotics in urban environments.
Daniyal Ansari
“BK” is an MS researcher with his BS in mechatronics, and a passion for rolling, flying, and swimming autonomous tech. His research focuses on mobile robotics navigation, utilizing artificial intelligence and machine learning. Outside of work, you’ll catch him at a football tailgate dreaming of the next national championship win for the Aggies.
Chukwubuikem Ewelike
Joined our project team in 2017, cranking out 3D printed and billet-machined designs while enrolled in Texas A&M’s MMET program. Her work now involves custom mechanics, manufacturing, and robotics on the west coast. Her curiosity and adventurous spirit helped transform SCUTTLE from a design into a team.
Brittney Dugas
Our core mentor in Southeast Asia, and chemical engineer with postgrad background in composite materials. 25+ years work experience in electronic and related industry. Since 2010, has fused academia, investors, and tech startups in Kuala Lumpur and Johor Bahru. Recent interests in farming within urban setting.
NorAzmi Alias, PhD
A mechatronics engineer from Texas A&M University, midway through his Master’s. He loves hands-on robotics projects and most recently, exploring continuum-DOF robotic arm applications. You can find him feasting on Texas barbecue in his off time.
Ricardo Castillo
Currently a TAMU MS candidate with BS in mechatronics. Brey has a fascination and impressive aptitude in aspects of robotics systems, mechanical design, efficiency, prototyping and additive manufacturing. Loves world travel and as of 2021, he is actively exploring international work opportunities.
Brey Caraway
Our advisor in electronics, research strategy and tech partnerships. Currently a Professor Emeritus at TAMU & was Program Coordinator for the founding of the Mechatronics Engineering degree program. Joe created the “Product Innovation Cellar” where 500+ capstone projects, space-bound creations, and STEM workshops emerged.
Joseph Morgan, PhD, PE
Fadullah Fairuze
Goes by Fad and holds education in Electrical Engineering Technology plus Mechatronics programs. Starting in 2020, Fad worked alongside David to form Malaysia’s SCUTTLE Lab in Johor. On weekends, watches anime & helps his family restaurant serve fresh, local, roti canai.
Michael Townsend
A native to College Station, TX, (just like SCUTTLE!) Michael graduates in Spring 2022 from MXET at Texas A&M. He authored our first official SCUTTLE manual to support high school roboticists. His interests include additive manufacturing, golfing, and trading stocks. Michael is always down for a tropical vacation with his family and friends.
David Malawey
Earned his MS in mechanical engineering from Texas A&M, formerly held roles of engine design and calibration at Toyota, plus over 5 years as an educator in mechatronics. He hopes to see the SCUTTLE community grow to critical mass as an educational system and then aims to bring robotics into indoor agriculture.
Academia
Dr. Goulart is a professor and researcher in data networks, electronic communications, IoT security. Her home state is Minas Gerais, Brazil and she currently teaches at Texas A&M. Ana has advised multiple senior design teams developing mobile robotics functions based on SCUTTLE, and mentors the team in NSF funding pursuits.
Ana Goulart, PhD
Design of a wireless charging station for SCUTTLE, including software for autonomous docking by computer vision
Hayden B, Cameron T, Patrick B, Daniel Z
This 2020-graduating capstone team designed a robot guide for campus visitors. Their project, named BAST, Integrates LIDAR, cellular link, voice commands, and GPS.
Jesse R, Shanley M, Evan M, Austin H
Flobotics designed a greenhouse robot, “Ventus,” for ambient data mapping. Ventus features a custom airflow meter which reports 3D vectors as small as 0.1 meters per second. They also included LIDAR, temperature and pressure data, perimeter-following capability, and long range (LoRa) encrypted data packet transmission using SigFox hardware.
Joseph K, Luke B, Yuzhe P, Gyuyoung J