Passionate about helping people with design and engineering.

My name is Sam, and thanks for taking the time to look at my website. I am a Mechanical Engineer with a focus on robotics, medical devices and product design.

I am highly motivated about designing products that help people live their lives to fullest, be it exoskeletons for rehabilitation, or portable air pollution sensors.

When I am not developing high-performance robotic actuators or designing myolectric prostheses, you can often find me in the local Fablab where I like to build a variety of interesting devices in my free time.

I particularly enjoy building mechatronic devices that intersect user-orientated and attractive design with technological innovation, such as the Internet of Things or Additive Manufacturing.

You can check out my personal projects here

Work Experience


Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia - Rehab Technologies Lab

Jan 2018 - present

Mechanical and Robotics Engineer

Lead mechanical engineer commercialising a robotic prosthetic hand and developing a robotic prosthetic wrist and elbow system for the Italian National Health Service.

    • Part of team that received the Compasso d’Oro for the Hannes Prosthetic Hand, the most prestigious industrial design award in Italy

    • Extensive experience of working within ISO13485, led all mechanical design optimisations during the successful medical device approval process and subsequent clinical trial for Hannes

    • Listed as co-inventor on 2 pending patents related to improvements in underactuated prosthetic hands, and 2 pending patents related to improvements in high-performance robotic actuators


Contributed to the design of an upper-limb exoskeleton for shoulder rehabilitation

  • Co-creator of a MATLAB algorithm to compare the workspace of theoretical exoskeleton designs, using inverse kinematics and collision estimation

  • Lead designer of an innovative virtual 4-bar mechanism that minimises patient’s shoulder discomfort and greatly reduces device cost


Possess very strong experience in designing robotic actuators using first principles and mathematical analysis

  • Extensive knowledge in designing and manufacturing highly effective and completely custom planetary, cycloid, worm-gear & friction-drive reduction mechanisms

  • As lead mechanical engineer have designed and overseen manufacturing of several hollow-shaft robotic actuators that combine strain-wave reducers and high-performance BLDC motors

  • Designed multiple test-benches to characterise robotic actuators for peak performance, efficiency and durability during long-term operation

  • Possess strong MATLAB and Simulink skills, including;

  • Using simulated trajectory planning to analyse and optimise mechanical robotic actuators

o Analysing power-train efficiencies via theoretical equations and test-bench data

o Calculating optimum cycloidal gear profiles for use in high-performance gearboxes

o Using the Robotics Toolbox Inverse Kinematics functions to define and optimise the DH-parameters of an upper-limb exoskeleton

  • Work extensively with patients and focus-groups in a clinical setting to analyse customer needs and create design specifications

BMW Group UK

March 2016 - Jan 2018

Launch and Change Co-ordinator

  • Lead co-ordinator for a large product end-of-life project. Reduced the initial £3.5 million cost estimate by one-third by careful co-ordination of several departments and analysing alternative business scenarios

  • Led the co-ordination of all series-vehicle design changes for engines assembled at BMW Hams Hall. In addition, I was the project lead for the launch of a new engine for the BMW i8 hybrid sports car

  • My main tasks involved the creation of project timing and budget plans, co-ordinating changes to assembly-line capabilities, liaising with customers and suppliers, and attending product improvement meetings

Education

The University of Sheffield

September 2011 - August 2015

MEng Mechanical Engineering with German, 1st Hons

  • Final year project conducted on the design and manufacture of a low-cost CNC milling-machine, now used for rapid prototyping at the UoS composites laboratory

  • Third year design project focussed on designing an open-source 3D-printer, using optimisation tools to reduce volume of 3D-printed parts. Other significant design projects included a 3D-printed bicycle helmet concept, prototyping a pedal-powered irrigation pump and designing a water-purifying stove

  • Year abroad in Germany at the Technische Universität Dresden with a combined module average of 76%. Awarded 84% and the prize for best research contribution for my third-year language project

  • Awarded the Boeing Undergraduate Scholarship, a 3-year bursary and development programme, the Daniel Doncaster Travel Bursary and the Laverick-Webster-Hewitt Research Fellowship