September 2018-December 2018
Key Skills:
Solidworks
HSMWorks
Prototyping
CNC Machining
Quality Assurance
Machine Shop Management
2.009 is the MIT Mechanical Engineering Department’s flagship capstone class. In the course, students work in teams of 20-25 to design and develop products from start to finish, considering user needs, market analysis, concept generation, prototyping, and manufacturing. For my 2.009 project, I developed a product called Manta to help rescue crew who fall overboard.
From 2012 to 2017, there were 2000 reported incidents of crew overboard in the United States. The current method for recovering crew overboard is to drop a life preserver attached to a rope behind the craft and steer in circles around them until the life preserver gets to them. This process risks steering the boat into the crew overboard, running them over, and leaves the crew in freezing waters for long stretches of time. The goal of Manta is to create a safer and more reliable rescue method.
Fast and Effective Rescue
Manta works by encircling the fallen crew member. To use Manta, one aims for the area above the crew and fires a loop of rope attached to two floatation devices. This creates a perimeter of rope around them, which can be reeled in, bringing them back to the boat. Manta launches this triangular “lasso” to a distance of up to 100 feet at a 20 degree angle of separation.
Manta has two major system components.
The first component comprises of two projectiles, which drag the rope which forms the perimeter around the crew overboard and inflate into floatation devices on contact with water.
The second component is a launcher, which is used to aim and fire the two projectiles using 22 caliber blanks.
Intact on Launch, Inflate on Impact
I was in charge of the design and manufacturing of Manta’s projectiles, leading a team of eight people. The projectiles had to be impact resistant enough to stay aerodynamic when they were launched into the air, but sensitive enough to open up when they hit the water. To achieve this, I utilized hook and loop fasteners. Hook and loop is robust against sheer force, but much weaker to normal force, meaning that the projectile would stay together when it was launched, but open and inflate upon impact. I constructed prototypes using CNC and manual machining, thermoforming, molding, and various other manufacturing processes.
In addition to designing the projectile, I consulted on the design of the launcher, and helped to create several of the Computer Aided Design files used to produce the launcher.
During user testing, 12 out of 12 users who had never seen Manta before were successfully able to encircle victims. Manta was tested on the Charles River in Boston, demoed live in front of an in person audience of hundreds of people, and streamed to an audience of thousands more.
