About Me:
I'm a junior Mechanical Engineering student at Tufts University interested in robotics and mechanical design.
 
Location:
Medford, MA
New Windsor, NY
 
Contact Information:
leiahannes@gmail.com
leia.hannes@tufts.edu
Project Gallery
Product Teardown
Solidworks | Analysis | Teamwork
Robotic Car
CAD | Electronics | Python
Mechanical Gripper Robot
CAD | Electronics | Python
Ball Sorter
Python | Sensors | Design
Laser-cut Dragon
Electronics | Onshape | Lasercutting
PCB Design
Electronics | CAD
CAD Highlights
CAD
Product Teardown: SKIL Cordless Screwdriver
Tufts University, Spring 2024: Engineering Design
Project Highlights:
 - Used Solidworks to create a 3D model of a SKIL
   cordless screwdriver
 - Conducted a task analysis and made a decomposition
   table for the full screwdriver
 - Worked in a team to create a full CAD model and
   assembly

 This was a team project in which we recreated an electric screwdriver in CAD using Solidworks. We conducted a task analysis on how the screwdriver was used, and then deconstructed it (pictured below). We then made CAD files for each part, and put them together in an assembly (exploded view above). I worked with the team on the task analysis and decomposition table, and individually created the CAD for the casing and the assembly.
Presentation:
Laser-cut Dragon
Tufts University, Fall 2022: Introduction to Engineering
Project Highlights:
 - Used Onshape to design parts to
   be laser cut to make a dragon
   with moving legs
 - Coded a makerpi with
   micropython to move the legs
   depending on whether a light
   sensor on top of the dragon was
   exposed
 For the midterm for my introductory engineering class, we were instructed to make an animal that could move. I decided to make a dragon that could move its legs as though it was walking. I used Onshape to design all of the parts to be laser-cut, and screws as the axles for the gears. The makerpi is connected to a dc motor in the center of the dragon, which spins the central gears. The code for this project makes the motor start and stop depending on whether the rider is sitting on top of it.
Printed Circuit Boards
Tufts University, Fall 2024: Electronics and Controls I
Project Highlights:
 - Designed and ordered a printed circuit board (PCB) to take in 12V and offer a 3.3V, 5V, and 12V output stabilized with capacitors (top left)
 - Designed and ordered an H-bridge motor driver PCB with thickened copper traces to better handle temperature variation (top right)
 For this project, I used KiCad to design PCBs which I then ordered and soldered components onto. The schematics for the voltage regulators (left) and the H-Bridge (right) are pictured below. To the right is the breadboard prototype for the H-Bridge, which has input pins that are connected to a KB2040 to control the direction of the motor.
Soldered PBCs:
Simple Electronic Game
Tufts University, Fall 2024: Electronics and Controls I
Project Highlights:
 - Designed and ordered a printed circuit board (PCB) to take in 12V and offer a 3.3V, 5V, and 12V output stabilized with capacitors (top left)
 - Designed and ordered an H-bridge motor driver PCB with thickened copper traces to better handle temperature variation (top right)
Robotic Car
Tufts University, Fall 2024: Electronics and Controls I
Project Highlights:
 - In the first stage of a two stage project, worked with a team of 3 to design a robotic car controlled by GET requests sent to a raspberry pi that could drive up a ramp.
 - In the second stage of the project, redesigned the car to drive up the ramp autonomously and work with another team's car to push a large cylinder up the ramp.
 For this project, we were required to create a robot that could drive up a ramp. We then modified it to communicate with a seperate robot on another ramp so the two could work together to push a large cardboard pole up the two ramps.
 The original robot (pictured above) has a relatively simple design. The two front wheels (3D printed with TPU) and connected to two DC motors, which are controlled by a raspberry pi sending signals through a motor driver. The back wheels (PLA) are set on a dowel and can spin freely. The robot was initially controlled theough a simple website with some Javascript code I wrote to send GET requests to the Pi, which was running Flask. The robot was controlled through the WASD keys on a keyboard for movement forwards, left, backwards, and right. The video below shows our first trip up the ramp. We ended up driving in reverse up the ramp since it was easier for the car to move that way.
 The second stage of the project required some major adjustments to our original design. We were required to communicate with a second robot on a seperate ramp while pushing a tube. First, we needed to be able to go up the ramp autonomously. We achieved this by moving our green wheels much farther apart so they could act as a barrier on the side of the ramp and adding a small caster wheel under the front section (front view pictured left).
 The second challenge we faced was creating a sensor so we would know if the two robots were aligned. We made a plow-like attachment for the front of the robot that consisted of two boards wrapped with aluminum foil. The front board was connected to 3.3V, and the back board had 6 distinct strips wired to the rapsberry pi. The video to the right shows our first prototype connected to a series of LEDs.
 Finally, we updated our code to change our own speed, listen to requests from our partner robot to change speeds, and to send requests to our partner based on the feedback we recieved from our sensors. The final video below shows our robot (near ramp) working with another robot.
Other CAD Highlights
Tufts University & Personal Projects, 2020 to Present
Project Highlights:
 This contains a selection of parts and assemblies I've deisgned using various different CAD software. All of the pictures below are of things that I have designed fully from scratch, mostly to be 3D printed or laser cut.
Pirate Ship, designed in Onshape for lasercutting. Utilized living hinges for the curve of the ship. (Tufts, Fall 2022)
Hair dryer, designed in SOLIDWORKS (Tufts, Spring 2024)
Pulley, designed in Onshape (Tufts, Fall 2022)
Mandalorian helmets, designed in TinkedCAD (Personal Project, 2021)
Captain America's Shield, designed in TinkerCAD (Personal Project, 2022)
Toy Car, desgined for laser cutter (Tufts, Fall 2022)
Tardis, designed in Onshape (Personal Project, 2023)
Merry-go-round, designed in Onshape (Personal Project, 2024)
Mechanical Gripper Robot
Tufts University, Spring 2025: Intro Robotics
Project Highlights:
 - Designed and built a robot with a mechanical gripper system to pick up and move a ball.
 - Used a stepper motor to actuate a gear and linkage system to firmly grip a ball.
 The goal for this project was to build a gripper mechanism using gears, linkages, and a stepper motor to grab a ball and transport it 2 feet without dropping it. As an additional challenge, we also tried to automate the movement after picking up the ball. The entire assembly was created in Onshape (pictured left) and then lasercut out of wood. The two videos below show the ball being lifted and moved across the floor.
 Overall, the project went fairly smoothly. We were able to start early and get the gripper mechanism working quickly, so we had time to make a wheeled platform driven by a DC motor to automate transporting the ball.
 There were some challenges, however, with both the gripper design and the car. For the gripper, the original design for the base was too large, so the arms of the gripper couldn't fully close. We were able to design and fabricate a new base quickly since we were using a laser cutter, so this was not a major issue.
 The other difficulty we faced was the weight distribution in the car. The back right wheel is driven by a DC motor and all of the other wheels can freely rotate. We were hoping that the weight of the stepper motor in front would balance out the DC motor in the back, but our car still ended up back heavy and drives along a curved path instead of straight forward. If we had more time to work on this project, I would want to redesign the chassis to more evenly distribute the weight so the car could drive straight.
Ball Color Sorter
Tufts University, Spring 2025: Intro Robotics
Project Highlights:
 - Built a ball sorter that can identify the color of a ball and move it to a corresponding box.
 - Used a RaspberryPi and Python code with a color sensor to identify ball colors, and actuate a stepper motor and a servo motor to move them to the correct basket.
 The goal for this project was to create a color sensing robot that sorted through a random handful of red, blue, green, and yellow balls. We found a video on YouTube that served as our main inspriation. Most of he final components were laser-cut, with the exception of the base and back support structure. I designed the stand for the color sensor, the funnel for the balls, and the extension for the motor, which were all specifically designed for the laser cutter to save time on fabrication.
 I also wrote the code for this project (me35_ballsorter.py) to detect the colors, move the balls, and move the stepper motor to properly sort the balls by color. Each color is initialized by storing its rgb results from the sensor. When a new ball is scanned, its results are compared against the stored ones for the known colors, and it is identified as the color of its closest match.
 Overall, this project went well. The most difficult part ended up being getting everything aligned correctly and moving smoothly. We had difficulties getting the stepper motor to consistently place the balls on top of the sensor, which would in turn cause the sensor to read the wrong color. If we had more time I would want to work on making everything more secure so our motor movements could be more precise.
 I did learn a lot from this project about working with sensors and calibrating them to be accurate in different environments. Our sensor was mostly accurate, but had some difficulties in bright lighting. To improve this, we could make a box around the sensing area to better control the enviroment, and edit the code to average more sensor readings.