Stephane Constantin Freelance Electronics and Embedded Designer                     email: sc445@cornell.edu About me: I graduated with a BSc from Cornell University in Electrical and Computer Engineering. I have worked at the Cornell Computatinal Synthesis Lab as a research assistant, designing and developing robots. I now provide freelance services in electronics/embedded engineering, designing and prototyping circuit boards, coding firmware for microcontrollers and outsourcing production. Please see below some of the recent projects that I am involved in.

Projects Resume Publications Freelance

ROBLOCKS RoBlocks is an educational modular robotic toy kit developed by Modular Robotics . Kids can construct robots with different behaviours by assembling various kinds of sensor, think, and actuator cubes. I am designing the circuitry and firmware for the individual blocks. Challenges in this project involve designing the communication protocol between blocks via a single wire, handshaking, keeping track of connected blocks, and developing a data diffusion algorithm along a robot construction.

CIRCUITRY FOR THE FAB@HOME                                                                                   Video of Fabber     The Fabathome is an open-souce personal desktop fabber. It can print any 3D objects out of several types of material. I am developing the circuitry and firmware for the next generation fabber. The circuit will be capable of driving 6 stepper or DC motors with optical encoder feedback, 2 RC servos,16 digital IO's, 8 ADC's, 2 DAC's. Motor instructions are received from a PC via USB and a tailor-made communication protocol. Three motors drive a x,y,z stage and control the location of a deposition tool. AMORPHOUS ROBOTS                                                                               Electrical Schematic An amorphous robot is one that can change its configuration or shape. The ones developed at CCSL change their form by controlling twelve different motors independently. I designed a networked system of circuit boards that allow the control of such robots. Each circuit board receives instructions wirelessly from a PC and sends optical encoder and strain gauge sensor data back to the host. The IcoTens (left) and Soft Modular (right) Robots use this circuitry. CIRCUITRY FOR A  PROGRAMMABLE MATTER PROJECT Imagine, from the click of a button, disassembling an object and re-assembling it into another object of a different form and serving a different purpose. CCSL explores Programmable Matter in the robotic field by re-arranging intelligent cubes in a fluid. I am involved in the design of the electronics of the intelligent cubes. Each cube knows its orientation and contact face. Challenging aspects in the design of these circuit boards is to ensure the bonding of the correct electrical contacts with an adjacent cube. AMOEBOT This amoeba-inspired robot follows a light source by varying the frequency at which each of its module vibrates. The goal of the project is to explore the dynamics and mechanics of this locomotion and implement a new kind of robot with special amorphous features. On the diagram on the right, in which direction will the robot move is sthe red modules vibrated twice as fast as the green modules? TRUSS-BUILDING ROBOT CIRCUIT                                                                                         Electrical Schematic I designed and protoyped the circuit for a Truss-building robot that serves to demonstrate the concept of ca Machine Metabolism . The robot needs to climb on a truss structure, and screw in new truss components. The circuit  can control six servo motors independently, and has on-board accelerometer and compass. The system can have pre-programmed motor instructions or receive commands wirelessly from a PC. Challenges for this controller involved accurate sensing and motor coordination. SCHOOL PROJECTS WALKING ROBOT The Cornell Ranger is a 4-legged bipedal robot that walked a record distance of 5.6 miles for 5 hours and 12 minutes without stopping. Its walking algorithm takes advantage of dynamics and therefore consumes very low power. In the team, led byAndy Ruina , I was involved in the programming and testing of various walk algorithms. I developed a H-bridge motor driver circuit. I also developed a data capture and analysis software that allows the syncronization of sensor data plots from the robot and video footage of its gait. Videos Cornell Ranger at Relay for Life Description of the Robot

DANCING MARIONETTE We made a dancing marionette as final project for the ECE476, the Microcontroller class at Cornell University. The project involved filtering music to detect particular bass or voice signals and make a marionette dance to the music. WMV Movie (5MB)

Design and Realization of an Overbed Table This is the design project for Cambridge Higher School Certificate Examinatons for the Design and Technology subject. An overview of the design portfolio is available here.