BRANDON FRANK

Stanford University '19 - GPA 4.0

Double Major, B.S. Mechanical Engineering & B.A. East Asian Studies

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OnePod

February 2019 - March 2019

You’re on a long flight, in a hotel, perhaps just ate lunch and you need a toothbrush, toothpaste or floss — but it’s not available. Open this injection molded capsule to reveal a disposable toothbrush, single serving of toothpaste and floss pick. The technical aspects of this project’s design demonstrate the use of living hinges, ribs, interference fits, mechanical hinges, overmolding, undercuts in mold design, and family molds.

Injection molding (Stanford ME 325) final project.

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Kodak Brownie

January 2019

As a collector of antique cameras and avid photographer, I was inspired to make this rendition of a Kodak No. 3A Folding Brownie Camera. A living hinge was used for the main door on the front of the camera that the lens mounts into and the lens is attached to the body through an abstract bellow design. Capitalizing on a design constraint for this project, the holes left behind from the ejector pin bosses become strap holes.

Injection molding (Stanford ME 325) project.

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Scoot

November 2018

Simulating working for a scooter startup, I was tasked with designing the drive chain for a scooter that could support the weight of a child. The project required specking a brushless DC motor, designing ball bearing mounts with preloads, belt drive interfaces, a belt preload mechanism, and a custom hub.

Deliverables (Stanford ME 181) project.

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SHUI2GO

January 2018 - July 2018

Shui2go is an air pollution mask that is stylish and keeps you hydrated on the go. In China, 95% of water is deemed unsafe to consume and 45% contains fecal matter. Currently, there is no portable solution to filter water for harmful organic compounds in China. The mask is the perfect vehicle to bring both air and water filtration to the masses in a stylish, always-on-you wearable. It’s water filtration valve even removes harmful organic pollutants, which are present even in boiled water.

MY ROLE : Initial concept renderings, CAD models, looks-like and works-like prototype, brand strategy.

SHUI2GO Website

WOKON

March 2018 - June 2018

Inspired by my firsthand observations while visiting a small rural village, WOKON, a pressure activated gas stove, functions similar to an electric induction cooktop. It is designed to be functional, affordable and provide much needed safety features. Remove the pan and the gas line is instantly closed. Place the pan down (ensuring contact with 3 pressure points) and the stove is reignited; the gas begins to flow again. Have a different size pan? Simply rotate the CAM mechanism to bring the pressure points normal with the under surface of the pan. I hand milled and turned 34 of the 70+ parts to produce the physical working prototype!

Third Slide 1

China Research

March 2017 - September 2017

Having spent seven months in China both in academia at Peking University in Beijing and at IDEO in Shanghai, I developed an intrinsic curiosity to document and explore the innovation landscape in China. In this expose, I explore innovation in China from public policy to economics, using culture, religious, and social undertones as the genesis for creativity.

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Intel

Embedded Systems Engineer

June 2016 - December 2016

SolDiver, the first slim profile scuba dive watch, harnesses solar energy thereby eliminating the need to charge the device; 20 minutes in the sun will last a full day of continuous diving. The computer is composed of a memory LCD display, flexible gallium arsenide solar cells, Bluetooth for downloading dive data, a pressure sensor to record depth, and a 9 axis accelerometer/gyroscope/compass. Accompanying the custom hardware is a native iOS app that elegantly displays critical dive data and plots motion + depth over time.

MY ROLE : Conceived idea, initiated product concept, designed hardware schematic, wrote all firmware for device and accompanying iOS application, performed extensive power analysis.

Third Slide 1

Laparoscopic Surgery

June 2016

Bariatric laparoscopic surgeons face immense fatigue and back strain as a result of contorted positions maintained for extended periods of time during surgery. The solution, Surgonomics, offers a curved instrument with a sliding handle and retriculating grasper allowing the surgeon's arms to stay relaxed and by his/her side throughout the operation. The ability to adjust the grip position makes the instrument adaptable to a wider range of patient sizes and surgeon heights. (NOTE: Developed in conjunction with Stanford MED275b Biomedical Innovation Incubator.)

MY ROLE : Led design and rapid prototyping of the curved shaft and locking mechanism, designed and conducted user tests to quantify accuracy of devices.

IBM

Cloud Computing Researcher

June 2015 - May 2016

Curate.Media is a blockchain based crowdsourced curation service for publishers of real-time mobile media. Content aggregators have many real-time video feeds which are displayed to their users. To maintain user engagement and improve the overall user experience, video feeds would be best presented in a sorted manner with the richest content on top. This single action reduces bounce rate as it keeps consumers engaged with live feeds and ads while simultaneously resulting in an increase in site revenue. Curate.Media incentivizes curation through micro bit coin payments; curators rate content and return a score. The system prevents gaming through a unique mobile CAPTCHA, a small monetary incentive, and a subset of machine learning. With IBM management fully supportive of the product's groundbreaking technology, worked with legal team to apply for 3 patents (2 issued, 1 pending).

MY ROLE : Conceived idea, developed product concept, designed anti-gaming mechanisms, designed UI/UX, implemented POC on a private blockchain.

H.I.G. - Heat Intensive Gloves

February 2016

H.I.G. is a dual zone heated glove system developed to combat frostbite. 26.4% of frostbite in the 1st degree occurs in the hands. Unlike all other heated gloves on the market, H.I.G. heats with the biological nature of your hands in mind; the exterior must be heated at an independent temperature of the palm to ensure maximum heat. The gloves use conductive thread with a low resistance to distribute heat over the skin in a safe, effective manner. With modular battery packs in ‘sweat bands’ no electronics reside in the gloves. Each glove delivers variable heat up to 170°F for 12+ hours and is hand washable.

MY ROLE : Need specification, designed and prototyped including electrical wiring and packaging.

August Home Inc.

iOS Software Engineer

June 2014 - August 2014

With a national product launch into Apple and Best Buy stores in September 2014, August redefined the lock on every front door by enabling home entry through virtual keys; all the security is built into the smartphone. The August Smart Lock, designed by famed product designer, Yves Béhar, mounts on the interior of existing deadbolt hardware in under 5 minutes. Using the iOS or Android application a homeowner can simply walkup to the door and watch it magically unlock when holding groceries; keys can even be shared to renters through Airbnb. After several rounds of funding, in 2017 August was acquired by Assa Abloy, the world's largest lock maker.

MY ROLE : Developed auto-unlock feature, created Apple compatible HomeKit POC app, stabilized BLE performance, ensured on-time product launch.

Power-in-a-Box

Research Assistant

June 2013 - April 2014

Power-in-a-Box, an EPA funded technology, was developed to provide portable renewable energy to recovering and off-the-grid communities. It’s a hybrid wind-solar power system packed and transported in a standard cargo shipping container. On site, using only human power, the wind turbine is erected to 40 ft in about 45 minutes. Power production is on the scale of 1 to 5 kW, and is stored in a battery bank providing electricity for 1 to 3 days depending on the load.

MY ROLE : In conjunction with Princeton University students and electrical engineers designed and built the system, co-led final testing phase in 50+ mph winds along with data collection efforts.

Prosthesis

April 2013

Demonstrated the use of EMG electrodes to control a robotic device. Hand grasp was simulated with forearm electrodes and smaller needle electrodes used to pinpoint finger movement. Five stepper motors provided precise movement of fingers and a sixth motor used to simulate the palm.

MY ROLE : Developed concept and created/built 11 prototypes, sourced, tested elastic to simulate tendon and ligament resistance, constructed hand, wrote firmware with EMG data interpolation to drive hand.