SANDEEP B

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

Being born as an Indian in the late twentieth century, toys were always my buddies. I was in
awe of the way these small systems could do tasks as expected by us. Assembling and
dissembling these small toys was my introduction to being an engineer. It was during my
primary years, that I got to know about completely autonomous robots through the movie
IRobo. It is this movie that made me fall in love with robotics, that made me wonder about all
the endless possibilities robotics can offer. Born in a family with two working parents, I was
constantly exposed to the hardships they face in managing work and family life and it was the
knowledge about robotics that made me realize the possibilities. It is this curiosity towards
robotics, that turned into love and later a dream. A dream of a better tomorrow, where hard
and impossible work can be made possible by the touch of a hand, where no human life is
endangered by a hefty task. And it was this dream and passion for robotics, that made me
choose Computer science in Highschool and Mechanical Engineering for my undergraduate
studies.  
My college, Vellore Institute of Technology, opened a plethora of opportunities for me. One
such opportunity was when I was recruited as a junior design engineer for Technocrats
Robotics. It was here that my interest in robotics grew to a never-ending curiosity and
continued to spur my interests and passion in the years to follow. Technocrats Robotics is a
student robotics team, that builds robots for specifically targeted problem statements to
compete at national and international competitions. My main tasks included developing robot
designs and control systems to maintain optimal functionality and reliability. The designs
were developed in SolidWorks and simulated and verified using Adams and MATLAB. The
use of Adams to simulate the subsystem in real-world conditions helped in achieving higher
durability, reliability, and safety and reduced costly physical prototyping while providing a
greater extent of time for troubleshooting. 
Later as a lead design engineer, one major area I improved upon was the kinematic and
dynamic analysis of robotic systems and on the design of systems with multiple degrees of
freedom. It is during this period, I took part in the development of various robotic systems
like Disc landing robot, Rack lifting robot, etc. It is during these projects I gained practical
experience in the use of pneumatics and hydraulics systems and their electrical integration.
For my final semester, I undertook a six-month research internship at the Centre of Artificial
Intelligence and Robotics (CAIR) under the Defence Research and Development
Organization (DRDO), a government agency of India. I worked on the Design and
Development of an Autonomous Quadruped Robot under the guidance of scientist Dr. P
Murali Krishna. The main aim of the project was to have a completely autonomous
quadruped system that can traverse through irregular and uneven terrains while carrying food
and weaponry. It also implemented a patrolling algorithm using ROS and Python to ensure
that the region is also autonomously patrolled.  
I feel extremely fortunate to have joined this multidisciplinary team as I was able to gain
exposure to the electrical and computer science aspects of robotics as well as develop various
personal skills on how to interact with a large team of over 30 members with different
backgrounds and technical inclinations. Regularly working long hours, studying relevant
academic literature, and exploring ideas that could be employed to constantly refine the
system, made the lab our second home. We were put to test when we had to troubleshoot the
‘Ball shooting robot’ and its systems 2 hours before the event which made me more adaptable
to strenuous situations. Our team participated in ABU Robocon 2018 held in Pune, where we
stood 23rd out of 100 teams and became the 2nd best team in South India. Our interactions
with other teams gave us valuable insight into the various technologies used by them that
helped us learn more and upgrade our systems. 
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Challenges are what drives me to improve and grow, one major challenge I faced after
graduation was to choose a career. Being offered core mechanical jobs I had to choose
between a job at TVS MotoCorp as a mechanical engineer and Eruvaka Technologies as a
Junior design engineer for IoT and smart systems. As said by Eleanor Roosevelt, “The future
belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams”, and it was my opportunity to
take a risk for what I love and dream of. Joining Eruvaka Technologies was a new and unique
opportunity for me.  It is from there I learned the practical implications of a product and how
Robotic Process Automation is implemented. Working on various products for automated
shrimp farming like ‘Shrimpsnap’ and ‘Moving Feeder’ and the amount of practical and
theoretical research behind it paved way for me to understand how we can make the world a
better place to live in by understanding and working for the needs of the society. Working
alongside experienced professionals also helped me learn more about the importance of
electrical and embedded parts of the system automation process. The exposure to all these
new experiences also sparked my interest to learn more in robotics and made me realize there
is much to be learned beyond the scope of undergraduate studies, which is one of the reasons
that prompted me to pursue my master's degree.
Apart from academics and technical activities, I have always given extracurricular activities
an equal priority. From my time in school, I have been actively involved in various sports and
cultural activities. I have captained my school basketball team to various victories and also
played an active role in school athletics, volleyball, and quiz teams. Being raised in a
household that valued giving back to society, I am a National level Rajyapuraskar medal
holder and also an active member of the National Service Corps where we helped the society
by volunteering at orphanages, donating clothes, food, and other necessities, and raising
awareness within nearby communities about cleanliness and diseases like malaria, dengue,
etc. This combined with my academic excellence, helped me achieve the position of Home
minister in the school student-teacher cabinet. I continued this trend well into college, where I
engaged myself in sports and organizing various national and international events. I fulfilled
positions as a sponsorship and marketing member for Vibrance 2017 and 2018 and was also
part of the sponsorship team for TechnoVIT 2018. Besides mentoring the juniors in my team,
I had the opportunity to mentor the freshmen at my university as an instructor of a workshop
on SolidWorks. I was also a member of the National Entrepreneurship Network and National
Service Scheme both helping me move a step closer to working for a world that is better to
live in.
I believe that the skills and experiences I have gained in the fields of mechanical and
automated systems will ensure my success in the ‘Master of Science in Mechanical
Engineering and management at Technical University of Hamburg’. The unique curriculum
followed by the course focuses on subjects that I am strongly inclined towards and the
flexibility to choose from various elective subjects will help me tailor my study to specialize
in a particular area of mechanical engineering. I also look forward to being a part of
DEffProForm and ProNoVi projects, which is very much related to my previous work
experience, and having insightful conversations with M. Abdel Macksoud and J C Neitzel
Peterson, which I am sure will help me learn a lot.
I am very certain that Mechanical engineering and management will be a burgeoning field
and I am eager to explore the possibilities it holds . Over the next few years, I see myself as a
robotics professional, developing autonomous bots that support soldiers in hostile situations
and innovating solutions that aid the effective defuse of active explosives while able to
balance it financial and cost parameters. I am convinced beyond doubt that using my skills,
combined with the academic knowledge and practical experience that would be provided by
TUH, I can scale all peaks I wish to climb and reach my potential because as Henry Ford
 SANDEEP B

once said, “There is no man living who isn’t capable of doing more than he thinks he can
do”.