Robotics, Mechatronics and Design Portfolio by Jack Marley McIntyre
This website is a portfolio of my work in engineering, research, development & project management. I’ve also included some of my experience during my studies in computer, electronic, robotic and mechatronic engineering undertaken during my time as an Undergraduate and as a STEM Ambassador/Mentor.
This website also details a bit about myself with my love of 3D design, Travel and Music!
I hope you enjoy your time at Machatronics.com
Jack Marley McIntyre BEng(Hons) MIET
Using my prior STEM background with GCU and Entrotec, I discussed with UHI a critical area of concern regarding engineering student demographics; underrepresentation of young women in Apprenticeships.
After discussing the issue with both UHI and SDS, I sought to challenge this issue by developing and managing a high publicity project which aimed to encourage women and MtF trans women to move into STEM related training and apprenticeships after secondary school.
This initially involved developing funding streams and fostering collaborations between industry & public sector organisations towards Stem Engagement. Subsequently, I developed a series of events for this project with concurrently developing a team of new and inspiring STEM ambassadors, trained to provide workshop provision. This project subsequently led to my development of a major case study which has been referenced and highlighted by various Scottish educational establishments.
“STEM Equity is an Egalitarian idea that embodies the fact that regardless of a person’s race, nationality, gender or sexuality, we all can succeed in STEM Education & Work equally”
A project which aimed to integrate Engineering Technology learning with Circular Economic education.
Towards that end, I subsequently researched relevant content applicable to engineers (ISO14064, GHG Protocol and Sustainable R&D) that should be developed within the syllabus. With the support of Gavin Tweedie of Net Zero Nation and Shane Healy of Invergordon Distillery, I developed a course integration project which developed into the Highland’s first Fuel Change Challenge with Whyte & MacKay.
Building upon W&M Invergordon’s innovations in Sustainability and high attention to safety with their Green Print Initiative, UHI Students were allowed to join W&M in developing innovative solutions to current engineering and sustainability problems.
Personally, this project helped me to develop a strong network for external development with local renewable research organisations such as Powerhouse (OCF) & Highland Council’s Climate Change Department, alongside developing as one of UHI’s primary Circular Economic Champions.
“The Circular Economy and general Sustainability is an area that should be paramount to new engineers and technologists; to improve efficiency, carbon reduction and reduce costs in Manufacturing… While also saving the planet!”
Through a high-profile project conducted to design a new music venue for Inverness (RSR), a number of Inverness and Highland music organisations got involved to endorse the design and project for Inverness.
A one of the organisations to endorse that project was Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival, who also requested our presence at the 2023 festival as a STEM organisation. Towards that end, I developed and led a project to bring UHI to Belladrum.
As the project lead, my view was to highlight the best of all that has been achieved through my projects since Covid (from Equity in STEM, Additive Manufacturing, and Circular Economy). We subsequently brought all of these technologies to Belladrum, with our cohort of Student STEM Ambassadors.
With a bit of a flair for showmanship, we ended up wowing the audiences at Belladrum and eventually ended up hitting some of the highest engagement ratings for our social media and public campaigns ever.
“Art brings Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Maths together.”
Combining the knowledge and experience I gained through research into the circular economy, sustainability, and mixing that with my experience as a project manager and design engineer, I developed an innovative concept for a new type of ultra circular economic venue which will allow guests and music lovers to enjoy their favourite acts without impacting the world’s carbon.
Up against 1000 other competition entries and after a round of grilling by leading Highland Business owners, I was awarded the Best Cultural and Environment business award for 2023 by the Royal Bank of Scotland and Engineers in Business Fellowship.
“By harnessing the power of creativity, you don’t need to sacrifice the arts to save the world!””
With UHI Inverness seeking to develop its public presence more at national and international events, I sought to develop a strong presence at Europe’s biggest technology conference; London Tech Week.
Once agreed with UHI Inverness and UHI, I was allowed to lead the Engineering Technology delegation to LTW2022 and eventually LTW2023, Scottish Climate Summit, Decarbonising Transport Scotland, and “Science & the Parliament” conference.
These events allowed us to be present during the unveiling of Microsoft Co-Pilot, AI Supported Azure, developments in renewable and green investment in the UK and to develop a wider network with organisations and businesses from all over the world, which have helped support various projects throughout my role.
“Technology not only brings global collaboration, it is the very medium which drives it.”
Following my prior experience with Smart STEMs, it was only natural to develop our own Smart STEMs conference at UHI Inverness Campus.
Working with Seric Systems, SSEN, The Reinvention, Ross Shire Engineering, Glasgow Science Centre, Barclays and more, we managed to bring over 1000 school pupils from across the region to UHI Inverness for a series of workshops in STEM and STEAM.
On top of coordinating the event and conducting workshops, I also acted as compere for the whole event, where I hosted the schools for both the introduction and ending quiz of the day! Nothing quite like presenting to over 1000 pupils and 30 companies!
“Developing future generations to take advantage of the amazing developments in High-Technology, Design, Circular Economy, Renewables and Robotics which are on their doorstep””
During my research into new methods of additive manufacturing and virtual design, Highland Council were seeking to develop further collaborations with UHI Inverness and UHI’s Engineering department towards their innovative and exciting Hydro Ness project.
Discussing my research and our developing 3D printing capability, I was given the lead to start a formal collaboration between UHI and Highland Council to create a scaled representation of the Hydro Ness power plant to be 3D printed & produced as awards and as school education models.
As the project manager & lead designer, this project allowed me to develop both a highly lauded and personal piece of work. My work has subsequently received significant positive press attention nationally and is now being displayed at a variety of various Highland Council locations.
Most excitedly, it has also allowed me to develop my name as a local award winning 3D designer and manufacturer.
“Additive Manufacturing represents a new paradigm in democratising design and manufacturing, what previously took massive amounts of time and capital to achieve in manufacturing, can now be accomplished for a fraction of the time, capital, resources and carbon!”
At GCU, I was encouraged to develop an autonomous vehicular robot which could detect lanes, avoid obstacles, and detect inclines to cross a random track developed by GCU staff as a challenge.
Overall, the project while successful in it’s aims, did not live up to expectations when in competition due to the quickness of development and harsh research environment. If anything, other than the programming and electronic knowledge gained through this project, I developed important skills in developing resilience and identifying negative project attributes.
This project has since driven me to combat some of the toxic traits some in academia have towards both initial failure and hostile actions towards women in STEM which I continue to challenge to this day.
Assisted with underprivileged schools in Glasgow with student mentoring, higher education support and supplying course information.
As Stem Ambassador, I undertook the running of various robotics workshops (with Smart Stems and class visits) where I provided light teaching and mentoring to classes of students from the age of 7 to 18.
Undertook an IAESTE internship and training with the University of Merseburg in their robotic technologies department.
I was able to both travel and stay for an extended time overseas and work within a foreign academic environment through this programme. Subsequently learned how to operate industrial robotic arm gripper systems.
Developed friendships and had experiences which I still hold dear to this day.
For our bachelors project, we were required to develop an IoT system which provides a social good to a STEM based industry.
In light of the enhancements with regards to medical sensor technology and the reduction in size and cost, we aimed to develop a glove system which could provide heartbeat, temperature, and oxygen readings wirelessly to a patient by the user, while also giving the user gesture control to make emergency calls in the event of a code blue or other emergency.
The glove was also designed to transmit to an online database to reduce data entry of information and also provide the user information on the readings using a basic automatic database lookup
The project was quite successful, leading to the highest grade in 4 years for that project task, while also being highlighted during a student innovation showcase. This lead to my winning of the Glasgow Guild of Hammermen Award for Engineering Aspirations.
For our diploma project, we were required to develop an embedded based system designed to be used by children for learning and play.
We developed an experiment centre which could teach a child how DST works with a light gate ramp, a programmable keyboard for coding in music, a morse code system to teach communications and data transfer, and a series of mechatronic system to open and shut the system automatically (based on “Useless Machine” toys).
This project represented my first C++ coding and 3D Design Challenge.
