About
Hello World, I'm Mellanie Rodrigueza sophomore at MIT studying EECS + Design. Rather than staying in one lane, I build at the crossroads of manufacturing, electronics, and visual design. As a Technical Artist, I turn imaginative ideas into functional, tangible products. Let's connect!n engineer with a single domain of expertise. Instead I explore a wide range of topics from manufacturing, electronics, and art. After all I'm a Technical Artist trying to make fancy dreams into real products feel free to reach out. This website is currently outdated I will be making updates at the end of September 2026. See you around then :) In the meantime you could visit this link that contains parts of what I'm trying to include in the portfolio: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1L4sDdqz-5lFJcUiPoibBensaoW6yPYMlMiF3pY7gyQ8/edit?slide=id.g39769c06ae9_0_16#slide=id.g39769c06ae9_0_16
Projects
Trash Sorting Robot
Designed and built an automated trash-sorting robot using a Raspberry Pi 3, OpenCV, and YOLO for real-time object detection. The robots (Toby the small one) helped push waste into (Terresa the big one with the shovel) which identified and separated cans from other waste materials with an integrated camera and servo-based mechanism.
Inkbit 3D Internship
Explored advanced additive manufacturing techniques at Inkbit 3D, focusing on optimizing 3D printer calibration and improving user experience in resin-based printing. Gained hands-on experience in CAD modeling and print validation. Materials I used for my small projects TEPU30A and Titan Tough Epoxy 85. I also prototyoed a could VR headset concepts
Personal Assistant Robot (GURT)
Developed GURT, a personal assistant robot powered by a Raspberry Pi 4B and integrated with the OpenAI API for natural language interaction. Designed and built the system with a small team during the summer of 2025, implementing sensor feedback, motor control, and voice response to explore human-robot interaction and AI-assisted robotics. Full code available on GitHub.
MIT Lincoln Laboratory Internship
Selected as one of three high school students (out of 250 applicants) for a summer research internship at MIT Lincoln Laboratory. Designed and built a vibration simulator in Solidworks using Aluminum 6061 as my main material to demonstrate how frequency, material, and mass affect motion in satellite vibration testing. Applied Finite Element Analysis (FEA), Hooke’s Law, and Young’s Modulus to study stress and deformation in materials under dynamic loading.
THE CUBE
Designed and fabricated a modular furniture piece called The CUBE, capable of transforming between a table, shelf, and bench. Used Onshape for design and implemented sustainable fabrication methods with plywood and metal fittings.
Artwork Gallery
Other than making robots and things that move around, I also enjoy painting and sculpting. Here are some of my favorite pieces :]
Miscellaneous Projects
Side projects that I either am working on/would like collabortators.
Microcontroller Power Optimizations
Techniques to reduce idle power across different MCU families.
Ask about thisHealth Monitoring Home Robot
Development of a home robot prototype for health monitoring using low-cost technologies.
Ask about thisRapid Prototyping Fixtures
Design patterns for quick jigs and fixtures for assembly tasks.
Ask about thisSignal Filtering Recipes
Practical IIR/FIR filter examples for sensor noise reduction.
Ask about thisEmbedded Logging Strategies
Small-footprint logging for RTOS and bare-metal projects.
Ask about thisRapid Thermal Testing Hacks
Lightweight approaches to screen for thermal issues quickly.
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