Manav Tailor
Co-Founder @ Upwards Aero
Electrical Engineer, R&D @ The Boring Company
M.S Autonomous Systems and Robotics
B.S Electrical Engineering
I'm Manav, attained my M.S. in Autonomous Systems and Robotics and my B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology. Aside from studying, I've spent the majority of my time working on extracurricular projects, leading multi-interdisciplinary teams, and conducting research in various areas. Now, I'm a co-founder at Upwards Aero and an Electrical Engineer at The Boring Company. I'm always looking for opportunities to move my career forward and learn new skills to better myself as an engineer and a leader.
With a colleague I've worked closely with for over 3 years, we co-founded Upwards Aero. Our mission is to bring the joy of flight to all walks of life in an accessible manner. We are developing The Spinner, a single-seater, ultralight eVTOL aircraft taking advantage of the benefits of this unregulated category. Being an ultralight aircraft, we simply have to fit within a weight limit, speed limit, and altitude limit, and our aircraft does not require certification or a pilot's license.
Link to Tech Demonstrator
ECE Day 23' @ Illinois Tech
I have always been fond of research, with my first publication recently accepted! Below is listed my work and involvement in order (newest to oldest):
Won 1st place for the 22024 MMAE Poster Competition, B.S & M.S Category for my work titled "Compass Gait Walker: Working Towards Generating Surfaces Of Stable Gaits"
Began my Master's Project titled "Control of a Biped Robot Using a Continuous Library of Gaits".
Currently working with a team on a publication apart of the EcoCAR Competition titled "Human Trust in Autonomous Vehicles".
Paper titled “Application of Machine Learning and Image Recognition for Driver Attention Monitoring” submitted to EIT IEEE 2023 Conference and accepted. Publication a part of the Embedded Computing and Signal Processing (ECASP) Research Laboratory (http://ecasp.ece.iit.edu) at Illinois Tech.
DOI: 10.1109/eIT57321.2023.10187230
Won 2nd place for the 2023 Illinois Tech Electrical and Computer Engineering Research Competition, in the graduate research group. Work titled "Application of Machine Learning and Image Recognition for Driver Attention Monitoring".
Worked independently as a part-time undergraduate research assistant to begin the development of a system to predict the chances of a fall occurring. An IMU was utilized on the mastoid bone behind the ear to monitor for irregular unconscious movements.
Worked in a group to submit a paper to DEBUT 2022, a biomedical engineering competition hosted by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering. Our work focused on measuring the gait of a person by comparing the stride patterns of a patient to a healthy stride model to estimate the chances of falling. We utilized an IMU on the back of the right foot.
At Illinois Tech, I've spent a lot of time leading teams and being members of others, below are my most significant contributions:
President / Systems Engineer of Illinois Tech Scarlet Spacehawks. Leading a team a part of the NASA RMC Lunabotics competition for the 3rd year.
Electrical team lead of the Illinois Tech Hyperloop team. We built a scaled version of the tracked Hyperloop pod concept to compete in the SpaceX Hyperloop competition. Additionally, utilized Arx Pax linear hover engines to create a single-seater manned Hoverpod that could levitate over an aluminum floor.
CAV (Connected Autonomous Vehicles) member part of the Illinois Tech EcoCAR team. Illinois Tech was selected to compete in the EcoCAR Competition hosted by General Motors. Our goal is to take a 2023 Cadillac Lyriq, modify the drivetrain, and equip the vehicle to achieve SAE level 2+ autonomy.
Custom Li-Ion Battery Pack.
Designed and assembled multiple Li-Ion battery packs for various projects, this being one of them. Pack configuration is 14s10p, designed to output 350A for our Hoverpod. I used a C.O.T. BMS in line with a contractor to ensure safe charging and discharging. BMS chosen was an Orion Jr.2, the cell taps can be seen next to the power leads.
This is the scaled version of the tracked Hyperloop pod concept.
The pod was mainly constructed of carbon fiber with a custom carbon fiber exterior shell. Pneumatic brakes to stop and electric propulsion to propel. Liquid-cooled ESCs drove our LMT motors and we estimated an 8:1 power-to-weight ratio.
RMC Lunabotics Rover stripped to its drivetrain.
Outside of the frame of the photo, we are testing the LiDAR and IMU to ensure mapping capabilities. All the electronics are comprised into a single E-Box, this E-Box is tested on a testbench where we can run motors freely without the risk of breaking a mechanical system.
Hoverpod used linear hover engines from Arx Pax.
Each engine was mounted at a pivot connected to two linear actuators. The actuators would control the tilt, changing the thrust vector produced by the engines. A Jetson Nano would take in sensor data to feed back into a control loop to stabilize itself.