Ballu

BALLU stands for Buoyancy Assisted Lightweight Legged Unit.

Developed by previous RoMeLa students, BALLU’s unconventional and low-cost design makes it suitable for applications such as ecological surveying and entertainment. I explored the feasibility of using long-range radio (LoRa) to improve wireless communication robustness and reliability in noisy and extended-range environments.

With my contribution to the project, Ballu was recently featured as part of an interactive art installation at ICRA 2025.

Detailed Contributions:
‍- Routed a peripheral PCB containing an SX1262 LoRa transceiver IC, RF matching circuitry, and an FFC connector.
- Migrated BALLU’s firmware from Arduino to PlatformIO.
- Implemented a custom LoRa protocol to the existing firmware.
- Assisted in robot assembly and minor hardware improvements.

Skills:
‍- Fundamental RF design principles (PCB)
- SMT reworking- C++ firmware development
- Python programming

Transitioning from Bluetooth to LoRa communication