Lek Man

Aerospace Engineering undergraduate at UC San Diego, passionate about building robots, drones, and mechatronic systems. I enjoy turning ideas into functional machines through projects, competitions, and collaborations. Welcome to my portfolio!

Lek Man
Holding the first ever functional aircraft I built

Hello — I’m Lek. I design, build, and iterate on mechatronic systems that bridge mechanical design, embedded firmware, control systems, and real-time software. My work sits at the intersection of hardware and software: from autonomous UAV subsystems to mechatronic prototypes and custom motor controllers.

Quick snapshot:

  • 🎓 Currently: Freshman, UC San Diego — Aerospace Engineering
  • 🏫 Previously: Christian Alliance International School (founded the Mechanical Engineering Club)
  • 🔭 Interests: UAV systems, control & embedded firmware, CAD & prototyping, and systems-level integration

Why I build

I’ve always learned best by making. Early curiosity about how things move led me to lead teams, mentor younger students, and deliver projects that were used in competitions and school showcases. I enjoy projects where mechanical design, sensing, and low-level control come together to solve a real problem.

Selected highlights

  • Founder & President — Mechanical Engineering Club (MEC): grew a small club into a 20+ member engineering group with funded projects, workshops, and school-wide exhibitions. See club projects and events on the MEC page.

  • Team Member — Triton Unmanned Aerial Systems (UCSD): contributed to UAV subsystems including antenna tracking, avionics integration, and mission preparations for the SUAS competition (Top ~25% worldwide).

  • Greendeck VR Competition — Champion: led a small team building a 3D interactive model using Unity and SketchUp.

Representative projects (short)

  • Antenna tracker — a dual-axis, GPS-aware tracker that keeps a high-gain Yagi pointed at a moving aircraft. Highlights: ESP32 firmware (UDP telemetry), magnetometer calibration (ellipsoid fit), Onshape CAD, PID control and modified servos.

    More details

  • Camera gimbal — 2-axis stabilization with IMU sensing and custom ESC/FOC motor control. Demonstrates CAD, motor control (FOC), and embedded systems.

    More details

  • Other projects: Ball-balancing robot, CNC pen plotter, and robot turret — diverse maker projects combining CV, control loops, GRBL/Arduino, and desktop fabrication. Check the Projects index for details.

    My Other Projects

Learnings & skills

  • Mechanical: Onshape CAD, Fusion 360 CAD, FDM 3D printing, Resin 3D printing, Power tools, structural prototyping, mechanical bearings and mounts, Laser cutting
  • Embedded & firmware: ESP32/Arduino, STM32, sensor interfacing (I2C, UART), PID tuning, PCB design on Altium, real-time control loops
  • Control & algorithms: PID control, sensor calibration (magnetometer ellipsoid fit), coordinate transforms (ECEF), sensor fusion concepts
  • Software & tooling: Python (calibration scripts, data processing), MAtlab, Git & GitHub (project documentation), Unity (VR prototype)

Media & demonstrations

For full demos and galleries, visit the Experiences and Projects sections:

  • MEC (Mechanical Engineering Club): gallery and event highlights, including club-built demonstrations and open-morning showcases.
MEC group photo
  • SUAS competition page: pre-mission videos and in-field footage from the Triton UAS team.

How I work

  • Team-first: I prioritize collaboration and clear communication when integrating multi-disciplinary systems.
  • Iterative & test-driven: prototype early, validate in software-in-the-loop, then iterate hardware and firmware together.
  • Documentation-minded: I keep project documentation and demos public when possible (links in each project page).

If you’d like to dig deeper: