Andrew Cho

Mechanical Engineering Intern at Urban Sky

Urban Sky develops stratospheric balloons, including systems that can actively control altitude. During my mechanical engineering internship in summer 2026, I led the end-to-end development of a lightweight electromechanical winch for one of these systems.

I took the project from early concepts through detailed mechanical design and prototyping. I used analytical calculations and FEA to optimize the structure for high loads while keeping the system lightweight and compact, and designed the assembly in Onshape.

I also worked on the electronics and closed-loop motor control, then iterated through several prototypes before transitioning to machined hardware and validating the final system through load testing.

Foldable Hiking Chair, CMU 24-262 Mechanics II

I worked with a team of three to design and build a lightweight hiking chair that folds into a backpack. The goal was to make something portable, reliable, and quick to set up for hiking in Acadia National Park.

We designed and iterated the chair in SolidWorks while building physical prototypes along the way. I used free body diagrams and hand calculations to understand how the user's weight transferred through the frame, then used ANSYS FEA to check the design under load.

The final prototype weighed around 2.8 lbs and supported over 200 lbs without failure. Our analysis also showed a factor of safety of about 4.4 under an 80 kg load.

Flight Stick

Custom force-feedback flight stick featuring a two-axis gimbal, brushless motors, magnetic encoders, and embedded control electronics.

CMU NASA Lunabotics Team

Designed and built a modular tracked-rover drivetrain for CMU’s NASA Lunabotics team, improving reliability and reducing manufacturing costs by roughly $3,000.

CMU MetaMobility Lab

Mechanical design and analysis work focused on improving components for a wearable robotic exoskeleton.