Product development · Summer 2026

PawGuard

An autonomous indoor rover concept designed around a real caregiving problem at home.

Assembly animationExploded sequence · SolidWorks

Engineering drawingPG-ASM-001 · A3 · Exploded assembly + BOM ↗

Role: Mechanical design + system integration
Primary tool: SolidWorks
Project type: Independent EEP project
Final scope: CAD package + documentation

01 / Why PawGuard

A real problem before it was an engineering problem.

My senior dog had started forgetting familiar habits, creating a constant supervision challenge for my family. PawGuard began with a simple question: could a small, friendly robot help us keep an eye on him when no one could be there continuously?

The intent was never to scare, chase, or punish him. I designed a quiet, low-speed monitoring concept that could move through normal indoor spaces, observe behavior, and add a physical bumper as a backup safety layer.

Final PawGuard autonomous rover exterior concept — Final exterior concept · The enclosure was developed around the internal system, not treated as a cosmetic shell.

02 / System architecture

One compact package. Four systems that had to coexist.

The central challenge was not choosing impressive components. It was deciding where each subsystem belonged, what clearance it needed, and what it might interfere with.

Compute

Raspberry Pi 4 with ESP32 low-level control.

Perception

Forward camera and time-of-flight distance sensing.

Mobility

Two rear drive wheels and a front caster.

Safety + power

Physical bumper switches and a separated power strategy.

Exploded isometric view of the PawGuard rover architecture — Exploded isometric · Functional groups remain legible without losing the overall product form.

03 / Mechanical architecture

Packaging before styling.

Several placements worked in one view and failed in another. I repeatedly checked the assembly from the top, side, rear, and underside—then rebuilt the surrounding geometry.

Center of gravity

Heavy batteries stayed low and close to the centerline.

Clearance

Wheel envelopes, motors, brackets, and shell were checked together.

Access

Major electronics remained reachable for wiring and service.

Bottom view showing PawGuard internal component packaging — Internal layout · Packaging verified from the underside.

Front view of PawGuard showing the safety bumper and caster

04 / Front module + safety

A functional face.

Camera, distance sensors, bumper switches, bumper travel, and caster motion all converge at the front. I developed them as one shared architecture instead of mounting each part independently.

Moving sensors outward improves angular coverage, but increases the width of the module and competes with the bumper, wheel envelope, and enclosure. The design balances coverage with compactness.

05 / Engineering judgment

Choosing a stronger finish over an incomplete prototype.

Once the true system cost and integration effort became visible, I froze the feature set and focused on finishing the mechanical design, documentation, and communication to a professional standard.

$403.42estimated full-system budget

33BOM line items documented

4system domains integrated

Reducing scope was not giving up on the project. It was learning to separate the most important engineering objective from the version I first imagined.

06 / Final package

Designed from every angle.

PawGuard underside isometric render — Underside packaging

PawGuard side exploded assembly view — Side exploded architecture

Outcome

Real need. Clear intent. A complete engineering story.

PawGuard became a full CAD-focused product-development package: SolidWorks assembly, custom enclosure and front module, internal packaging, exploded views, 2D drawing, BOM, budget, renders, and animation. More importantly, it strengthened how I make—and explain— engineering decisions.

Explore the rest of my work