AJ / BUILD LOG
FIELD NOTE / 001

COMPUTER SCIENCE / UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY

Building systems
that move.

From HVAC compressors to a ROS2-controlled surgical arm.

STATUS: OPEN LAST UPDATED: 2026

01 / WHAT I BUILD

Working systems,
in the open.

01

WayBionic — ROS2 Ground Station

ACTIVE

ROS2 / C++ / PYTHON / RVIZ / SIMULATION

A ground station for remote visibility and control of a surgical robotic arm, with motion tests publishing to a simulated joint-state driver.

OPEN LOG DETAILS
PROBLEM
Give a remote operator real visibility and control over a surgical robotic arm without touching real hardware carelessly.
SYSTEM
ROS2 ground station with 3D visualization, telemetry, camera feeds, safety monitoring, operator controls, and an RViz-based Engineering Monitor. Current motion tests publish to a simulated joint-state driver.
DECISION
Keep movement testing simulated and RViz-only until direct hardware control is ready; do not treat CAD-exported joint names or limits as final before the team confirms actual actuated joints and units.
WHAT'S NEXT
Integrate the real full-arm-smaller model once the complete URDF and mesh/STL asset package arrives.
VIEW PUBLIC REPOSITORY
02

Personal Robotics Roadmap

IN PROGRESS

LEROBOT / MUJOCO / ISAAC LAB / NAV2

A sequence for building robotics skill in simulation first: imitation learning, reinforcement learning, then navigation and SLAM.

OPEN LOG DETAILS
PROBLEM
Build real robotics skill in sequence without needing to buy hardware up front.
SYSTEM
Start with Hugging Face LeRobot in MuJoCo simulation, then NVIDIA Isaac Lab for reinforcement-learning locomotion, then ROS2 Nav2 and SLAM.
DECISION
Use the simulated MuJoCo environment instead of the physical LeRobot SO-101 kit to keep the project free while learning the same skills.
WHAT'S NEXT
SmolVLA fine-tuning as a stretch goal.
03

HVAC Express

SHIPPED

WORDPRESS / INFRASTRUCTURE

A real web presence and technical infrastructure for a family-run Calgary heating and cooling company.

OPEN LOG DETAILS
PROBLEM
A family-run Calgary HVAC company needed a real web presence and someone to own its technical infrastructure.
SYSTEM
The company site and infrastructure at calgaryhvacexpress.ca, built and maintained on WordPress.
DECISION
Own the technical side while also doing direct sales, pairing build-it responsibility with customer conversations.
VISIT LIVE SITE
04

Autonomous Obstacle-Avoiding Rover

SHIPPED

JAVA / PHIDGETS SDK / CS30 CAPSTONE

A wireless rover that detects and avoids obstacles with independent left and right motor control and sonar-based distance sensing.

OPEN LOG DETAILS
PROBLEM
Make a hardware system detect obstacles and respond without relying on a purely software abstraction.
SYSTEM
A Java program using the Phidgets SDK, independent motor control, sonar sensing, configurable acceleration modes, and closed-loop obstacle response.
DECISION
Separate movement, sensing, acceleration, and challenge logic into a class hierarchy so the hardware-control problem remained testable and understandable.
WHAT'S NEXT
The resume records this as a completed capstone project.

WAYBIONIC / SYSTEM MAP

The arm is
not ready yet.

Motion tests stay in RViz until the complete arm asset package arrives and the team confirms the real actuated joints and units.

WayBionic simulated joint map Four joints in a line diagram of the arm: base yaw, shoulder, elbow, and wrist roll. BASE_YAW SHOULDER ELBOW WRIST_ROLL

JOINT STATUS / SIMULATION ONLY

BASE_YAW

Real joint names, limits, and units pending team confirmation.

WayBionic Engineering Monitor showing a mock normal state in RViz.
ENGINEERING MONITOR / MOCK NORMAL
WayBionic Engineering Monitor showing a mock fault state with alerts in RViz.
ENGINEERING MONITOR / MOCK FAULT

02 / HOW I THINK

Keep the hardware
in the loop.

WAYBIONIC / ENGINEERING DECISION

The movement test stays simulated and RViz-only until the system is genuinely ready for direct hardware control.

CAD-exported joint names and limits are not treated as final until the team confirms the actual actuated joints and units. The current ground station publishes commands to a simulated joint-state driver.

03 / WHAT I HAVE DONE

Work that has
to keep running.

HVAC EXPRESS / TECHNICAL LEAD + DIRECT SALES

Site, infrastructure, and the work of owning both the build and the conversation.

A family-run Calgary heating and cooling company. Aj owns the technical side and does direct sales.

CHINOOK CLEAN / OWNER

A power-washing business run from the ground up.

A compact record of ownership and entrepreneurship.

WAYBIONIC ROBOTICS / UCalgary CLUB

A ROS2 ground station for a remote-teleoperated surgical arm.

Visibility, simulated motion tests, and a careful path toward the real arm model.

MOUNT ROYAL UNIVERSITY / LEARNING PEER

One-on-one academic support for technical coursework.

Developed materials to help students understand technical coursework.

04 / WHERE I AM HEADED

A sequence,
not a shortcut.

Aiming toward a top-tier robotics company and currently searching for robotics-related internships across Canada and the US, alongside a Computer Science degree at the University of Calgary, expected April 2030 after transferring from Mount Royal University.

  1. 01 Hugging Face LeRobot in MuJoCo simulation
  2. 02 NVIDIA Isaac Lab for reinforcement-learning locomotion
  3. 03 ROS2 Nav2 and SLAM
  4. 04 SmolVLA fine-tuning / stretch goal
CERTIFICATIONS / CISCO INTRODUCTION TO CYBERSECURITY / GOOGLE INTRODUCTION TO GENERATIVE AI / GOOGLE INTRODUCTION TO LARGE LANGUAGE MODELS / JULY 2026

05 / CURRENT TOOLSET

Tools for the
next iteration.

LANGUAGES

Java, Python, JavaScript / Node.js, HTML / CSS

ROBOTICS + SYSTEMS

ROS2, RViz, URDF, MuJoCo, NVIDIA Isaac Lab, SLAM / Nav2

ENGINEERING CONCEPTS

OOP + inheritance, data structures, file I/O, event-driven programming, hardware integration

TOOLS + PLATFORMS

Git / GitHub, Java Swing, Phidgets SDK, IntelliJ IDEA, WordPress / PHP

06 / RECOGNITION

Evidence of
the work behind it.

ACADEMICS

Dean's List at the University of Calgary and Mount Royal University.

SUPPORT

$10,000+ in scholarships and grants.

MATHEMATICS

Gauss Mathematics Contest Excellence Award from the University of Waterloo.

COMMUNITY

Community Service Recognition Award.

07 / GET IN TOUCH

Open to the next
system to build.

DOWNLOAD RESUME / DOCX EMAIL / KHIDRI.AJMAL@GMAIL.COM GITHUB / AJ0KHI LINKEDIN / AJMAL KHIDRI