Embedded systems and hardware R&D

Muhammad Faiz Assariy

I take field hardware from CAD to firmware to first test. Robotics and computer vision for agriculture, designed and built where it has to survive soil, vibration, and weather.

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At a glance

Depok, West Java Based in, open to Jabodetabek on-site
2026 S.Tr.Kom., IPB University, GPA 3.52
2 papers, 1 patent Peer-reviewed publications and a pending patent application
Open to work Hardware R&D, embedded, and firmware engineering

Selected work

Systems built to survive the field

Five projects, each with the problem, the constraints, what I owned, and what the tests showed. Deeper notes sit behind the disclosures so the page stays scannable.

ANTRAC: anthracnose detection UGV

An AI-enabled unmanned ground vehicle that finds chilli anthracnose in the field and sprays fungicide only where the crop needs it.

Role
Mechanical design, fabrication, and electrification lead
Timeline
Jan 2025 to Oct 2025
Team
University research team across mechanical, electronics, and vision
Status
Launched by IPB University in May 2025

The problem

Chilli anthracnose spreads fast and is usually found by walking the rows. Scouting is slow, and uniform spraying wastes chemical on healthy plants. A field robot has to detect the disease, survive soil and vibration, and dose only the affected canopy.

What I did

  • Led 3D mechanical design in Fusion 360: chassis, drivetrain, and mounting for the vision and spraying payload.
  • Implemented radio control for the 240 W DC drive motor by reverse-engineering its undocumented controller, recovering the control path by measurement rather than from a datasheet.
  • Integrated the YOLOv8 detection model on the robot’s Jetson Nano and tested it on the physical robot and on the ANTRAC web dashboard.
  • Fabricated the structure in the workshop: machining, welding, and 3D printing.
  • Handled electrification and wiring, including power distribution and grounding for the ESP32 and motor stages.
  • Integrated the pesticide spraying station with the vehicle platform, which became my final project and a journal paper.
Constraints and hard parts
  • Uneven soil and vibration demanded a chassis that could be repaired in a workshop, not a clean room.
  • The off-the-shelf controller for the 240 W drive motor shipped with no protocol documentation, so the control path had to be recovered by measurement.
  • Power for motors, pumps, and compute had to share one battery budget without browning out the ESP32.

UGV-integrated pesticide spraying station

ESP32 control of three tank paths and a ten-nozzle boom, dosed by canopy size instead of a fixed rate.

Final project, IPB University · 2025 to 2026

What I built

  • ESP32 firmware (ESP-IDF and Arduino Core) driving three tank paths and a ten-nozzle boom.
  • A WebSocket command interface so an operator dashboard can send per-plant dose commands.
  • Canopy-based dose calculation, converting detected canopy size into a millilitre command.
  • Bench validation against an emulated dashboard before any field run.

What the tests showed

The station delivered 87.7% to 91.6% of a 560 mL command under the tested conditions, a shortfall of 8.4% to 12.3%. Wi-Fi association held to 50 m along the tested path. The shortfall traced back to pump and line calibration rather than the command path, so the fix is a flow-rate calibration step, not a new pump.

Measurements from the project test log, reported in the JASTH paper.

3tank paths
10nozzles on the boom
50 mWi-Fi association on test path
560 mLreference command used in test
Delivered dose as a share of the 560 mL command

Fungicide applicator robot, national research team

Research lead on mechanical, electronics, and microcontroller design for a chilli anthracnose applicator robot.

MBKM research programme · Aug 2024 to Dec 2024

I led the team through requirements, mechanical layout, the electronics stack, and the microcontroller bring-up. The programme evaluated the finished work at 90 out of 100.

90/100Programme evaluation
Research leadMechanical, electronics, firmware
NationalCross-discipline student team

Chilli anthracnose detection with YOLOv8, running on the ANTRAC Jetson Nano

A YOLOv8 object-detection model for anthracnose and non-anthracnose chilli fruit, trained on field images from three sites in Bogor Regency and integrated on the robot’s Jetson Nano.

MBKM non-competition research · Jan to Jun 2025

This is the perception half of the ANTRAC programme: teaching a model to separate healthy fruit from anthracnose lesions under real field lighting, with Roboflow used for dataset preparation.

Why it matters for the hardware: a dose command is only as good as the canopy measurement behind it. Detection latency and false positives set the ceiling on how precisely the sprayer can act.

What the evaluation showed

Recall on the anthracnose class was 0.45, from 24 of 53 instances, against 0.73 for non-anthracnose. Anthracnose is roughly one instance in five in this dataset, so the class is under-represented. The honest read is that the model is not yet reliable enough to gate a spray command on its own, and collecting more anthracnose samples is the next step before it is.

Metrics from the project’s training and validation logs.

0.65mAP@0.5
0.41mAP@0.5:0.95
150training epochs

SoltarinE: two-axis solar tracker

A tracking solar charging station for electric farm machinery, built and published as a conference paper.

Research assistant, IPB University · Feb 2024 to Oct 2024

I designed the 3D model and assembly for the two-axis tracker and implemented the microcontroller-based actuator control that keeps the panel facing the sun. The result was written up as a conference paper with the wider team.

Off the clock

Hardware and software I build for myself, all public.

75special-key

A 75-key mechanical keyboard designed around a full top row: tilde and backquote stay put, ESC joins the F-key column, and the case is built to be opened and serviced.

Keyboard design

ipb-assariy

An agent package for academic research and writing at IPB University: a staged question to research to implementation workflow, the PPKI v4 writing standard, and LaTeX tooling.

Python

arsikom-moodle

Moodle deployed on Docker as a distance-learning service for a vocational programme, with the surrounding Linux and network setup.

Docker, PHP

dotfiles

My Linux workstation configuration: Hyprland on Arch, tuned for hardware work and long build sessions.

Shell

Earlier coursework

Recorded demos from Teknologi Rekayasa Komputer (Sekolah Vokasi IPB University), where the deliverable had to actually run. Kept short because the projects above carry the weight for an embedded role.

WinBox session showing the wireless interfaces, hotspot user dialog and DHCP server of the MikroTik router
WinBox walkthrough MikroTik configuration run, October 2024.
Cover image for the group's submitted video: Pengelolaan Inventaris Komponen Elektronika, kelompok 2 B2
Inventory demo The group’s own cover for the submitted video.

Experience

  1. Aug 2023 to Jun 2026

    Teaching Assistant, Vocational School, IPB University

    Supported seven courses across computer engineering and aquaculture, running roughly 100 practicum sessions for groups of 10 to 30 students. Taught microcontroller programming, sensor and actuator integration, fuzzy logic control, and YOLO-based vision with Roboflow and the ESP32-CAM.

    Diagnosed embedded faults day to day: wiring, communication protocols, grounding, PWM signals, and ESP32 brownouts. Supervised safe workshop use, machining, welding, and 3D printing.

  2. Aug 2025 to Dec 2025

    Laboratory Intern, Electromechanical Workshop, IPB University

    Maintained laboratory computers and workshop equipment, tracked 20 to 50 tools, and prepared machines and stations for scheduled classes. Troubleshot 3D printers, welding equipment, a plasma cutter, a lathe, a milling machine, and a bench drill. Completed the placement for 12 credits with an A.

  3. Jan 2025 to Oct 2025

    Research Assistant, ANTRAC, IPB University

    Led 3D mechanical design, fabrication, and electrification for the anthracnose detection robot, reverse-engineered an undocumented motor controller to add radio control, integrated the YOLOv8 model on the Jetson Nano, and integrated the spraying station. The robot was launched by IPB University in May 2025.

  4. Feb 2024 to Oct 2024

    Research Assistant, SoltarinE, IPB University

    Designed the 3D model and assembly for a two-axis solar tracker and implemented microcontroller-based actuator control. Co-authored the conference paper that came out of the work.

  5. Sep 2023 to Aug 2024

    Staff, Software, Hardware, and Network, Himavo Micro-IT Community

    Community staff covering software, hardware, and networking work alongside studies.

Publications, patents, and training

Peer-reviewed papers

  • 2026

    Development of a Pesticide Spraying Station for Integration with the ANTRAC UGV

    Assariy, M. F., & Siskandar, R. Journal of Applied Science, Technology & Humanities (JASTH).

    doi.org/10.62535/12w91802
  • 2024

    SoltarinE: Solar charging station eco friendly as a charging solution for electric farm machinery

    Siskandar, R., et al. E3S Web of Conferences, 577, 01011. Co-author.

    doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/202457701011

Intellectual property

  • Pending

    Patent application P00202406961

    Camera-motion control system for freshwater fish monitoring. Inventor and co-applicant. Published 26 Jan 2026.

  • Registered

    Registered copyright 000759678

    Microcontroller-based robot locomotion system for dryland agriculture. Creator.

Training

  • CCNAv7 coursework, Introduction to Networks, Cisco Networking Academy, Dec 2022
  • CCNAv7 coursework, Enterprise Networking, Security, and Automation, Cisco Networking Academy, Jun 2024

Coursework completed through the Cisco Networking Academy. The 200-301 certification exam has not been taken.

Education

IPB University, Bogor

Applied Bachelor (S.Tr.Kom.), Computer Engineering Technology

Aug 2022 to Sep 2026 · GPA 3.52/4.00 · Predicate: Sangat Memuaskan

Relevant coursework

Embedded Systems, Intelligent Systems, Artificial Intelligence, Computer Networks, Process Optimisation and Control.

Final project

A UGV-integrated pesticide spraying station for anthracnose control, published in JASTH.

Toolbox

Programming

C, C++, Python, Shell

Embedded and firmware

ESP32 (ESP-IDF, Arduino Core), STM32, Arduino, NVIDIA Jetson Nano, UART, I2C, SPI, PWM

Electronics and PCB

KiCad 9, EasyEDA, Eagle, Proteus, schematic capture, PCB design, wiring and grounding practice

Mechanical design and fabrication

Fusion 360, Onshape, 3D printing, machining, welding, plasma cutting

AI and control

YOLOv8, CNN, Roboflow, fuzzy logic control, MATLAB

Networking and IoT

Wi-Fi, MQTT, WebSocket, TCP/IP, DHCP, DNS, subnets

Software and validation

Git and GitHub, Linux, Docker, system integration, prototype testing, flow-rate calibration, wireless range testing, fault diagnosis

Available for hardware R&D, embedded, and firmware engineering roles in Jabodetabek

If you are building field hardware and need someone who can design the board, write the firmware, and test it where it will actually run, write to me.

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