Elija Peters

Mechanical engineering student at Purdue, heading toward systems engineering and mechatronics. I build hardware that has to hold a setpoint: closed-loop motion, motor control, and the firmware underneath it.

Elija Peters
Program
Mechanical Engineering
Institution
Purdue University
GPA
3.31
Graduating
May 2029

What I work on

Most of my projects start with the same problem: something needs to move to a commanded position and stay there. That pulls in mechanical design, the electronics that drive it, and the control loop that closes the gap. I do all three: CAD and fabrication, PCB layout in KiCad, and firmware in C. That overlap is where I want to end up working: systems engineering and mechatronics, where the mechanical, electrical, and software sides have to be reasoned about together rather than handed off. Outside coursework I run brake systems for Purdue Electric Racing and work with Purdue Space Program.

Projects

Face-tracking servo turret

Operational · demo below

A two-axis pan/tilt platform that locks onto a face and keeps it centered. Vision runs on a host machine in Python with OpenCV; the frame-space error is fed to a PID loop that drives pan and tilt independently. Tuning the derivative term was the whole game. Too little and it hunts around the target; too much and servo noise turns into visible jitter.

Actuation
2× hobby servo, PCA9685 driver
Control
Independent PID per axis
Vision
Python, OpenCV
Compute
Arduino over serial

Tracking a moving target, unedited.

Desktop CNC router

In development

A three-axis router built from the frame up, running motion-planning firmware I wrote in C rather than an off-the-shelf sender. Trapezoidal acceleration and arc interpolation are handled on the controller, and a lookahead planner carries feedrate through consecutive moves so the machine doesn't decelerate into every corner.

Axes
3, stepper-driven
Firmware
Custom, written in C
Motion
Trapezoidal accel, arc interpolation
Planner
Lookahead across moves
Build in progress, photos to follow

Motor driver board

Operational

A standalone driver board taken from schematic capture through PCB layout in KiCad, built to run DC, stepper, and servo motors rather than being tied to one project. The work was in the selection of driver ICs, power stage, and protection circuitry, then validating the board on real motors on the bench.

Tool
KiCad
Drives
DC, stepper, servo
Includes
Power and protection circuitry
Status
Fabricated and validated
Board photos to follow

Experience

Purdue Electric Racing

Brake systems · January 2025 to present

I work on the brake system for the club's electric race car: design and development of the hydraulic side, plus integration with regenerative braking so the two blend without the pedal feel falling apart. It's the closest thing I do to real vehicle engineering: fixed packaging, a hard safety case, and a team that has to agree on the interfaces.

Focus
Brake system design
Also
Regenerative braking integration
Context
Student-built electric race car

Independent resale business

Owner · June 2024 to present

A textile recycling and resale operation on Depop doing five-figure annual revenue. I handle sourcing, pricing against demand trends, listings, shipping, and customer communication end to end.

Retail

Fresh Thyme Market, Walmart · 2023 to present

Front-end and inventory work alongside school. At Walmart I trained new associates and moved up to team lead.

Get in touch

elijajp07@gmail.com linkedin.com/in/elija-peters Resume