Ph.D (Mechatronic Engineering), B.E. Hons (Mechanical Eng.), M.NTT (Cert. Therapist)
Machine design & product development, Mechatronics, Electronics, Computer control, Robotics, Automation, Manufacturing, Software programming, 2D & 3D graphics simulation, Internet technologies, Psychotherapy, Publishing & Consulting services
Hello and thank you for visiting! Welcome to my personal website...
Feel free to download and view my CV ( Check your downloads folder ).
Welcome—and thank you for visiting. Here’s a brief overview of my background, experience, and core areas of expertise.
My journey began in Australia, where I lived from 1974 to 2010. I then spent a decade in Abu Dhabi (UAE) before returning to Brisbane, Queensland in 2020. My entire formal education—spanning primary school through two university degrees—was completed in Australia. I earned a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering with Honours from the University of Queensland, where my final-year focus included robotics, electronics, and automation. I later pursued a Ph.D. in Mechatronic Engineering at the University of Southern Queensland (USQ), funded by a competitive Australian Government Research Scholarship. During my doctoral research, I developed several innovative technologies—including world-first air valves, custom microcontroller systems, and a four-legged pneumatic walking robot.
Following my Ph.D. in 1998, I accumulated over two decades of full-time academic experience across three accredited universities—two in Australia and one in the UAE—specialising in Mechanical Engineering, Mechatronics, and Robotics. My teaching and research areas include motor and actuator control, electrical systems, control theory, sensors, machine vision, software development, automation, and internet technologies. Over the years, I’ve studied more than 300 technical books, undertaken countless practical projects, and reviewed hundreds of academic articles.
A key strength throughout my career has been interdisciplinary innovation. Drawing from engineering, electronics, and computer science, I’ve designed and built a wide range of hardware systems and automation solutions from the ground up. Thousands of students under my supervision have learned to create robotic arms, mobile robots, microcontroller-based systems, and fully functional automation projects—using real-world components such as motors, actuators, sensors, and embedded devices. Many of these students have gone on to launch their own engineering or product development companies, applying the foundational skills they learned in my classes.
In more recent years, I’ve expanded my focus to include human psychology and communication. Since around 2010, I’ve studied over 200 books and completed various courses in psychology, counselling, therapy, and conflict resolution. This has allowed me to support dozens of individuals in improving their relationships, communication skills, self-confidence, mindset, and emotional resilience. I’ve helped people overcome deep personal challenges such as fear, anxiety, trauma, narcissistic abuse, depression, grief, addiction, and unhealthy thought patterns.
At the heart of my work is a simple mission: to make the world a better place by sharing practical, life-enhancing knowledge. With the right mindset, tools, and strategies, every problem has a solution—and every idea has the potential to be realised.
This website showcases my current skillset and interests. With strong research abilities and a passion for independent learning, I can quickly acquire new knowledge and apply it effectively. I also thrive in collaborative environments and work well with most personality types—including those often considered “difficult”—with the exception of openly malicious or destructive individuals.
For anyone interested in improving teamwork, communication, and harmony in professional or personal environments, I highly recommend exploring the Psychology & Ethics page. It offers an in-depth look at the mindsets and behaviours that support strong relationships—and exposes the negative patterns that quietly erode them. These lessons are rarely taught in traditional settings, yet they are essential for emotional wellbeing, healthy workplaces, and peace of mind.
Thanks again for dropping by. I hope you enjoy the content on this site—and find something truly valuable that you can apply to your own life. Wishing you an inspired and empowering day ahead.
Engineering drawing: 2D & 3D AutoCAD, Solidworks, Inventor, etc; Drawing standards & dimensioning
Statics: Load & moment/torque analysis for beams & machine components, 2D/3D trusses, structures
Solid mechanics: Stress & failure analysis, fatigue, column buckling, 3D FEA (ANSYS & Solidworks)
Engineering Materials: Properties, tests, metals/metallurgy, alloys, ceramics, plastics, composites
Manufacturing: Welding, machining, CAM, CNC, forging, sheet-metalwork, casting / foundry practice
Dynamics: Mathematical modeling, 2D & 3D software simulation, SolidWorks simulation, State Space
Component analysis & selection: Fasteners, bearings, beam/column sections, hydraulics, pneumatics
Programming: C/C++, C#.NET, JavaScript, Visual Basic, Pascal, AutoLisp, Fortran, Assembly ASM (HC11)
Development tools: MinGW GCC, Visual Studio, VS-Code, Qt, Xcode, Codesandbox, replit, Codepen, GitHub
Operating systems: Windows (all), Android, Linux (Ubuntu, Debian - BASH), MS-DOS, Unix, macOS, iOS
Software: Office Word, Excel (Spreadsheets, charts), Project, PowerPoint, Outlook, PDF editors, WinZip
Multimedia: Video, Audio & Photo editing (Capcut, Camtasia & OBS screen capture, Audacity, GIMP etc.)
3D / VR (Virtual Reality): Unreal Engine, Unity, three.js, HMDs, Leap Motion, Motion capture equipment
Electronic circuits & devices: AC & DC circuit design, semiconductor devices, power supplies, interface
circuits for reading analog & digital sensors, DAC, ADC, PWM, ISR, Timers, serial RS-232, USB (HID),
LCD screens, keypads, LEDs, 555 Timer chip, Optical encoders, MOSFETs, op-amps, relays, solenoids etc.
Electric motor driver circuits (Stepper motors, Brushed & Brushless DC motors, AC motors), H-bridges,
PCB (Printed Circuit Board) schematics & board design (Protel / Altium, Eagle etc.), PCB manufacturing.
Controller design: Combinational logic, Sequential controllers, Pneumatic/hydraulic circuits, PLCs,
Using & programming Microcontrollers & Single-board computers (HC11, Microchip/Atmel, Arduino, PIC,
Raspberry Pi), Control algorithms - eg. PD, PID feedback control
Mechatronics & Robotics: Control of mobile robots & devices, FK (Forward Kinematics) & IK (Inverse
Kinematics) to control all kinds of robot arms & end-effector tools in 3D space (for accurate position
& orientation); 3D modeling & simulation (animation with SolidWorks, 3DS Max and 3D Game engines),
ROS (Robot Operating System)
Automation hardware: PLC (Programmable Logic Controllers), industrial sensors, machine vision systems,
Pneumatic & hydraulic circuit design (Sequential & Combinational), Brushless & stepper & AC motors, etc.
Network technologies: Internet of Things (IoT); network programming (TCP/IP, UDP), Socket programming,
WinSock, socket.io, Ethernet, Cellular, Bluetooth, Zigbee IEEE 802.15.4 WPANs, WiFi, IEEE 802.11, Web
server & web client programming, sending Emails SMTP, file uploads, DNS, querying, HTTP, HTTPS, OpenSSL,
SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) & TLS (Transport Layer Security), Secure Shell (SSH) authentication (libssh),
file transfers FTP, Secure Copy Protocol (SCP), Network monitoring & security, certificates, hardware, etc.
Website & mobile app development: HTML5/CSS3, Full-stack MERN (MongoDB, Express, React, Node), API
coding, React Native, PWA (Progressive Web Applications), cloud hosting (Heroku, AWS EC2 ECS S3 Fargate),
socket.io apps, Online payment systems (STRIPE, PayPal, etc.), Twilio & SMS messaging, WebRTC video chats,
video streaming, scalable databases (DynamoDB, PostgreSQL), JWT encryption, security & authentication
Teaching work is not only necessary to impart information, but it can inspire people to become creative, inventive and productive. Teaching supports the local economy by preparing people with the knowledge, practical skills and successful attitudes needed to solve real-world problems, create valuable new products and solutions, and provide essential services in a competent manner. Good teachers lead by example... They also inspire and motivate students to become self-motivated enthusiastic 'life-long learners', creative innovators and high achievers who genuinely love what they are doing. Technical knowledge and skills are not enough. In order to work effectively and productively with other people, students also need to learn and master effective communication skills, avoid bad attitudes, and apply good 'people skills' (or success psychology) needed to build and maintain trusting and respectful relationships in the real world.
From 1998-2007, I worked as a full-time Lecturer in Mechatronic & Mechanical Engineering at Curtin University, Perth (Australia), for 9 years... and from 2007-2010, I worked at USQ in Toowoomba (Australia), for 3 years, doing similar work. From 2010-2020, I worked as an Assistant Professor at Khalifa University (in Abu Dhabi, the top University in the UAE - close to Dubai) for 10 years, where I taught product development, manufacturing, mechanical engineering, mechatronics, robotics and electronics. I created new teaching materials and lab activities, and taught thousands of engineering students in 23 different courses. I supervised over 60 capstone student engineering projects, several of which won "Best project" awards in National Technology Exhibitions and Design Competitions.
Every year, I was able to 'meet expectations' in 'Performance evaluation' reviews. Typically, in my Department, I achieved above average scores in 'Teaching quality' evaluation surveys submitted online by students at the end of each semester. I am very good at making complicated topics simple and easy-to-understand, and usually fun to learn - also, I have a very low or zero failure rate in most classes that I teach. A few times in the past, I have been described in student feedback surveys as 'the best teacher' or 'the best professor on campus', because most students enjoy the way that I teach. I genuinely like helping students to learn, and seeing them improve their skills and self-confidence. Learning does not need to be difficult, tedious, boring, frustrating or painful. The more useful, fun and enjoyable the learning experience is perceived to be, the better the topics and skills will be appreciated, remembered and applied by students. Therefore, I teach real-world concepts and demonstrate practical skills that are relevant and beneficial in the careers of practicing engineers and product developers working in industry. I am also aware of almost all the modern technologies and emerging trends in the fields of mechanical engineering, robotics, computer control, internet technologies, and software development.
See 'Reviews' page...
See 'Teaching philosophy' page...
Research and Development (R & D) activities are important for advancing mankind's knowledge and creating better or new solutions to problems. Researchers and inventors are creating new technologies and products every day, and are making lives much easier, safer, more comfortable and more enjoyable for everyone. In my opinion, coming up with new ideas and solutions to challenging problems and turning them into reality is one of the most exciting and rewarding activities in life. See 'Research' page.
Service work is a great way to 'give back' to the community, help other researchers and publishers in your field, and to encourage other people, especially young people, to pursue an exciting and rewarding career in life.
In the past, I served on the organizing committees of the M2VIP (Mechatronics & Machine Vision in Practice) International Conference, and the IEEE RAS (Robotics & Automation Society), UAE chapter. I volunteered as a paper reviewer for several conference organizers, international journals and technical books. Also, I was interviewed in several news stories (on TV news, TV shows, radio interviews and in newspapers), describing new high-tech inventions, technologies, and robotics competitions. I volunteered as an invited 'Judge' at several technology design competitions (in Australia and the UAE). I also promoted the engineering profession and robotics technologies at annual University 'Open Days', at Government funded public science exhibitions and in many High School visits - to encourage young people to become future engineers.
