// HARDWARE · 2025–2025
DEPLOYABLE HEATED BLIZZARD SHELTER.
An umbrella-style rapid-deploy shelter with closed-loop electronic heating, built at the CGCU Extreme Engineering Challenge.
// SPEC
ROLE
Electronics and ideation
WITH
6-person team
ORG
CGCU Extreme Hardware Makeathon
TOOLS
Arduino, ESP32
SKILLS
Prototyping, Firmware
// SHOWCASE
DEMO LINK — NOT SET- ▢ MEDIA SLOT 01image or video — add in the owner console
- ▢ MEDIA SLOT 02image or video — add in the owner console
§ 01
CONTEXT
Blizzard survival is a compound problem: hypothermia, wind exposure, snow loading, fatigue and reduced dexterity all arrive at once, and each one narrows what a person can physically do.
§ 02
OBJECTIVES
- 01Deploy in seconds with cold, gloved hands
- 02Insulate and stay anchored in wind
- 03Provide active heating on a limited battery budget
§ 03
PROCESS
We translated the hazards into requirements for rapid deployment, insulation, stability and active heating, then co-developed an umbrella-style mechanism using a central snow spike, pull-cord deployment and arm-mounted anchors, shaping the shelter as a truncated cone to reduce broad wind-facing surfaces.
I contributed primarily to the electronics: a works-like prototype using an ESP32, temperature sensor, heating element and OLED display, with closed-loop control switching heating on only below a defined threshold.
§ 04
DECISIONS
◆ DECISION LOG
Reduced dexterity drove the deployment mechanism — a pull cord, not a set of clips.
§ 05
CHALLENGES
▲ FAILURE / RISK
Battery budget. Continuous heating was never viable, which is what pushed the design toward threshold-triggered closed-loop control rather than a simple on/off heater.
§ 06
OUTCOMES
● RESULT
The design model projected an approximately 12-hour survival window and an estimated 5–6 hours of active battery operation.