This article was originally published on 28th November 2023.
“A pinch of patience, two grains of perseverance, and a big hammer in the backpack—bigger the better.” That’s how Saraansh always describes the perfect formula for a great engineer. And if you ever catch him walking into his backyard laboratory/ workshop in Sunnyvale, California one of these days, you’d see exactly what he means.
Year 2006! Russia’s Institute of Applied Mechanics unveils an extraordinary aircraft—a cosmoplane that takes off and lands like a conventional plane but operates like a spacecraft at higher altitudes, flying at speeds of up to 30,000 kilometers per hour. Powered by hypersonic engines fueled by hydrogen and oxygen, the success of its 1:25 scale model ignited a spark of excitement in little Saraansh, propelling his imagination to new heights.
Ten years later, Saraansh, now a young man with a passion for revolutionizing the realm of mechanical designing, goes on to build his own RF radio-controller aircraft, an endeavor that he takes particular pride in and views as a significant milestone in shaping his future.
The journey wasn’t easy. As with every young engineer, Saraansh’s path was filled with setbacks. Early models malfunctioned, miscalculations threw off his designs, and the inevitable technical failures often left him questioning his ability. After ten failed prototypes, it was the 11th design that finally took flight. He says he can never forget the surrealness of the moment he launched it into the sky. This is Saraansh Saxena for you—a young mind with the power to turn curiosity into groundbreaking solutions.
From the bustling streets of Jaipur, India, this curious little boy was always a step ahead of his peers. While other children spent their time playing with toys, he would quietly take them apart, his eyes lighting up with fascination as he uncovered the hidden world inside. The amusing part? He still does the same today, but it’s not toys anymore.
He has replaced them with laptops, tablets, and fancy electronic gadgets. Improved standards of living, you see! Each piece, each mechanism, sparked a new wonder, and with every toy he dismantled, he was not just exploring its insides—he was piecing together his own understanding of how the world worked. His inquisitive nature fueled his creativity and innovation as a child, giving him the exceptional ability to think outside the box.
He had his first breakthrough as a middle school student when he designed a fan that would enhance airflow during cooking, effectively reducing coal soot exposure and protecting the health of rural families in India. What an impressive initiative!
However, Saraansh’s journey did not end with just one or two inventions. As he looked around, he identified yet another pressing challenge faced by many families—keeping meals warm throughout the day. In a world where electricity wasn’t reliable, families often relied on traditional methods that didn’t always work efficiently. So, Saraansh came up with a brilliant portable tiffin warmer that used exothermic chemical reactions to generate heat to keep the food warm.
It was a simple yet game-changing idea that allowed families to enjoy warm, nutritious meals without depending on unreliable energy sources. This invention didn’t just address a logistical need—it gave people a sense of convenience and comfort, all thanks to Saraansh’s ingenuity.
Through his inventions, Saraansh proved that even the youngest minds could create solutions that mattered. His ability to see challenges as opportunities and to come up with innovative, practical solutions made him a true trailblazer, a quality that he continues to demonstrate even today.
Cars fascinate Saraansh! Broadly speaking, the complexity of moving parts is what does the magic for him. They always have and always will! “When I was very little, I used to keep on bombarding my father with questions regarding every other machine that caught my eye. God, did he have enormous amounts of patience!
During one such banter, I was able to unveil the concept of controlled explosions powering internal combustion engines. I was left in awe of the genius of man.”, recalls the F1 buff. The intense desire to learn about all the mechanics the world revolved around steered Saraansh towards a career in mechanical engineering. Selecting a university for his undergraduate studies was therefore a clear and easy choice.
“Camber Racing at that time, was a student-led engineering team at SRM university, Chennai that competed in Formula student events across the globe and I was greatly inspired by their work.” Saraansh was drawn to SRM, confident it would lay the groundwork for his future engineering endeavors.
Once he started as an undergraduate there, he joined Enigmatic Plodder, another student-run club working to design a quad bike, which, during his time, was in the prototyping phase. An even better learning opportunity!. With courseworks serving as a solid foundation, Saraansh was able to successfully contribute towards the team’s efforts to optimize the quad bike’s Ackermann geometry and structural integrity of the steering system.
At this point, to not limit himself to small-scale design work on single cars and to broaden his understanding of mass production in the automotive industry, Saraansh decided to pursue an internship with Tata Motors in Pune where he worked on optimizing the assembly process for 4X4 axles in military trucks. Through his design of modular jigs and fixtures, he was able to significantly decrease assembly time and earned accolades.
However, as Saraansh delved deeper into the intricacies of car designing and engineering, it dawned on him that he was playing the role of a dominant environmental polluter owing to the alarming levels of harmful gasses generated by internal combustion engines. The vision of transforming the broader Indian automotive industry into a beacon of sustainability felt far-fetched but he was determined to work towards finding innovative solutions that would pave the way for cleaner, greener alternatives.
Consequently, he seized a semester-long opportunity at Clean Mobility & Thermofluids, a research department in University of Valencia, Spain where he embarked on a project to develop a pollutant prediction model for diesel engines. Using artificial neural networks (ANN), his model achieved about 95% accuracy with only a fifth of the test bench data. His innovation helped companies to rapidly iterate and develop engines without having to run it through its entire lifetime. This project not only honed his skills in data science and machine learning but also marked the beginning of his journey towards eco-friendly automotive solutions, aligning his technical expertise with his environmental ethics.
Saraansh grew up to become one of the founding engineers of Paramagnetix Inc., a revolutionary startup launched by Dr. Nathan Newman of Arizona State University. Their partnership began during Saraansh’s master’s program, where he worked alongside Dr. Newman, who recognized his exceptional talent and passion for solving real-world problems.
At Dr. Newman’s lab, SciHub, he developed an innovative ‘anomaloscope’ designed to assist color-blind individuals in navigating the challenges of anomalous color vision by categorizing people into 14 distinct color-anomalous categories.
What set Saraansh’s creation apart was not only its scientific precision but the deep empathy woven into its design, reflecting his commitment to improving people’s lives. Over the years, Saraansh’s bond with Dr. Newman only deepened, as they continued to push the boundaries of what was possible leading to the birth of Paramgnetix where they embarked on developing a portable chemical analysis device for food quality and safety detection.
Navigating the vibrant yet challenging terrain of a startup, he quickly discovered that technical expertise alone isn’t sufficient. As they say, “There are many good mechanical engineers; there are also many good businessmen; but the two are rarely combined in one person.”
He understood the importance of expanding his knowledge to include the financial viability of products and the economics of their life cycles for driving sustainable success which has led him to pursue a part-time postgraduate degree in management from Campbellsville University, Kentucky.
If you ask him what keeps him awake at night, he might chuckle and say, “Probably my 3D printers.”Currently, he is a proud father of “Jack” and “Susanne”, his 3D printers comfortably residing in his backyard laboratory amidst a plethora of other geeky equipment and machinery. Whenever he gets a moment to spare, he dives into projects that make his creative genes happy.
Here’s where you can learn more about his work: https://www.saraanshsaxena.com/. When he does not have his mechanical engineer’s hat on, he enjoys listening to Neil deGrasse Tyson’s “StarTalk” or occasionally pulling out his Celestron to admire the night sky. You might also find him thanking his stars that his career and hobby are no two different things.
Saraansh’s story is nothing short of inspiring. As a go-getter, Saraansh aspires to materialize his dream of “MAKING A DIFFERENCE”. He possesses an innate desire to make 3D printing accessible to school-going children in developing countries, believing that every child should have the opportunity to unleash their creativity and bring their wildest of imaginations to life.
Looking forward, he aims to empower the next generation of innovators and thinkers, giving them the tools to shape their futures. As persistent as he is, Saraansh not only dreams of a better world but actively works to create it, proving that if you do your bit, you can indeed spark a meaningful change. After all, when things go wrong, “don’t worry! He can always print a new one!
