Saleem A. Al Dajani
MIT CEE PhD @ AbuGoot and Gladyshev Labs
HTMAA 2025 · Making + AI for Aging & Longevity
Welcome
This is my home base for How to Make (Almost) Anything. I’m documenting weekly assignments, fabrication experiments, and a final project that bridges making with aging & health analytics.
Each week covers new processes—from laser cutting and 3D printing to PCB design, embedded programming, and edge AI—with detailed build logs, design files, and lessons learned along the way. Together, they trace how the Aging Clock Device evolved from early sketches into a fully integrated system.
Now
- Final project focus
Aging Clock Device: an edge-AI system that collects the data to fuse grip strength, facial expression, voice, motion, reaction time, and wearable accelerometry into an intrinsic capacity score. See the final project → - Focus this week
System integration, testing, and final documentation for the Aging Clock Device—bringing together camera, reaction-time, grip-strength, voice, and wearable subsystems into one coherent aging-assessment system. See the system integration → - Local time
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Weekly Documentation
Lab Links & Logistics
- Class site — MAS.863
- Home base — EDS 38‑501 (hours: Sun 1p–12a; Mon–Thu 9a–12a; Fri 9a–5p)
- Safety & training — machine checkouts, PPE, material inventory
- Workflow — design (CAD) → toolpaths (CAM) → fabricate → test → iterate → document
Aging Clock Device
Edge AI system that combines SenseCraft vision, ReactionAge latency testing, grip-force sensing, wearable streaming, and molded packaging into one self-contained assessment system.
Check out the full final project documentation →
Learn how the final project was integrated →
See how the final project answers the HTMAA questions →
Toolchain Starter Kit
Minimal templates for week docs (Markdown → HTML), BOM tables, parametric CAD files, and reproducible build recipes.
See the latest weekly documentation template →
Scratchpad
- Design doc: problem → constraints → experiments → results → risks → next steps.
- Document failures first; post photos, tool settings, and source files weekly.
- Target 1 new process/week (laser, PCB mill, composites, etc.).
Checklists
- ✔️ Git repo + web hosting set up
- ⬜ Shop safety & machine training
- ⬜ BOM tracker + suppliers
- ⬜ Sensor test harness (ECG/PPG)
Reading & Inspiration
Fabrication, sensing, and health tech; plus a few works-in-progress from my broader research.
- HTMAA Archive — past projects & processes for reference.
- OpenAI × Retro — lab/AI synergy inspiration.
- Trackio — simple experiment tracking (WIP).
Contact
sdajani [at] mit.edu · Google Scholar
Bio
I am a PhD student in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), with joint affiliations at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH, part of Mass General Brigham) and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC, part of Beth Israel Lahey Health) at Harvard Medical School (HMS), where I am a member of the Abudayyeh-Gootenberg Lab and the Gladyshev Lab. I am also affiliated with the Mesoscale Nuclear Materials (MNM) Group in the Short Lab within the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering at MIT. My research integrates the mechanics of materials under extreme conditions with machine learning to advance health, aging, and longevity science.
Ethical AI Usage
Session transcripts where ChatGPT and Cursor AI helped refine designs, code, and plans for this course.
General Commands for Cursor
Standard guidelines and commands used consistently throughout documentation development with Cursor AI.
- Media Documentation: Add captions and descriptions for all images and videos to ensure comprehensive documentation.
- Content Refinement: Make all text professional and succinct while preserving key technical details and context.
- Organization & Aesthetics: Structure information clearly and make it visually appealing with consistent formatting and layout.
- Content Processing: Refine raw notes before adding to pages—don't simply copy-paste prompts; synthesize and improve content.
- Version Control: Commit and push changes in small batches (<25MB) to avoid sync limits. Push and sync with each small commit since limits apply at sync time. Don't use ffmpeg—files are already compressed; handle large files one at a time.
- Documentation Updates: Update Ethical AI Use sections with transcript references (XXX.md), providing options to download markdown or view HTML transcript (run .md to .html script in scripts directory).
- Summary Generation: After adding images and videos, create summaries for each subsubsection based on the media content. Keep summaries structured, organized, and easy to follow with hyperlinks for dependencies. Generate global summaries for each subsection based on subsubsection summaries, and section summaries based on subsection summaries.
Week 0
Initial setup and homepage development
- Drafting email for registration approval — 09/07/25
- HTMAA homepage structure & styling — 09/10/25
AI-Assisted HTML Generation Script
Created a Python script to automatically convert Cursor AI markdown transcripts to styled HTML files for better browser viewing.
Usage: python3 scripts/md_to_html_converter.py input.md output.html "Title" "Description"
AI-Assisted Prompt Generation
Developed systematic prompts for consistent footer updates and content management across all pages in the HTMAA documentation workflow.
Focus: Systematic content updates, footer standardization, and documentation workflow optimization
AI-Assisted Responsive Design Refactoring
Created comprehensive prompts for making the entire web repository fully responsive on phones while maintaining desktop-friendly design. Applied mobile-first responsive design principles, responsive tables, flexible layouts, and touch-friendly interactions.
Focus: Mobile-first responsive design, viewport optimization, responsive tables, flexible layouts, and touch-friendly UI
AI-Assisted Week Pages Documentation Update
Systematic update of all week pages with helpful documentation links, creation of week7.html for input devices, and comprehensive resource integration across the entire course documentation structure.
Focus: Week 7 creation, helpful documentation links integration, course resource organization, and systematic page updates across all weeks
Cursor · Project Plan & Weekly Schedule
Comprehensive Cursor AI assistance for outlining the project plan and weekly schedule, including documentation structure, content organization, and systematic updates across all week pages and the final project page.
Focus: Project planning, weekly schedule documentation, content refinement, media integration, and systematic documentation workflow
Cursor · Index Page Content Accuracy
Cursor AI-assisted review of the main index page to keep links, project descriptions, and weekly summaries consistent with the rest of the HTMAA documentation.
Focus: Cross-checking homepage content, fixing outdated text, and aligning navigation with final project and system integration pages.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License