Ben Steer Email & Phone Number

Sydney, Nsw, Au

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Software developer and manager for a small team (2-3 people) working on perception and HMI products to enhance subsea manipulation. Lead regular design reviews with team members. Conducted annual performance reviews and monthly 1-1s for team members, providing feedback, resolving issues and supporting career progression. Maintained Project Lead responsibilities as per my previous role.Brought to production a web app for manipulator control and sensor visualisation. App consisted of a C++ backend and a Typescript/React/Three.js frontend which could be launched from the product without installation. Utilised web communications protocols (WebSocket + WebRTC) to stream real-time video and sensor data for visualisation.Progressed our perception product from prototype stage to trial-unit stage, for validation by early adopters. Collaborated with mechanical and electrical teams to create a compact perception product, and developed a real-time computer vision processing pipeline in C++ on a GPU-capable embedded Linux device. Collaborated with researchers at the University of Sydney and the ARIAM Hub to bring state-of-the-art computer vision developments into the product, as part of an ongoing partnership.

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Project lead for a small team (2-3 people) working on a perception product to enhance subsea manipulation. Facilitated our 3-week sprint cycle, mentored junior engineers, collaborated with other leads to create/improve company processes. Responsible for software architecture and development, and for high-level design and specifications for hardware prototypes.Fully R&D-based role developing computer vision software in C++ and 3D visualisation software in Typescript/React/Three.js. Involved 3D point clouds, object detection, semi-autonomous manipulation, GPU-based image processing and real-time communications. Worked with GPU-capable embedded Linux devices to optimise vision algorithms. Integrated a fine-tuned ML segmentation model into a vision pipeline for real-time, automated manipulation, in a successful live demonstration as part of a grant program.

Palo Alto, California

QA-tested C++ firmware for electric cars, contributed bugfixes to the codebase, and captured/wrotedocumentation for system-level firmware specifications. Responsible for design/creation of testing hardware and an accompanying GUI/backend to facilitate fault-injection testing for vehicle subsystems. Developed a web dashboard for monitoring and analysis of factory testing statistics, using technologies such as Kubernetes and Splunk.

Sydney, Australia

USyd RowBot is a student engineering team at the University of Sydney, developing autonomous marine vehicles for the Maritime RobotX challenge in Hawaii, USA. I developed propulsion, control and docking software for the vehicle, as well as computer vision algorithms for the autonomous challenges. Our team placed 3rd overall in the international 2019 Virtual RobotX Challenge.

Monash University

As well as managing the team in 2017/2018, I was also responsible for a small subset of Nova Rover focusing on developing software for the robot. This involved overseeing and completing work in radio communications, control of actuators, simulations, autonomous navigation and human interfaces such as VR. Following our success in the 2018 URC, I continued my role in managing and expanding the Software Team.

Monash University

I co-founded and managed the team from its inception, as it grew from 6 initial members to a team of 25. As such, I was heavily involved in all areas such as systems design, human resource management, finances and promotions, along with software, electrical and mechanical system development. Nova Rover Team is a student organisation at Monash University designing and building Mars rovers for the international University Rover Challenge (URC) held in Utah, USA, in which robots compete in tasks such as scientific sample collection, autonomous traversal and equipment servicing. In our first year at the 2018 URC in Utah, we placed 14th out of 96 international competitors and were the first Australian team to qualify for the competition.

Melbourne, Australia

Monash University's Unmanned Aerial Systems team is a group of students and supervisors working together to design, construct and fly a fully autonomous VTOL aircraft to compete in the Medical Express Challenge. I am a member of the Avionics section and worked on the development of radio communication software, interfaces for control/monitoring, and the autonomous navigation component of the competition, in which the plane must avoid dynamic obstacles. In the 2018 Medical Express Challenge, the team successfully placed 1st in the international competition.

Clayton

In 2017, Monash University offered me a position as a demonstrator for the unit Engineering Design 1 (MEC2402), in which students are introduced to design, manufacturing, assembly and CAD techniques. My position as a demonstrator involved teaching students to use SolidWorks for CAD modelling, techniques for producing technical engineering drawings, and assistance in practical classes with debugging small robotic systems and Arduino circuits.

Melbourne, Australia

The Laboratory of Motion Generation and Analysis is a research initiative at Monash University, directed by Dr. Chao Chen. I worked as part of a team to design and develop a lower-body robotic exoskeleton for patients with osteoarthritis. My contributions include developing software for detecting human gait and providing actuation for the prototype device, and authoring a literature review of series elastic actuators.

San Diego

In 2016, I was selected to undertake the Monash Undergraduate Research Projects Abroad program, in which I spent two months at UCSD, working with scientists in the field of high-throughput distributed computing for high energy physics. I developed techniques for testing UCSD’s local network cache performance to help optimise the distribution of data from the Compact Muon Solenoid experiments at CERN.

Melbourne, Australia

I undertook the 12-week research project “Using a Game Engine (VBS/ARMA) for Assessment of Camouflage” during a Summer Vacation Placement at DSTG, Fisherman’s Bend. My project involved producing representative combat environment simulations, developing and texturing 3D models, creating animated scenes and developing testing procedures.

Bachelor Of Mechatronics Engineering And Bachelor Of Science, Major In Computational Science And Major In Mathematics

Mechatronics is a unique combination of mechanical, electrical, computer systems and control systems engineering. I have thoroughly.

Edx Certificate, Space Mission Design And Operations

This was a very interesting course, introducing a variety of concepts used in the design of manned and unmanned space missions. This.