I work with and guide our electrical and firmware engineers to develop best-in-class real-time multi-microcontroller systems using the cheapest possible hardware. We maximize performance and cost by careful use of distributed processing and a philosophy of seeking the simplest possible solutions.

• Created the technical roadmap to rebuild the software and electronics platform from the ground-up for the next generation hardware platform with the goal to speed up development and prototyping agility. The new design implemented real-time software to increase robustness of the control and quality and precision of the data collected. The new system increased the sampling and control loop rate to 1 kHz - a 10x improvement. The design included many new safety systems and checks to clearly communicate issues to the development teams.• Led a diverse team of software engineers including junior and senior engineers with skills ranging from frontend software design to low-level embedded systems.• Developed a custom compact motor controller to improve actuator torque control performance. The design allowed for complete customization of actuator control - allowing for investigations into ways to push motor performance beyond standard design conventions.• Designed and wrote firmware for several custom circuit boards to support motor control, sensing, and system safety.

I guided our excellent engineering team of mechanical engineers, data scientists, softgoods engineers and software engineers across all of our product verticals.http://www.roamrobotics.com• Was first employee and grew engineering and manufacturing teams from 5 to over 40.• Oversaw development and execution in 3 product verticals, 3 platform groups and the manufacturing group.• Provide tech roadmap and updates to CEO and other stakeholders on timeline and challenges.• Established and enforced engineering best practices.• Mentored new leadership as teams grew, made difficult calls as teams needed to reduce in response to new resource constraints and focus the engineering effort on products with more potential impact.• Created initial circuit design of all electronics. Established roadmap of new circuit architectures and performed detailed design reviews. Crafted initial firmware and continued to support as lead software engineer.• Developed Android apps for investor demos, user testing and internal tools/platform debugging. The demo apps helped both users and investors understand the value of the data generated by the devices. The tool apps greatly speed up troubleshooting during hardware development and user testing.• Conducted early product testing and development with users ranging from Navy SEALS and professional skiers to individuals with various mobility challenges.

Developed custom control and sensing platform for a new class of exoskeletons.• Led PhD control engineers in initial control design for an exoskeleton platform.• Created electronics and control software for prototypes used in market fit evaluation.• Traveled to support and operate critical demonstrations for investors (domestic and abroad), special forces units, hospitals (domestic and abroad), and several foreign companies.

Developed custom control and sensing platform for a new class of exoskeletons.• Architected realtime control platform for pneumatic actuators consisting of an embedded real-time Linux PC communicating with custom circuits over EtherCAT. This design allowed for very high-speed control (2 kHz) of up to 10 actuators while maintaining strict timing and precise sensor data logging.• Designed platform to explore different sensor and actuator topologies to allow for flexibility in development paths for both sensing and mechanical hardware configurations.• Created circuits and firmware for driving and controlling novel voice-coil based pneumatic valves.

• Was the primary designer and manager of the electrical engineering and firmware for a low-cost 7 DOF robotic arm project that eventually became Everyday Robotics at X.• 4 patents related to robotics granted by the USPTO.• Hardened and optimized electronics for production and certification. Performed vibration testing, environmental cycling, burn-in and initial evaluation of EMI and EMC performance.Examples in action can be seen in the video below (or at the link).https://youtu.be/iaF43Ze1oeI

• Designed the Marlin advanced modular actuator controllers that transform extremely low cost brushless motors into high performance, efficient actuators through very high-speed control (100 kHz) and a novel modeling approach.• Implemented multi-DOF software and electronics architectures for a diverse set of robots ranging from hands to bipeds.• Oversee sensor requirements and controls integration for complex robot systems such as the DARPA SRI Arm-H hand and the UTA biped Hume.• Sub-contract technical lead for the DARPA Advanced Actuators project - a humanoid designed to push the boundaries of efficiency and capability.

• Researched and published on fundamental influences of mechanical impedance on force control and general dynamic manipulation tasks.• Developed custom hardware for interfacing sensors with EtherCAT networks in real-time allowing for higher speed control loops and lower latency sensing.• Implemented hard real-time control software in Linux using RTAI• Developed hardware in-the-loop simulation platform using ROS to speed up controller development. This allowed testing new controllers for stability before implementing (and potentially destroying) on the actual robot.• Helped to develop a new undergraduate course on robotics.

• Designed and produced a complete handheld computing device called OSWALD for use in educating computer science undergraduate students.• Negotiated for hardware donations from Texas Instruments totaling in excess of $30,000 to support the production of the OSWALD devices.• Worked with Tektronics to manufacture 300 of the OSWALD devices.• Developed custom Linux distribution for the ARM Cortex A8 for the OSWALD devices.• Directly in charge of two other students.

• Developed hardware for electrical engineering course labs• Revised and developed teaching materials for freshman, sophomore, junior and senior course labs