Paul Barsa Email & Phone Number

Pensacola, FL, US

• Designed and tested parts for the lower body of the Alex humanoid robot
• Designed a linkage, clevis, and chose bearings to withstand 17000 N of force for a 4-bar remote knee joint
• Performed FEA analysis on cycloidal actuator eccentric shafts to reduce flexion and prevent rotor-stator scraping
• Prototyped a lightweight foot to house an IMU and force sensor using a high-stiffness clamshell-style design
• Created configurable mockups to determine optimal wire routing across multiple moving joints

Austin, Texas, US

• Developed components and testing fixtures for the Apollo humanoid robot
• Designed a custom 48V BLDC housing and dyno testbed capable of running at up to 4 Nm and 4000 rpm
• Prototyped an improved sole for the robot foot, along with in-house urethane molding capability
• Designed and built an 8’x11’ modular and portable frame capable of supporting over 500 lbs to collect robot stepping data using force plates

Bedford, Massachusetts, US

• Mechanical design and testing of the auto-refilling dock for the Roomba Combo J9+
• Designed injection molded parts from ABS and PP including latches, snap fits, switches, and PCB covers
• Prototyped and tested modifications to drawer and vacuum systems to improve feel and acoustics for users
• Redlined and updated assembly drawings to add specifications for installation and first article inspection

Atlanta, Georgia, US

• Oversee rooms in studio, assist with student projects, and enforce safety guidelines
• Trained on 3D printing, wood, metal, waterjet, laser cutter, and electronics tool areas

Atlanta, Georgia, US

• Developed an impedance-controlled humanoid upper body to safely perform tasks alongside humans
• Led mechanical design by assigning weekly tasks, educating new members, and tracking team progress
• Designed a 3DOF shoulder mechanism consisting of three backdrivable actuators capable of producing 40Nm of torque powered by BLDC motors and a two-layered timing belt transmission
• Wrote inverse kinematics/dynamics simulations using MATLAB and URDF files to assess torque requirements

Atlanta, GA, US

• Design and installation of a robotic sanding and polishing cell for bathtubs
• Designed PLC logic for conveyor and door systems to facilitate tracking and movement of parts in cell
• Wrote HMI software for operators to load parts, change tools, and manage alarms using a touchscreen UI
• Created point cloud path programs enabling 4x faster robotic material removal vs polishing by hand
• Worked with VFDs, relays, proximity sensors, photoeyes, and force sensors to control automated systems

Atlanta, Georgia, US

• Aided in the design and manufacture of a vertical spinner and a pneumatic flipper battlebot
• Utilize CAD, FEA, 3D printing, and metal machining (lathe, mill, waterjet)

Master'S Degree, Robotics

Bachelor'S Degree, Mechanical Engineering

Education record