Education
NYU School of Engineering
Masters of Science in Electrical Engineering May 2015 | Brooklyn, NY Concentration in Controls and Robotics
Bachelors of Science in Computer Engineering May 2013 | Brooklyn, NY Cum Laude
Lakes Region Community College
Associate of Science in Computer Technologies Dec 2009 | Laconia, NH President’s List
Skills
Programming
C/C++, Python, Rust, Javascript, Matlab
Build Systems
Colcon, CMake, Github Actions, JFrog, Bitbucket, Jenkins
Operating Systems
ROS2, Linux, QNX, FreeRTOS
Electronic Design
EagleCAD, Circuit Design, PCB Design, SMD Soldering
Mechanical Design
Solidworks, 3D Printing, Machining, Plastic Casting
Misc
Rviz, V-REP, Stage, Gtest, Catch2, Git, Github, Stash, Conan, Docker, Virtualbox, LaTeX, AWS, inOrbit, Optitrack
Conferences and Professional Development
CppCon Robotics Track Chair (2023)
Chaired inaugural track. Responsibilities included soliciting talks, advising speakers, reviewing submissions, and scheduling the track.
Experience
PickNik Robotics | Senior Robotics Engineer
Boulder, CO | Fully Remote | Feb 2021 - Present
- Led internal teams and individually contributed to multiple client contracts, including
- Technical lead for poultry monitoring mobile robot, improving navigation stack performance and reliability. Creating simulation testing infrastructure integrated into CI to prevent regression.
- Technical lead for medical patient tracking app. Integrated prototype indoor ultra-wideband positioning system.
- Developed terrain profile switching system for Guanaquerx quadruped robot.
- Implemented image stitching node for stereo camera system on quadruped robot.
- Onsite support for strawberry picking robot. Travelled to client site and helped remote team with testing and collecting data. Troubleshot state machine and concurrency issues.
- Implemented continuous integration systems for autonomous truck unloading, medical robotics, construction robotics.
- Mentored junior engineers on best practices and software design. Solicted CppCon Robotics Track submissions and assisted with presentation development.
- Attended ROSCon (2022/2023) and promoted PickNik’s runtime and developer platform, MoveIt Pro.
- Technologies used: C++, Python, Rust, ROS2, MoveIt2, Nav2, Git, Gtest, Catch2, GitHub Actions, Jfrog, Bitbucket, Gazebo
Bossa Nova Robotics | Senior Robotics Engineer
Mountain View, CA | May 2018 - Feb 2021
- Led navigation stack refactor, improving test coverage and code quality. Formalized ROS-less programming strategies, producing faster and more robust tests.
- Migrated next generation robot to more robust local planner, avoiding robot stuck situations and allowing navigation closer to obstacles.
- Solved navigation field issues stemming from costmap race conditions, lingering state, goal mismatches, and trajectory critics. This supported the scaling of the fleet from 50 to 350 robots.
- Designed and implemented navigation traceability and observability monitors enabling engineers to get targeted bag data of an event quickly, obviating the large downloads and manual correlation previously required.
- Built ground truth label collection system, used to compare results to robot scans for experimental label detector. Reduced collection time from 30 to 8 minutes per aisle, requiring only one operator from two.
- Technologies used: TOF/LIDAR, C++, Python, ROS, Git, Gtest, Jenkins, inOrbit, Optitrack
Neato Robotics | Robotics Software Engineer
Newark, CA | July 2016 – May 2018
- Improved docking reliability. Refactored infrastructure producing documented unit tested code. Implemented new features.
- Evaluated multiple tof/stereo cameras. Recorded sample datasets used for technology selection. Interfaced with vendors on requirements.
- Spearheaded automated on-robot testing program. Built infrastructure for fleet command and monitoring using existing cloud infrastructure.
- Fulfilled team level release engineering duties. Tested incremental builds using testing on-robot program. Released builds to SQA, beta testers, and production.
- Technologies used: LIDAR, C++, Python, Javascript, QNX, Git, Stash (Bitbucket), Jenkins, AWS, Gtest.
Fetch Robotics | Robotics Engineer
San Jose, CA | July 2015 – Apr 2016
- Developed algorithms for LIDAR-based tracking of people and mobile robots using EKF.
- Authored dynamically loadable modular EKF library using ROS pluginlib.
- Increased robustness of robot charge docking system through improvements in perception, navigation, and recovery behaviors.
- Conducted peer code reviews and maintained code base using git and github tools.
- Technologies used: Computational Geometry, EKF, C++, Python, ROS, Git, LIDAR.
Farco Technologies | Robotics Engineer
Brooklyn, NY | May 2012 – Jun 2015
- Wrote unit testing code and peripheral driver libraries in C.
- Designed proprietary autopilot systems using EDA software used for multiple autonomous vehicles.
- Designed chassis, shells, and housings in Solidworks and had them produced using multiple rapid prototyping and traditional machining techniques.
- Integrated and tested autonomous vehicle electronics and mechanisms.
- Technologies used: Linear Filters, C, EDA, CAD, ARM, IMU, UART, I2C, CAN, Op Amps.
Control/Robotics Research Lab at NYU | Lab Manager
Brooklyn, NY | Jan 2014 – Jun 2015
- Managed teaching and research lab equipment selection and purchasing.
- Assembled and repaired lab electronics related to robotics research.
- Coordinated lab availabilities, presented lab to prospective students/parents, and operated equipment demos.
- Technologies used: Nao, LIDAR, Quadrotors, Quadrupeds, 4DoF Arm, Depth Camera.
Control/Robotics Research Lab at NYU | Teaching Assistant
Brooklyn, NY | Jan 2014 – Dec 2014
- Planned and delivered student lectures on experimental procedures and theory.
- Administered experiments, graded student reports, and wrote lab final examinations.
- Conducted Feedback Control and Embedded Systems lab courses.
- Technologies used: PID, Lead-Lag Controllers, C, Motors, Amplifiers, Encoders.
City of Laconia | Junior Network Administrator
Laconia, NH | Oct 2008 – Dec 2009
- Administered, supported, and troubleshot Active Directory policy and permissions for local and remote sites.
- Successfully managed full life cycle design and development of new City website.
- Spearheaded development and implementation of policies, procedures and guidelines providing instruction on operation and usage of Web site’s content management system.
US Navy | Electronics Technician
Various Locations | Sep 2001 – Dec 2007
- Performed installation, repair, and maintenance of communications equipment while supervising and mentoring teams of junior technicians.
- Drove design and development of wireless LAN comprised of seven access points and three gateways.
- Played crucial role in design, testing and implementation of unicast and multicast protocols via a satellite WAN.
Research
Control/Robotics Research Lab at NYU | Brooklyn, NY
Graduate Research Assistant | Jan 2014 – Jul 2015
- Developed novel inverse kinematics crawling gait for Nao Humanoid Platform.
- Implemented cost-based potential field navigation using LIDAR mounted on Nao.
- Wrote gradient descent-based inverse kinematics solver for out-of-workspace end effector pose objectives.
- Implemented basic object detection and classification regressors using low-cost LIDAR.
- Technologies used: Inverse Kinematics, Numerical Optimization, Potential Field Navigation, Linear Regression, C++, Matlab, Python, LIDAR, Sonar, Nao.