My Skills

Some background...

Officially educated as a Electronics engineer, I am a highly skilled and educated as an EE. I started my career being asked to make the impossible, possible. Working closely with a very small team of inventors, it was required that I become in expert in a diverse set of skills. Since, I have become the "catch all expert" in all things engineering during my time at Hasbro.

I have spent years furthering my education in everything mechanical. From Solidworks, to G-Code, mechanically, I get it done!

From simple Servo models, to final production CAD, I am an expert in mechanical design.

Mechanical

Solidworks

Surface and solid body modeling
Advanced assemblies
FEA (linear and non-linear dynamics)
Flow simulation
SW motion
Photoview 360
Import and manipulation of scanned objects
Other various experience available upon request

Model Making

Most mechanical design engineers often don't account for the build process, this can lead to a lot of back and forth between the model makers and the designers. What material to use for each part? Will this be a moving part or for aesthetics only? Do you machine this gear our of Nylon, or can we 3D print it out of SLA? This is where becoming an expert in the build process is critical!

Model types

Hand Built breadboard models (rapid proof of concept)
Hand built highly dynamic, animatronic sales and marketing samples
Hand built models for aesthetic licensor approvals
Hand built mechanical check models for mass manufacturing

Required skills

Molding and casting
Knowledge of various 3D printing technologies
Material properties
Full knowledge of and expertise in machine shop tools and practices

Electronics

Great, you made it, now will it work!? To answer that question in this line of work, an expertise is REQUIRED in electronics. From designing PCB layouts, to choosing the sensor suite, and motors with correct speed/torque ratings, electronics expertise is a must. By being an expert in electronic as well as mechanical design, I am able to design products with an efficiency second to none!

Required skills

Required tools

Digital and analog circuit design
PCB design practices
System power requirements and distribution
DC motor characteristics

Standard Benchtop electrical test equipment
- Power supply
- Oscilloscope
- Function/waveform generator
- Multimeter
- Spectrum analyzer
- LCR meter

In my career, I have pushed the limits of what's possible with electronics. I have been the evaluator of new sensors and MCU configurations put forth by our chip vendors. I find what's possible, with what we've got!

Software

Electronics are only the first half! These days, electronics are nothing without the software to back them up! After choosing the sensor suite, MCU, power distribution, etc. I have often been required to turn the set of electronics into a fully functional product. From programming life-like animation routines, to machine learning and adaptive algorithms, I have done it all!

I take a unique perspective on software. This is really what turns a good product into a great one. Depending on the task at hand, I can create/evaluate the flow for a product and create an in-depth experience never before seen, or create the simplicity of a user interface that even a toddler could operate.

Languages/Firmware

For the last 10+ years, my firmware background has been primarily proprietary software languages from General Plus, Nuvuton, Sonix, etc. These languages are similar to C or Java based languages with unique syntax that are specific to the MCU's that Hasbro employ's in their products.

I have also written in Visual Basic, C/C++, Java Script, and various hobby MCU languages (Arduino, Raspberry PI, etc.). I have personally found that once the basic idea of software is learned, a new language is just syntax. Given a few days, I can very efficiently learn a new language, write and debug accordingly.

With the recent help of ChatGPT, I am also using gaining much experience with Python. As originally this language was completely unknown to me, it took me to days to gain enough understanding and knowledge to know where chatGPT gets it wrong, and correct it accordingly.

Though chatGPT is a bit of a short cut to writing software, it is an extremely powerful tool. It often allows the user to think outside the box of normal programming practices. Like most things, software can be also an expression of art, and chatGPT can allow those with little knowledge of syntax, create truly unique pieces of software in a fraction of the time.

My Education

Going to high school in Canada severely limited my options for college when coming back to the United States (I was born in the US, and lived in Canada during HS). As SAT's are not required in Canada, I had few options, but like anything, college is what you make it. Trade schools, and online education were my only option's at the time (or I could of waited for a year to take the SAT's, which, for an 18 year old fresh out of high school, wasn't an option).

Magna Cum Laude graduate, National Deans list, various engineering honor societies, and president of the school's robotics club are to name a few of my educational highlights.

Graduating in 2003, I received a BS in EE from DeVry university in Chicago, IL.

Student's and faculty aside, I would not recommend this route, as the bulk of my education came from working 1:1 with the professors in their research and functioning as the lead lab technician helping students complete their assignments, and running the robotics club.