Jason Vasquez

Sanctuary is on a mission to create the world’s first human-like intelligence in general-purpose robots that will help us work more safely, efficiently, and sustainably. And in the not-too-distant future, help us explore, settle, and prosper in outer space.

I work at BattleBots, the most prestigious 250 lb combat robotics event internationally. The show airs on the Discovery and Science Channel (previously on ABC). I consider it my dream job because it pushes me as an engineer to innovate and inspire the next generations within STEM. Here’s how I’ve accomplished my goals: - I’ve used the skills I’ve learned through “Whiplash” to start my own personal robot and secure funding in order to reach my entrepreneurial goals. - I designed, built and controlled a rookie 250 lb robot “Defender” to qualify into the top 34 robots at only 19 years old.

- Earned a 2nd place, finalist position on the TV show, received a toy deal through Hexbug and got honorably mentioned in the Robot Combat Hall of Fame. - Innovated to keep “Whiplash” competitive within the constantly evolving competition, never placing below the top 16 in the world. - I co-designed and helped in building our team's 250 lb BattleBot, “Whiplash”.

- I was tasked with and designed a “mass production” version of our finalist robot, “Whiplash” for BattleBots first ever daily robot-combat show of select legendary robots.

AIME is an interdisciplinary student-run organization representing the study of mechatronics. It hopes to eventually be what the American Institute of Electrical Engineers was to IEEE, the worlds largest technical organization. - I helped organize and hold the first annual Robotronica, a mechatronics fair open to the public that is centered around a combat robotics competition.

- I effectively mentored the college combat robotics team and led them in successfully building multiple unique robots for numerous competitions. These designs include flame throwers to never before seen transforming weapons.

- After receiving the $10,000 Norwalk Havoc Robotics League Grant, I founded a combat robotics program where I rapidly assembled and taught a team about how to build, maintain and compete with robotics at a high level.

Worked alongside a team of senior engineering students to create a safe, cost effective, and intuitive consumer robot that has the ability to perform household tasks. The engineering design and manufacturing course was two semesters long and provided real world engineering experience in service to a paying industry customer from Amazon Web Services (AWS). The robot utilized ROS2 Humble on Ubuntu 22.04 for communication and we utilized Gazebo for simulation. The robot had 2' of reach and a max payload of 4 lbs. The robot has an on board battery, computer vision and a touch screen user interface. It can complete a typical cleaning cycle in under a minute and has 7 actuated degrees of freedom.

AI is a multidisciplinary innovation company that designs, builds, and develops technology solutions in partnership with leading companies and entrepreneurs. - At applied, I rapidly prototyped multiple types of robotic end effectors for modified X-series interbotix arms. - Quickly learned Inventor for end effector design and navigated ROS for arm control.

Ultra Prototypes is a small LLC that has been the go to for mechatronic practical effects in the greater Los Angeles area for almost twenty years. - I have assisted in producing practical effects in television commercials for companies such as Rocket Mortgage and Borderlands. - I've also assisted in creating various prototypes for inventors and businesses.

Meggitt is an aerospace and defence company that enables the extraordinary through innovation and accelerated R&D. - During my second summer as an intern, I worked in the Engineering department to identify and organize decades of physical blueprints into an online database.

- During my first summer as an intern, I worked in the Operations department and provided time studies in order to save resources in numerous manufacturing processes.