Thompson B.

Worked on the team developing a reduced-cost version of the CarePod, Forward’s flagship hardware product - Took ownership of multiple electromechanical subsystems within weeks of starting and delivered full prototypes on a tight timeline - Coordinated compliance with both building code and UL; identified a path to compliance that avoided a costly redesign Helped lead the hardware engineering team’s migration to Solidworks by training other engineers and building CAD resources Developed a novel fixturing system to enable rapid, quality prototyping of the CarePod’s structural weldment

Designed consumer products for mass manufacturing - Learned to do 2D tolerance analysis on a system with moving parts - Designed a mechanism that produced distinct sequential motions from a single manual user input Led mechanical design of a project to develop an experience prototype for a new client

Built infrastructure to improve engineering team's productivity - Wrote process documentation to help with onboarding - Standardized and expanded shared databases - Wrote macros to automate common repetitive tasks in Solidworks Acted as project manager and teaching resource for new engineers

Completed over a dozen projects in a wide array of industries (Consumer electronics, medical adjacent devices, fitness equipment, electric vehicles, and automation) Recent projects are described below (details withheld due to NDAs): Three-degree-of-freedom platform for consumer use - Built kinematic model in Solidworks simulation to enable the design of a counterbalance system, which reduced cost - Designed product to account for maintenance, pinch points, wire routing, manufacturing/assembly, and user experience Automated system for light industrial use - Redesigned to bring success rate from under 80% to over 99.5% - Troubleshot out of spec parts and wiring errors in production Large travel, mobile, industrial positioning system - Developed a thermal model of the system to guide the selection of components used in the cooling system - Performed moment, tip-over, speed, and tolerance stack analysis, then sourced electromechanical components based on findings

3D Printing Polymer Foams (Published in the Material Horizons Journal) - Developed a cost effective method for synthesizing porous resin, leading to assignment on a project to print porous structures - Built a 3D printer capable of printing polymer foams - Collated data on the properties of printed foams and printed samples for publication Converted a direct write 3D printer to print with multiple materials - Modified Repetier's multi-extruder FDM firmware for direct write printing - Wrote additional firmware for a secondary micro-controller that synchronized a pump and valves with the print 3D Printing Elastomers Embedded with Active Materials - Identified optimal printing parameters to print a custom PDMS compound with maximum resolution and minimum defects using a direct write printer - Designed flexible structures to utilize actuation of embedded active materials Mechanical Analysis of Light Activated Polymers - Laminated a stressed elastomer with light activated polymers and tested mechanical response to various light and temperature conditions - Wrote a MATLAB script to collate the text data output from a DMA

Prototyped products for a variety of customers - Designed products based off of lists of customer needs - Modeled parts from sketches provided by customers - Redesigned products for large scale manufacture

Led a weekly recitation for 40 undergrad students on the basics of MATLAB - Held semi-weekly office hours to help students troubleshoot code Wrote homework assignments and proctored/graded tests

Worked with a group to minimize defects in the additive manufacturing process - Developed a method to consistently incur defects in prints for gathering data - Researched noninvasive methods for detecting defects during the print process

Performed preventative maintenance on cable manufacturing equipment Worked as a temp in quality control, assembly, and packaging on the floor of a fiber optic cable manufacturing facility

Graduated high honors with an industrial design minor