Situation: High Frontier Health Technologies aims to reduce unecessary medevacs for cases of medium-to-low risk traumatic brain injury. Particularly relevant in remote health context.
Action: I advised the founder and chief scientist in the development of prototype strategy in support of seed fundraising.
Result: Successful raise of grant funds from CSA Deep Space Healthcare Challenge. Publication of probe concept at IAC22. Updated pitch for follow-on funding.
Situation: Advosense is developing disposable incontinence briefs with smart inlay technology and real-time alerts. For the better management of urinary incontinence and bladder control.
Action: I'm advising the CTO, co-founder in the research and devlopment of intelligent signal processing system. This project is supported by HIGHTECH STRATEGIE, Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, and VDI/VDE Innovation + Technik GmbH.
Result: Creating SOA research overview, project plan, and advised on a hiring strategy.
Situation: OEM R&D teams are shifting development roadmaps to align with higher ESR standards.
Action: With a team at PCH Innovations, I worked with R&D leadership at Continental to contextualize developing technologies that can facilitate the circular product development.
Result: We delivered a framework for R&D roadmap decision making.
Situation: The sales and offer management process for complex high-energy switchgear equimpment is costly and arduous.
Action: I led the PCH Innovation development and UX teams to create a cost-saving NLP application for Siemens Energy. This required extensive user and process research with with client innovation leadership and engineering teams.
Result: We delivered and deployed a scaleable enterprise NLP application that accelerates the configuration of machinery build orders.
Situation: 3D machine learning has the potential to dramatically accelerate product development workflows.
Action: I lead a team of AI researchers and developers in the commercialization of novel 3D GANs research. I drive user research, UX/UI concept development, fundraising, and partnership initiatives.
Result: We are nearing the launch of our beta.
Situation: Worldcoin is building solutions to solve proof of personhood, including an biometric Iris-scanning Orb.
Action: I aided one of the founders in exploration of methods for spoofing their machine vision system.
Result: Created overview of research state-of-the-art and advised on a hiring strategy. Learn more about Worldcoin here.
Situation: MRIs are expensive. Ventripoint is commercializing a method of ultrasound 3D reconstruction that enables volumetric cardiac imaging at an order of magnitude cheaper than MRI.
Action: I support all design engineering tasks associated with mechanical prototyping and production strategy for Ventripoint. Mechanical design of testing hardware, industrial design of enclosures.
Result: Four years. Countless prototypes.
Situation: Large organizations are trying to redefine the future consumer behaviour and through enabling shifts in design and manufacturing.
Action: I led a team of strategists, storytellers, and designers at PCH Innovations to develop a 2050 sustainability vision for Nike executive and sustainability leadership.
Result: We communicated this strategic narative via a book. This has since sparked various design innovation projects and storytelling campains. See Bloom Over Doom and B.I.L.L..
Situation: Chipcare wass a university spin-out, biotech startup commercializing multi-analyte detection research.
Action: I consulted their executive team as they pivoted towards the development of a multi-assay, table-top instrument for the diagnosis of sexually transmitted infections (STIs). I worked iteratively with this team to enable the refinement of their multi-assay automation workflow.
Result: I worked closely with biosensor scientists to translate assay workflows into precision-molded microfluidic chip prototypes and optical testing equipment.
Situation: Chipcare wass a university spin-out, biotech startup commercializing multi-analyte detection research.
Action: I supported the Head of Technology Pathfinding to scout partnership and investment opportunities in industry and academia worldwide. I supported AI researchers to translate manufacturing industry-relevant themes into ongoing design and analysis software research programs.
Result: Several partnerships. A redirection of design-make research within Autodesk.
Situation: Bionik creates robotic solutions that support rehabilitation and mobility.
Action: I supported a redesign of their discontinued exoskeleton mobility assist device. I developed, analyzed, and prototyped a complete mechanical redesign of the product.
Result: A beautiful, light-weight prototype.
Situation: Sinclair Interplanetary (acquired by Rocket Lab) produces star tracking sensors and reaction wheels that enable precision attitude control for microsatellite systems.
Action: I supported this team through the mechanical design of optical test hardware.
Result: Multiple test stations and optical testing hardware for various systems.
Situation: Spectroscopy and spectral classification has the potential to dramatically improve the state of cancer diagnostics. Synaptive Medical worked improve technology in this field.
Action: I supported a team of physicists and optical engineers in the development of Raman & OCT laser spectroscopy devices for semi-automated pathology of neurosurgical biopsy samples.
Result: Mechanical redesign of a prototype biopsy analytics system to enable more cost-efficient scaled production. Development and prototyping of multiple handheld optical probe cocnepts.
US20180344130 A1: Micro-optical surgical probes and micro-optical probe tips and methods of manufacture therefor
Situation: Synaptive Medical has commercialized MR signal-processing and coil cooling-systems research in the form of a low field strength (0.5T) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine for emergency room trauma imaging and neuroscience research.
Action: I supported this effort through mechanical optimizations and the development of head-coil and patient support mechanisms.
Result: Multiple prototype systems. Several that made it into production.
Situation: MRI machines, like any measurement device, need to be calibrated regularly to ensure quality imaging. These calibrations are performed with devices, imaging phantoms, that simulate tissue in the body.
Action: In collaboration with polymer chemists, I developed an MRI machine calibration device for diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) protocols. The device mimics anisotropic diffusion of water in neuronal fibers. It enables MRI technicians to ensure quality imaging and characterization of microstructure changes in neuropathology — particularly relevant for neurodegenerative disease management.
Result: Product development from literature review, product vision and system architecture development, prototype iteration, production process development, to FDA approval.
US9880251 B2: Cerebrospinal diffusion phantom
US20170035527 A1: Magnetic resonance visible assembly for encoding information
USD790709S1: Tube anisotropic diffusion phantom
US20190065681 A1:System and methods for medical device asset management via distributed ledgers
Situation: Synaptive Medical build a surgical robot to support port-based minimally-invasive neurosurgery.
Action: I collaborated with a Duke University neurosurgeon to create a device for training neurosurgeons on the use of a robot-articulated surgical monoscope. Together we researched, prototyped, and tested devices for accelerating user adoption of a unique robotic UX.
Result: Concept went to production. Used for onboarding neurosurgeons to new robotic workflow.
CA 2958802 A1: Multi-metric surgical simulator and methods
Situation: Training neurosurgical procedures normally requires use of cadavers. To accelerate training and minimize costs, surgical simulators are developed.
Action: I worked with a polymer chemist to prototype and productize multiple devices used to train surgeons on unique minimally invasive keyhole port neurosurgical procedures. The core advancement was our development of accurate sub-anatomical features that are compatible with MRI, CT, and ultrasound imaging. My work involved UX research, mechanical design, and user testing of molded anatomical replicates, prototyping of materials, production hardware, and packaging.
Result: Multiple anatomically accurate brain simulators launched to production.
WO 2017173520:Simulated tissue products and methods
WO 201702913591 A1:Anatomical simulators produced using 3D printing
Situation: Christian Blind Mission was in a research partnership with Autodesk Research and University of Toronto researchers to develop a semi-automated process for the additive manufacture of trans-tibial prosthetics.
Action: I supported the productization of this research via the development of mechanical testing hardware and test protocols to validate the integrity of our prosthetic production process against the relevant ISO standard. I supported trial implementation at a rehabilitation hospital in Entebbe, Uganda.
Result: Developed multiple test rigs and protocols.
3D-Printed Prosthetics for the Developing World: ACM SIGGRAPH 2015
Situation: Rolls-Royce develops turbo-fan propulsion systems for mid-/long-range aircraft.
Action: I managed structural design interfaces for a Bombardier BR700-series turbofan engine development program across global design, research, and client teams. I assisted in the design of forged engine mount, cast transmission case, and pressed compressor heat shield structures.
Result: Multiple design revisions supported.
Situation: Morgan Solar was working to commercialize a novel fresnel design for concentrated photovoltaics.
Action: To support this work I designed and built optical testing fixtures to support performance characterization and pneumatic assembly jigs to support production. I conducted mechanical and thermal optimization of solar panel support and heat sink structures respectively.
Result: Multiple concepts, protoytpes, and production jigs.