Your Friendly Neighborhood Navigator.
If you’ve read much I’ve written recently, you’ll have run into that introduction. It’s a bit whimsical, a bit literal - just like me.
I give my time generously and share my experiences openly.
I straddle the line of a roboticist, technical leader, and chief of staff (executive ‘random thing do-er’). I seek out hard problems and stumble into opportunities in all domains. I’m an independent, systems, and strategic thinker who’s thinking about robotics and coalition building.
All of that is to say, I’m just your friendly neighborhood navigator, missing a funny hat.
Open Navigation LLC.
Owner and Chief Navigator, 2023 - Present
Principal architect, developer, and product manager for the ROS 2 Navigation stack, Nav2.
Bringing the ROS and mobile robotics ecosystem into a new chapter of development and community sustainable maintenance to support commercial users and accelerate the robotics industry globally.
Samsung Research.
Senior Technical Lead, 2022-2023
Robotics Engineering Lead, 2019-2022
I am an advocate of open-source and strive to lead, build, and maintain high quality robotics software in the open to democratize access to robotics.
I led the mobile robotics ecosystem in ROS 2, chairing the Navigation Working Group. I’ve built Nav2 into the premier community in ROS. My objective is for Nav2 to become the ‘standard library’ of robotics to proliferate the future. Keywords: Quality. Flexibility. Reliability.
Sr. Robotics Engineer - Robotics & Navigation Lead. Simbe Robotics.
I engage with robotics in multiple systems and get 'down and dirty' with hardware. I consider myself a full-stack robotics engineer. I build things that ‘just work’.
While leading the robotics development on Tally, I developed SLAM and Perception algorithms that have now become standard in the robotics community. I deployed the company’s first robots into the field and helped path the way to 100+.