SYSTEMS ENGINEERING / ROBOTICS / PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
I build things. Then I make them work in the real world.
I'm Reed Nowling. I design, build, program and troubleshoot machines that cross mechanical, electrical and software boundaries. From FIRST Robotics and autonomous vehicles to a hardware startup and industrial commissioning, I take ownership of the entire system, especially when the problem has no obvious owner.
DESIGN THE SYSTEM✳BUILD THE PROTOTYPE✳WRITE THE SOFTWARE✳FIND THE FAILURE✳MAKE IT REPEATABLE
00 THE ORIGIN STORY
It started with a day I wasn't supposed to be in the room.
In middle school, a family emergency left me at school late. My science teacher was running a FIRST LEGO League practice and insisted I join in. I was a sports kid, not a robotics kid. That afternoon changed my direction. The curiosity never left.
She had the vision to start the team, but not the technical background to teach us everything. I started teaching myself. By the end of that first season, I'd built the fastest line-following robot in the state using PID control and multiple sensors. By eighth grade, I was experimenting with third-party gyros before an official sensor was available.
I learned very early that not knowing how to build something was a starting condition, not a reason to stop.
01 / GET CURIOUS
02 / LEARN FAST
03 / MAKE IT REAL
04 / OWN THE RESULT
01 / ORIGINSMIDDLE SCHOOL
The spark. A robot, some sensors, and a problem to solve.
FIRST LEGO League put closed-loop control, sensor fusion, debugging and rapid iteration into my hands years before I encountered them as formal engineering subjects. Later, I returned as a coach to help another generation get started.
PROJECT MEDIAThe spark came full circle.Mentoring an FLL student after growing up in the programfll-mentor.jpg
FIRST LEGO LEAGUE / FULL CIRCLE
THE EARLY LESSON
Observe the behavior. Understand the feedback. Change one thing. Test it again.
PID CONTROL · MULTI-SENSOR NAVIGATION · RAPID ITERATION
THE NEXT GENERATION / COLLEGE YEARS
Someone invested in my curiosity. I wanted to do the same.
When my sister started a FIRST LEGO League team as a teacher, I helped her get it off the ground and mentored her students remotely while I was in college. The same kind of guidance that sparked my own career became something I could pass along.
FLL / MENTORINGPassing it forward.Remotely coaching a student team while in collegefll-remote-mentoring.jpg
FIRST LEGO LEAGUE / REMOTE MENTORING
02 / ROBOTICS2013-2017
We didn't have much. We built anyway.
I joined FIRST Robotics Competition Team 4926 GalacTech as a freshman. We had little institutional support, so survival required sponsorships, donated equipment, manufacturing partners and ingenuity. I grew into the primary CAD designer, a hands-on manufacturing lead and de facto technical leader, while driving our robot all four years.
Our Cummins R&D mentors taught me disciplined design, shop safety and the value of sharing hard-won technical knowledge. I was a state finalist for a top individual FIRST student honor as a junior. In my senior year, we won a district event, became Indiana State Championship finalists, and competed at the FIRST Championship in St. Louis.
4YEARS AS TEAM DRIVER
$60k+ANNUAL SPONSOR SUPPORT*
2017INDIANA STATE FINALIST
*Approximate annual funding level supported through team outreach and technical presentations.
2017 / COMPETITION FIELD NOTES
Our robot on the field, me at the driver station, and a close-up look at the work that led to a district win and a trip to the FIRST Championship.
ON-FIELD VIDEOFrom CAD to competition.13-second, family-filmed field footage of GalacTech 4926.frc-2017-closeup.mp4
2017 COMPETITION / ON THE FIELD · 13 SEC
FIELD OPERATIONSFour years behind the controls.The operator's perspective matters.frc-2017-driver-station.jpg
Design files, fabricated machines, and a season of competition milestones.
PROJECT MEDIA2016 competition robotAdd your original project mediafrc-robot.jpg
FRC / PHYSICAL MACHINE
PROJECT MEDIA2016 robot CADAdd your original project mediafrc-cad.jpg
FRC / SYSTEM DESIGN
PROJECT MEDIAChampionship seasonAdd your original project mediafrc-championship.jpg
FRC / COMPETITION RESULT
PROJECT MEDIA2015 chassis CADAdd your original project mediafrc-2015-cad.jpg
2015 / MECHANICAL DESIGN
PROJECT MEDIA2017 competition robotAdd your original project mediafrc-2017-robot.jpg
2017 / COMPETITION ROBOT
PROJECT MEDIACelebrating as a teamAdd your original project mediafrc-2017-team-celebration.jpg
FRC / TEAM & COMPETITION
PROJECT MEDIA2017 robot CADAdd your original project mediafrc-2017-cad.png
CAD / 2017
PROJECT MEDIA2017 drivetrain architectureAdd your original project mediafrc-2017-drivetrain.png
DRIVETRAIN / 2017
PROJECT MEDIA2017 drivetrain: chain-in-tube cutawayAdd your original project mediafrc-2017-drivetrain-cutaway.png
CUTAWAY / 2017
FIELD SUPPORTThe work between matches.Robot access, operator coordination, and field readiness.frc-2017-field-support.jpg
FIELD READINESS / HANDS-ON SUPPORT
THE OTHER HALF OF ROBOTICS
The robot isn't the entire system.
Competition taught me the value of dependable hardware, clear communication and repairability. A good design has to survive the field, not just the design review.
WHAT STUCK
Designing a robot is one thing. Driving, repairing and improving it under competition pressure taught me that reliability includes the operator, maintenance access, tooling, test discipline and every decision made before the match. That lesson has followed me into every job since.
PARALLEL PROJECT / 2015-2017
And then I tried to build a BattleBot.
I founded Hyper Robotics, an independent ten-person team pursuing the BattleBots competition. We built scale mechanical prototypes, organized manufacturing partners and secured approximately $50,000 in sponsorships and in-kind support. It was my first experience building something that required engineering, fundraising and a team to survive.
TEAM BUILDING · MECHATRONICS · FABRICATION · FUNDRAISING
ARCHIVE / OPTIONALScrappy by design.BattleBots prototype / CAD / fabricationbattlebots-prototype.jpg
HYPER ROBOTICS / EARLY HARDWARE STARTUP
PROJECT MEDIABattleBots design assemblyAdd your original project mediabattlebots-cad.jpg
HYPER ROBOTICS / CAD
PROJECT MEDIAPresenting the BattleBots prototypeAdd your original project mediabattlebots-competition.jpg
For my high-school senior project, I built a quadcopter from individually selected boards and components. To understand programming beyond the abstraction of prebuilt packages, I deliberately wrote its functionality without third-party software libraries or copied code. The challenge was to understand and integrate every subsystem myself.
THE SELF-IMPOSED CONSTRAINTNo borrowed code. No third-party software libraries. I had to understand what each piece of the system was doing.
That project turned a personal curiosity into practice: bring electronics, electromechanics and low-level software together, then learn from the actual hardware.
PROJECT MEDIASenior-project quadcopterAdd your original project mediadrone-build.jpg
SENIOR PROJECT / PHYSICAL BUILD
PROJECT MEDIACustom quadcopter integrationAdd your original project mediadrone-detail.jpg
HARDWARE / INTEGRATION
SELF-DIRECTED SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
Off-the-shelf hardware. Original behavior.
Instead of treating a prebuilt stack as a black box, I made software implementation part of the engineering challenge.
EMBEDDED PROGRAMMING · ELECTROMECHANICS · SYSTEM INTEGRATION
WHAT I TAUGHT MYSELF
Control logic from the ground up.
Low-level programming without borrowed libraries
Integrating boards, sensors and actuators into a working aircraft
Turning curiosity about software into hands-on implementation
Learning by building and debugging the real system
WHY I BUILT IT
The point was never just to assemble an aircraft. It was to understand how software becomes physical behavior, down to the code I wrote.
My first autonomous vehicle. One summer to make it work.
At LHP Engineering Solutions, I led mechanical design and algorithm development for an autonomous electric go-kart platform. Our small team integrated sensing, navigation and vehicle controls into a working prototype within one summer. The platform went on to support Purdue's Autonomous EV Grand Prix competition.
PROJECT MEDIAAutonomous kart wheel assemblyAdd your original project mediakart-wheel.jpg
LHP / ORIGINAL VEHICLE HARDWARE
MY CONTRIBUTION
From architecture to the test track.
Mechanical design and vehicle integration
Navigation and control algorithm development
Sensor and actuator integration
Prototype testing and iteration
SYSTEMS ENGINEERING ↗
THE EVIDENCE I'D MOST LIKE TO ADD
Original test footage and a mechanical close-up document the path from vehicle hardware to autonomous behavior on the track. The full-vehicle still is drawn from that same testing archive.
PROJECT MEDIAAutonomous go-kart on trackAdd your original project mediakart-prototype.jpg
COMPLETE VEHICLE / VIDEO STILL
PROJECT MEDIAAutonomous kart wheel moduleAdd your original project mediakart-wheel.jpg
HARDWARE DETAIL / ORIGINAL PHOTO
PROJECT MEDIAAutonomous driving testAdd your original project mediakart-test-run.mp4
BEHAVIOR / TRACK TEST
WHY IT MATTERS
An autonomous vehicle is never only an algorithm. It is a collection of physical constraints, sensor assumptions and real-world tests. The integration work determines whether the autonomy survives contact with reality.
05 / EXPANDING THE TOOLKIT2018-2021
Different industries. One habit: figure it out.
2018 / AURORA FLIGHT SCIENCES
Robotics R&D & tools
Supported experimental robotics and test work; taught myself Python to deliver a flight-program scheduler in an aerospace R&D environment.
2019 / VALET PARK OF AMERICA
Automation from scratch
Pitched a new parking-automation product to the CEO, then became its primary engineer from concept through an installed, integrated headquarters prototype.
2021 / RETLIF TESTING LABORATORIES
Learning rigor
Executed MIL-STD-461G emissions and susceptibility testing, developing a rigorous approach to repeatability, fault investigation and documented evidence.
AURORA / RESEARCH AUTOMATION
A working automatic helicopter-unloader R&D demonstration from the project archive. My Aurora role also included robotics prototyping and developing Python scheduling tools.
PROJECT MEDIAAutomatic helicopter unloader: R&D rigAdd your original project mediaaurora-unloader.jpg
AURORA / R&D ENVIRONMENT
PROJECT MEDIAR&D automatic unloader demonstrationAdd your original project mediaaurora-unloader.mp4
AURORA / DEMONSTRATION
VALET PARK / AUTOMATED GARAGE SYSTEM
I pitched the idea, then built the electromechanical entry and exit machines and the C#/SQL integration linking tickets, payments and physical gates into an operating workflow.
PROJECT MEDIAEntrance machine and barrierAdd your original project mediaparking-entrance.jpg
VPA / INSTALLED SYSTEM
PROJECT MEDIAInside the entrance machineAdd your original project mediaparking-open.jpg
VPA / INTERNAL HARDWARE
PROJECT MEDIACash-acceptance equipmentAdd your original project mediaparking-cash.jpg
VPA / PAYMENT INTEGRATION
DELIVERED AS A WORKING PILOT
The value was in making every subsystem cooperate: payments, ticketing, physical barriers, user interactions, application logic and database state. I owned the handoffs from concept to installed machines.
06 / HARDWARE STARTUP2021 ONWARD · eSKI WATERCRAFT
Engineer number one. Every subsystem was my problem.
As eSki's first engineering hire and technical lead, I helped transform an electric personal watercraft concept into an operating prototype. I owned integration across propulsion, batteries, high-voltage safety, thermal management, mechanical packaging, embedded controls and prototype manufacturing. Every interface had to work as part of one vehicle.
HERO PROJECT PHOTO / HIGH PRIORITYFrom concept to watercraft.Best photo of completed electric PWCeski-prototype.jpg
PROTOTYPE / VEHICLE INTEGRATION
SYSTEM AT A GLANCE
BATTERY ARCHITECTURE≈400 VDC
PROPULSION230 hp
HOT-SWAP PROTOTYPE2.5 kWh
BATTERY PEAK OUTPUT≈600 A
THE SYSTEM IN COMPONENTS
Original hardware, electrical design work and working prototype footage from the development archive.
PROJECT MEDIAPrototype with open hullAdd your original project mediaeski-prototype-open.jpg
VEHICLE / HARDWARE INTEGRATION
PROJECT MEDIACustom BMS design drawingAdd your original project mediaeski-bms-design.jpg
ELECTRICAL / BMS DESIGN
PROJECT MEDIAeSki on-water demonstrationAdd your original project mediaeski-demo.mp4
REAL-WORLD TEST / VIDEO
PROJECT MEDIABattery demonstration platformAdd your original project mediaeski-battery.jpg
BATTERY PROTOTYPE / TEST PLATFORM
PROJECT MEDIABattery pack internal CADAdd your original project mediaeski-pack-cad.jpg
ENERGY STORAGE / CAD
PROJECT MEDIAWatercraft exploded assemblyAdd your original project mediaeski-exploded.mp4
PRODUCT ARCHITECTURE / ANIMATION
STARTUP DEVELOPMENTMassChallenge
I was instrumental in securing eSki's acceptance into MassChallenge and participated actively in the accelerator, bridging engineering execution, demonstrations, investor storytelling and startup strategy.
WHAT THE STARTUP TAUGHT ME
A startup does not have a department waiting for every handoff. I learned to design, fabricate, code, procure, test and troubleshoot what the product needed, while knowing when to pull in specialist expertise and trusted manufacturing partners.
07 / COMMERCIAL INDUSTRY2026 TO PRESENT · CALCEAN
The factory doesn't care what the drawing says.
Calcean brought me into an extended commissioning effort at its commercial-scale minerals plant to solve problems that crossed electrical, mechanical, thermal, pneumatic and process boundaries. I also serve as the primary systems-engineering resource for the Gadsden-to-Savannah equipment transition, supporting the designated workstream leaders.
I turn field problems and production needs into traceable engineering work: diagnostic investigations, equipment requirements, interfaces, layouts, electrical planning, contractor scopes and commissioning documentation. The same systems mindset developed in robotics and hardware products now applies to full-scale industrial equipment.
HOW I TRIAGE A COMPLEX MACHINE
Follow the evidence, not the first symptom.
Three investigations that began in different disciplines and ended with a testable engineering explanation.
01 Reconstruct the fault
02 Trace signals, energy and process
03 Test the failure hypothesis
04 Correct, verify and document
FIELD EVIDENCEEmergency air damper I/Ocalcean-damper-wiring.jpg
01 / SIGNAL TRACING AND FAULT ISOLATION
01 / ELECTRICAL
The replacement fixed the trip. I kept investigating.
Intermittent plant shutdowns led me through the event logs to an emergency fresh-air damper. Replacing it stopped the fault, but a bench investigation exposed the underlying cause: an intermittent short from poor internal wiring. I corrected the wiring and returned the otherwise serviceable actuator to use.
Root cause, not just the replacement part.
FIELD EVIDENCEBagging-machine valve manifoldcalcean-dust-manifold.jpg
02 / PNEUMATIC FAILURE MODE
02 / PNEUMATIC
Electrical symptoms. Pneumatic root cause.
Intermittently sticking bagger solenoids looked like a control problem. I verified the connector pinout, individual valve slots and command signals before moving into the manifold itself. Dust had clogged an internal pressure-relief path. A manifold better suited to the powder environment eliminated the recurring failure.
Eliminate a domain before blaming it.
FIELD EVIDENCEGearbox and oil-cooling systemcalcean-gearbox-thermal.jpg
03 / THERMAL SYSTEM ENGINEERING
03 / THERMAL
I suspected an undersized cooler in the first week.
Persistent ball-mill gearbox overheating prompted an early hypothesis: the existing oil cooler could not reject enough heat at high ambient temperatures. To test it, I built a heat-balance model from OEM ratings, drive load estimates and observed temperature trends, then bracketed the uncertain inputs. The model gave management a quantified basis to assess the cooling-system mismatch.
A hypothesis turned into engineering evidence.
DESIGN-CASE ANALYSIS51-58%Modeled installed cooler capacity as a share of required active cooling
From an early diagnosis to a defensible recommendation.
At the 170°F oil and 120°F cooling-air design condition, the model estimated a 3.2-4.3 kW cooling shortfall across the ambient calibration range. This is an engineering estimate with documented assumptions, not a claim that a replacement has been installed or validated.
WHAT I'M LEARNING
Reliability comes from understanding failure mechanisms, not only clearing alarms. That is the work I want to keep doing, at greater scale and on more ambitious machines.
08 THE COMMON THREAD
My specialty isn't a discipline. It's the space between them.
I work from the whole system down to the faulty terminal, mechanical interference or software behavior, then back up again to the design decision that makes the fix last.
01 /
⌁
Architect
Turn an ambiguous idea into requirements, architecture, interfaces, operating states and testable decisions.
SYSTEMS · CONTROLS · CAD
02 /
✳
Build
Take a design off the screen. Machine, print, cut, wire, solder, assemble and iterate until the mechanism works.
FABRICATION · ELECTRONICS · SOFTWARE
03 /
⤴
Diagnose
Use logs, measurements, physical inspection and controlled tests to isolate failures across subsystems.
TEST · TELEMETRY · ROOT CAUSE
04 /
↗
Operationalize
Build alongside vendors and operators so the solution is reliable, manufacturable, maintainable and understandable.
COMMISSIONING · DOCUMENTATION · TEAMS
HARDWARE / MECHANICAL
Autodesk Inventor · SolidWorks · 3D printing · CNC milling · laser cutting · general machining · basic welding
ELECTRICAL / SOFTWARE
Altium · embedded C/C++ · C# · Python · CAN · power electronics · instrumentation · embedded controls
TEST / INTEGRATION
System commissioning · signal tracing · test fixtures · MIL-STD-461G EMC · HMI diagnostics · vendor/OEM collaboration
09 WHAT COMES NEXT
ADVANCED ROBOTICS / HARDWARE SYSTEMS / REAL-WORLD DEPLOYMENT
The hard part is not the demo. It's making it dependable.
I want to work where ambitious technology meets the physical world: developing applications, integrating new equipment, diagnosing complex failures and turning capable prototypes into reliable products and operations. The technology can change. My approach stays the same.
01Define the mission
Translate what a machine needs to accomplish into clear requirements, interfaces and measurable success criteria.
02Find the failure
Read logs and signals, inspect hardware, test assumptions and trace problems to the responsible subsystem.
03Engineer repeatability
Develop validation plans, field procedures and improvements that hold up outside ideal conditions.
04Connect the disciplines
Work fluently with specialists, technicians, operators and decision-makers to move the full system forward.
THE COMMON DENOMINATOR
I bring the curiosity to enter unfamiliar technical territory, the breadth to connect its subsystems and the persistence to get the whole machine working.
LET'S BUILD WHAT COMES NEXT
Put me in the room with the hard problem.
I want to help build the machines that require someone to connect every discipline, find what isn't working and make the result dependable.