Robert Kuyper

If it flies, drives, dives, sails, shoots, or explodes I am interested in it. I have always had a passion for mechanical design. From building trebuchets as a kid to building a heavy lift driving simulator for senior design in college, I have always been trying to grow my understanding and ability.

I started working as a sawyer at 16 and got to play with heavy equipment. In college, I advanced to being a process control engineering intern at a large sawmill. After college, I have been working as a robotics integration technician at a machine shop and managing production data collection and reporting. What I enjoy most about my day job is how varied it is. I have designed machine tending integrations and actually implemented those designs while working with robotics, pneumatic, electronics and networks. I have fixed electrical systems from simple wiring to debugging complicated CNC systems. I have tinkered with python scripting to generate reports and extend our robot's abilities. I have designed parts and custom work holding solutions. I have learned to write PHP applications and build SQL databases to collect and present production status to our supervisory and accounting departments. Working for a small company provides a lot of room for growth and learning new things as the needs of the company change.

On the weekends, I am usually tinkering on some side project. My past several years have been spent learning everything I can about 3D printing. My experience with printing and in the machine shop has made my design process focus heavily on the capabilities of the tools used to make the final part. A part designed to be machined is often not suitable for printing and vice versa. With special consideration, both are possible. I think that was really the weakest part of my education. We learned design and had a primer on manufacturing technologies in college, but without the direct experience of a print failing or a machinist giving you a look of despair, it is difficult to know what the real limitations are.

My hope is to bring my varied experience to bear on an even larger variety of problems. If there is any problem you think I could help you solve, I would love to know about it.

To see more of what I have done, just take a look around the wiki.

• Sawyer (24 months cumulative)
• Resident Assistant (9 months while in college)
• Lifeguard (1.5 years while in college)
• Process Control Engineering Intern (3 Months)
• Automation Technician (3.5 years)