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Re: What's your day job?
I am an product (applications) engineer for Kaydon, a manufacturer of custom and thin-section bearings. I get to play a small role in a broad range of interesting projects. I have worked on bearings in Dave Lavery's "other car" (original Mars Rovers), the Hubble Telescope, the International Space Station, Joint Strike Fighter STOVL, various satellites and helicopters, and everyting from medical devices to sewage treatment, renewable energy to nuclear power, industrial machinery, etc. I even get calls from other FRC teams.
I also have a 30 acre hobby farm with a few cattle and horses. I operate it with semi-antique equipment from the 1950's & 1960's, including some classic 2-cylinder John Deere tractors. It seems like the first thing that happens on all my machinery is for a bearing to go out. Tinkering with old farm equipment is a great learning experience. Shoveling manure keeps me humble. The seasonal schedule fits well with robotics.
As a mentor, I'm supposed to bring my work experience to robotics and share it with the students. In reality, I apply my robotics experiences to the benefit of Kaydon a lot more often.
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NC Gears (Newaygo County Geeks Engineering Awesome Robotic Solutions)
FRC 1918 (Competing at St. Joseph and West MI in 2017)
FTC 6043 & 7911
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