Passing of Lyndon Bridgwater, FRC and NASA legend

[BillBluethmann]

This past weekend the Houston, Texas and Worldwide FRC community lost a legend. Lyndon Bridgwater passed away on Sunday, December 1, 2024 morning at age 45. Lyndon was not on CD, so many of you might not know him. He is well known and beloved within the Texas mentors and FRC robot inspector communities.

Lyndon has been a member of the FRC community for 26 years. As a student, he was a member of Team 57, the Leopards from Booker T. Washington High School for Engineering Professions, graduating from high school in 1998. After college graduation and early in his career at NASA, Lyndon was a mentor for the Robonauts. This is where I first got to know him. As Lyndon started to focus more on his professional career, starting with Robonaut 2 where he was the lead hand and helmet designer, he stepped away from actively mentoring in FRC, but continued serving our community as robot inspector.

Lyndon’s sense of humor shined through as a robot inspector. After ascending into a lead inspector role, he was not a “lead inspector”, but a “Pb inspector”. If you saw him at inspection, you might have known him from his vest with assorted tools hanging every which way, accented with team swag. His focus was always student experience and was active in supporting getting robots that didn’t pass inspection onto the field. Post COVID, he stepped away from robot inspecting, but a few of us were gently nudging him back.

Despite giving up mentoring within FRC, Lyndon kept that spirit of mentorship alive at work. This week, I have had multiple people approach me saying that Lyndon was the best mentor they ever had and to quote one of his former proteges “His support gave me the courage to trust in my own abilities and recognize my worth.”

Lyndon has had a lasting impact on educational and competitive robotics beyond FRC. Lyndon was an Eagle Scout and was instrumental in the development of the robotics merit badge in the 2000’s before it went live in 2011. He was also a key in bringing BEST (Boosting Engineering, Science and Technology) Robotics to Houston 25 years ago, where it has thrived ever since.

Oh yea, I failed to mention that he was a NASA design legend. He’s the holder of over 20 patents in robotics and a member of the NASA Inventors Hall of Fame. Lyndon Bridgwater NASA Inventor HOF

Lyndon enjoyed many hobbies, but all had a connection to engineering. He was loved by many across many walks of life and will be greatly missed.

Lyndon had a knack for inspiring students. Here’s a video of Lyndon sharing his experience as an engineer to students during COVID. Career Chat: Lyndon Bridgewater (NASA Engineer)-YouTube

[chadr03]

Lyndon will be missed.

I have not seen him in a few years, but I vividly recall him as the “Pb” Robot Inspector.

When our team was young and may have shown up at the Lone Star Regional with some issues that may not have passed inspection he always had a smile and clearly let us know what we needed to do to pass.

He was a major reason I became a robot inspector. He did a talk at TRI about inspecting and it looked like a position that I would enjoy.

The next year, he was the LRI at the first event that I volunteered to inspect. It was very clear that the students were very important to him and he wanted every team to have a positive experience.

[philso]

Lyndon was one of the first LRI’s I encountered when I first started mentoring over a decade ago. He was always so helpful to the young and inexperienced teams.

The positive image Lyndon created was one of the reasons I followed through on a request to train as an RI. He was also one of the first LRI’s I served under. His guidance and patience helped me become a better volunteer. It was always great to hear about some of the projects he was working on at NASA and to see the enthusiasm he had for his work.

Lyndon was one of the people who I would hope to see when I walked into a competition venue. He has uplifted many people directly, and many more indirectly. He will be missed greatly.

[ChuckDickerson]

Lyndon was the consummate LRI. Always compassionate, cheerful, and helpful towards teams. Lyndon was a dear friend. I am greatly saddened by his passing and will miss him dearly.

[ParkerF]

The loss of Lyndon has hit the NASA family hard. He was an inspirational person to work with and learn from. The ingenuity and depth of knowledge he could bring to engineering challenges was truly exceptional. Lyndon’s accomplishments have formed a legacy that will be a benchmark for NASA Johnson’s robotics division for years to come.

The Texas FIRST community lost a bright star in his leadership and care as an LRI and mentor. He is a great example of the power these programs have on our younger generation; his successes as an alumnus are evidence of the success of this program. While intentionally separated from the Robonauts team for conflict of interest reasons, Lyndon was always happy to provide technical insights to robot rules. Furthermore, he enjoyed offering mock inspections to local teams where he could proactively instruct and mentor prior to the heat of competition day.

Take care of one another, be kind, and do the small things. They add up in hard times.

[ahartnet]

Words are definitely hard to come by. I have had few interactions with Lyndon, but they were always pleasant. Without being my mentor, he was a great mentor when I needed to turn some items on a lathe - very patient, kind, direct, and informative. I always had great interactions with him as an inspector, and while I don’t remember the exact words spoken I remember being encouraged by him while founding Pearadox. Truthfully, it was incredibly obvious how caring Lyndon was as an individual and has capacity to teach and mentor others was great.

Lyndon was a great guy, and the NASA family and FRC community has lost a great contributor and advocate.