ENGINEER · BUILDER · EDUCATOR
Real machines.
Connected by better software.
I build, deploy and diagnose systems across hardware and software — from underwater instruments to autonomous vehicles, rocket test equipment and applied AI.
DUBLIN, CALIFORNIA / HANDS-ON, END TO END
From the first circuit
to the field deployment.
01 / INDEPENDENT WORK
Digital creatures with personalities and memories. A living world built around a portable intelligence engine, running on a device and scaling across connected worlds.
graphlings.net ↗
Internal tooling for Tritium and Graphlings self-improving AI. Code intelligence, dependency graphs and architecture analysis help AI agents understand and improve the systems they work on.
Internal tooling / Tritium + Graphlings
Neighborhood robotics battlefield management for kids, growing into a platform for software-in-the-loop (SIL) and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing. A tactical-map interface brings simulation and real robots together on our network, backed by a growing collection of connected hardware.
Explore Valpatel products
An open toolkit to give retired Moxie robots a new brain. A browser-based 3D simulator, reverse-engineering docs and self-hosted services bring face, voice and motion back under your control.
The cloud dependency is optional. The intense eye contact comes standard.
Unofficial fan project. “Moxie” is a trademark of Embodied, Inc. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Embodied, Inc.
moxie.mattvalancy.com ↗
An interactive guide to camera, LiDAR and IMU calibration. Plain-language explanations, research references and 3D animations make the geometry easier to understand.
cal.valpatel.com ↗
Graph-based project management designed for cognitive diversity. Make dependencies visible and organize work around how people think.
graphdone.com ↗
An AI audio studio for music, sound effects and speech, with genre radio, reactive visualizers and a shared library for discovering and reviewing game audio.
Explore SoundBox on GitHub ↗
Choose animals, build your matchup, and see who wins in a 3D arena. A playable slice of the Graphlings world, with crystal creatures cheering from the stands.
fight.graphlings.net ↗02 / EXPERIENCE
ROBOTICS & FIELD INTEGRATION
Engineer (Contract)
Through an agency via Valpatel Software LLC
Design and deploy a retrofit robotics kit for existing machines: off-the-shelf compute and sensors, onboard bring-up, ROS camera and sensor pipelines, and a tablet-based vehicle console.
Install sensors on construction equipment, develop software in the field, and lead on-vehicle test automation. Connect simulation, lab, vehicle and cloud workflows with multi-agent tooling and repeated engineering evaluations.
APPLIED AI EDUCATION
Adjunct Instructor · Part-time
Teach applied artificial intelligence to students of varied backgrounds, with an emphasis on practical use, understanding and ownership of AI tools.
More on teachingINDEPENDENT PRODUCTS
Business Owner
Build Graphlings digital creatures and intelligent pets, and Tritium, a neighborhood robotics battlefield management platform for kids. Develop the software, distributed compute and observability that connect those systems.
Visit ValpatelJUN 2022 — NOV 2025
Livermore, CA
Architected MonarchOne product infrastructure and a SolidWorks → Blender → Isaac Sim pipeline, with simulated camera streams feeding ROS2 and the existing hardware-in-the-loop rig.
Collaborated with a mechatronics engineer on UEI HIL hardware and system integration. Owned the Python/InfluxDB monitoring software for HIL and dyno analysis, extending telemetry to vehicles, production testing and factory equipment.
Supported 20+ networked test systems over Tailscale, real-time CAN decoding and remote diagnostics on tractors at dairy farms. Built PCBA testers and fault-injection fixtures, investigated immunity failures in high-voltage assemblies, and developed lighting-module bootloader, flashing and test software.
Worked with controls and cloud engineers on end-to-end testing. Defined reusable software patterns and coached the validation and test team.
MAR 2019 — JUN 2022
Alameda, CA
Designed avionics functional test equipment and HIL hardware around National Instruments PXI: interface boards, harnesses, load banks, pneumatic actuators, racks and fixtures. Operated vibration and thermal-vacuum equipment, including liquid-nitrogen systems.
Designed a large-format flex PCB for aircraft battery-pack cell sensing and fixtures for titanium battery cold-plate waterjet cutting. Used waterjet and CNC router equipment to make tooling.
OCT 2018 — MAR 2019
Hayward, CA
Installed sensors, designed and machined avionics installation components, and set up in-house CNC machining. Built autopilot debug hardware enabling software fixes for helicopter flight controls.
JAN 2018 — SEP 2018
Redwood City, CA
Supported aircraft battery and powertrain testing, built a carbon-fiber composite shaker head expander, and participated in thermal-propagation mitigation research.
APR 2014 — JAN 2018
Palo Alto & Fremont, CA
Developed and deployed ECU flashing and subassembly test equipment to manufacturing sites. Built factory test panels, handheld tools and fixtures, documented installed systems, and helped colleagues get started with PCB design and rapid prototyping tools.
NOV 2013 — MAY 2014
Berkeley, CA
Developed underwater robot hardware, PCB designs and layouts, and production test PCBs.
SEP 2008 — JAN 2013
Marina, CA
Built embedded C firmware and C# tools for underwater acoustic positioning, tracking and wildlife telemetry. Developed SeaDock, SeaTrack and SeaWatch for device control, sensor logs and acoustic tracking, with work supported by SBIR, STTR and NOAA programs.
03 / APPROACH
The circuit, the fixture, the firmware, the data.
Good engineering connects them.
I’m a hands-on generalist across electrical, mechanical, embedded and software engineering. I work best in flat teams: talk directly with the person who can help, take ownership, and default to action. That’s how unfamiliar systems start working in the real world.
Today, I pair work with people, tools and machines with continuously running coding agents. GitHub Copilot, Claude Code and Codex help implement and test ideas; meaningful tests and repeated comparisons of quality and compute cost guide what stays.
I turn repeated work into automation, reusable infrastructure and documentation — then help other people put it to use.
04 / TOOLKIT
ROS / ROS2, NVIDIA Jetson, Isaac Sim / Lab, USD pipelines, sensor integration, CAN, hardware-in-the-loop.
NI PXI, UEI, PCBA testing, fault injection, vibration, thermal vacuum, battery and powertrain test equipment.
Python, C, C++, C#, Bash. GitHub Copilot, Claude Code, Codex, multi-agent workflows and measured evaluations.
Linux, Docker, InfluxDB, Telegraf, Grafana, Ansible, Tailscale, MQTT / AWS IoT, distributed compute.
Altium, KiCad, SolidWorks, Siemens NX, Blender, CNC, waterjet, sheet metal, harnesses and fixtures.
Applied AI instruction, technical mentoring, reusable engineering patterns, PCB design coaching, rapid prototyping and practical documentation.
05 / PASS IT ON
“When your cup is full, you don’t go get a bucket — you fill your neighbor’s.”
I help people turn “I wish I could” into something they can build and own: a PCB they designed, a prototype they can test, or a game they made with AI. At Monterey Peninsula College, I teach applied AI with that same focus on getting people making things. My guest talks in the sculpture program connect engineering and fabrication to students’ own creative work.
Since 2024, I’ve also coached friends, family and colleagues from their first AI experiments into agentic development workflows. At Monarch, mentoring the test team led to my Software Architect role. At Tesla, I helped colleagues get started with PCB design and rapid prototyping tools.
EDUCATION
B.S. Computer Science & Information Technology
06 / GET IN TOUCH
Dublin, California
Valpatel Software LLC