Michael Liang

Seeking a full time position relateded to HITL, Test Engineering and Systems Engineering.

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Skills

MLL Electronics: A Rapid Protoyping R&D Lab - 2018 to Ongoing

Hugging Face S0101 Robot arm - focused on building a data pipeline for VLAs and learning machine learning on the Nvidia Jetson Nano. platform as well as exploring the visualization of complex environmental sensor data.
Various CNC/Industrial Automation related projects for both personal and professional settings. Examples include Voron 2.4R2 3D printer, South Bend 9A lathe restoration

Midwest Hard Tech Newsletter - May 2025 to Ongoing

Covering the Midwest Hard Tech scene - reporting on HW/Hard Tech within Ohio and the surrounding areas.
Working on building the community through hosting meetups, featuring companies/founders and being a resource for those who are building hardware.

Nifty Parts - A better faster parts supplier for professionals and hobbyists (Fall 2018 to Spring 2020)

2nd Place in the UAkron 10K Pitch Challange - 8k funding for our idea to hobbyists and engineers with high quality, well documented, unique electronic components.
Was heading of social media marketing, in charge of handling logistics/communications with Chinese suppliers, and worked on developing test stands/procedures for parts we would order.

Project Archimedes - IOT 4.0 startup (Spring 2020 to Spring 2021)

Through UARF I-Corps program - was able to boot strap 2k in funding for the demo devices and hardware costs.
Interviewed over 15+ Industry professionals about the development of a VR/AR IOT Edge device for PLC data acquisition and display of real time sensor data.
Worked to define HW/SW system architecture, relevant COTs HW for prototyping, and understand the paint points of the Industrial Automation space.

Autonomous Systems Engineer Jan 2022 - Present

Led system-level development and validation for multiple ADAS and Transmission/Powertrain ECU platforms across 6 development-stage and production-intent vehicle programs, driving HW/SW integration, ECU issue triage, and root-cause analysis from early development through vehicle validation.
Designed, developed, and deployed 3+ automated HILS benches used by global engineering teams, enabling repeatable validation of manufacturing issues, R&D concerns, field failures, and regulatory requirements.
Delivered DEC ECU regulatory battery voltage monitoring software on an accelerated 9-month timeline, contributing to a 25% reduction in development and validation timing versus the original 12-month plan; led Death Valley Hot Weather Testing for high-temperature validation of TCU unit.
Saved Honda over $500,000 thousand dollars and minimized factory downtime by coming up and implementing a unique way to re flash 70+ units for upcoming new build reduced the time to ship to Japan from 1 month and back into a two week build. Utilizing the Line End Specification, spoofing the reprogramming from CAN for OTA updates and then DoIP for ECU level reprogramming was able to ensure that factory received correctly updated parts.
Technologies Utilized: Automotive Bus (CAN, Ethernet), VECTOR (VT System), DFMEA Analysis, XCP/CCP

ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING CO-OP, Toast Inc, Boston MA, Jun 2021 - August 2021

Fabricated a fully custom automated robotic hardware testing platform based on a ESP32 uC/stepper driver board, custom designed 3d printed tapping mechanism, and Raspberry Pi for data acquisition/motion planning.
Worked closely with a cross disciplinary team of engineers to create detailed specifications for an upcoming tablet. Collaborated with ODM/JDM manufacturing vendors through out the product development lifecycle.
Gained experience in understanding the complexity of hardware design with multiple high speed signals such as MIPI, LVDS, gigabit ethernet and USB C.
Collaborated with ODM/JDM manufacturing vendors through out the product development lifecycle.
Technologies Utilized: ESP32, Python, Fusion 360, RF Explorer, and PADs viewer.

ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING CO-OP, WARDJet, Tallamadge OH, May 2020 - May 2021

Designed and implemented an audio based Raspberry Pi based data collection system to assist with root cause analysis of clogs in cutting operations for waterjets and provide lights out cutting capability.
Supported Industrial automation engineers in configuration of I/O Link sensors, Ethercat Network installation,PLC/automation panel component selection and layout and install of AC Servo drives (Clearpath, Yasakawa) for waterjets.
Worked closely with Electrical/Mechanical/SW engineers to understand DFM, manufacturability,
Technologies Utilized: Python, Industrial Controls (I/O Link, Ethercat),Raspberry Pi, and MATLAB.

UNIVERSITY OF AKRON UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH, LTA Research & Exploration, Akron Ohio, Sep 2018 - March 2019

Worked closely with a multidisciplinary team to develop custom rapid prototyping and fabrication solutions for an innovative Unmanned Aircraft System.
Retrofitted new safety equipment, maintained, and calibrated a 300 watt industrial laser cutter.
Maintained a print farm of over 15 industrial grade 3d printers which ran 24/7.
Technologies Utilized: SolidWorks 2018, Simplify3D, Octoprint, and RDWorks laser controller software.

SUMMIT COUNTY ENGINEER’S OFFICE, Engineering Intern, Akron Ohio, Jul 2018 - Sep 2018

Assisted with drafting of plans in AutoCAD and learned industry standard engineering draw practices.
Technologies Used: AutoCAD Civil 3D 2013, ArcGIS (mapping software)

Keyboard Warrior: A custom built STM32F303 keyboard running the QMK firmware.

Goal: design and make a modular mechanical keyboard with ability to extend functionality over i2c (number pad, OLED display, etc)
Schematic and board routing was done in KiCAD. With attention paid to crystal oscillator design, USB differential pair layout, and power supply design.
Mechanical design was done in SolidWorks. A custom stacked aluminum case design was chosen due to simplicity and ability to easily fabricate.

LMS3990 CNC Conversion: A custom CNC Mill

Electronics consist of Mach 3 breakout board, high current stepper drivers, spindle speed controller, and operator panel
Mechanically designed in SolidWorks. Converted from linear lead screws to a C7 grade ballscrew system with custom made motor mounts.

HAkron Public Relations Officer: Akron’s Official College Hackathon Group

Worked on expanding and engaging with engineering student organizations on campus in order to teach basic programming and electronics.
Hosted HAkron 4K a hackathon which is a 24 hour invention marathon that encourages creativity, innovation, learning and engineering.
Worked closely with a team to manage 80+ students and lead the electronics hardware team. Mentored several teams, organized access to the Bounce Innovation hub makerspace, and gained experience in teaching troubleshooting to non-technical individuals.