Tim Zuercher
About
Detail
VP of Engineering - Autonomy
Christiansburg, Virginia, United States
Résumé
Jobs
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VP of Engineering - AutonomyTorc RoboticsNov 2022 - Current (4 years)- Lead division responsible for Torc's Virtual Driver software application, focused on L4 self driving semi trucks.
- Own end-to-end autonomy software stack: sensor processing, perception, localization, behaviors/planning
- Manage organization of 100 - 200 software, machine learning, and data engineers- Head of Autonomy Development (Interim)Torc RoboticsMay 2022 - Nov 2022 (7 months)(Interim) Led the Autonomy development organization. Responsible for roadmap, execution, and resource allocation.
- Technical Product Director - AutonomyTorc RoboticsJan 2021 - Nov 2022 (1 year 11 months)- Built a group of technical product owners responsible for the roadmap and technical direction of Torc's Virtual Driver product.
- Management of 10 to 20 IC's - Technical Team LeadTorc RoboticsJan 2020 - Jan 2021 (1 year 1 month)
- Software EngineerTorc RoboticsMay 2019 - Jan 2020 (9 months)
- Instructor and ResearcherEmbryRiddle Aeronautical UniversityJan 2015 - Apr 2019 (4 years 4 months)- Project Lead for development of the Minion autonomous surface vehicle (ASV) which was used to attract >$1M USD in additional grant funding for the department.
- Instructor of record for undergraduate control systems and robotics courses - Graduate ResearcherEmbryRiddle Aeronautical UniversityAug 2012 - Jan 2015 (2 years 6 months)- Robotics researcher for multiple unmanned vehicle system grants and projects for surface vehicles, aerial vehicles, on-road, and off-road vehicles
- Led and advised multiple collegiate robotics competition entries to AUVSI and RoboNation events
Education
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- Doctor of Philosophy - PhD, Mechanical EngineeringEmbryRiddle Aeronautical UniversityJan 2015 - Apr 2019 (4 years 4 months)Pursue a Ph.D. in Robotics. Research focus on fully autonomous platform development and path planning algorithms.
- Master's degree, Mechanical EngineeringEmbryRiddle Aeronautical UniversityJan 2012 - Jan 2015 (3 years 1 month)Algorithm development for autonomous surface (water) vehicle planning and control
- Bachelor of Science, Aerospace EngineeringEmbryRiddle Aeronautical UniversityAug 2008 - Apr 2012 (3 years 9 months)Senior Project: Planning and control algorithms for an autonomous indoor aerial vehicle.
Projects (professional or personal)
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- MMinion Research PlatformJan 2015 - Current (11 years 10 months)Project lead for a team of 20+ students and faculty tasked with the redesign of the Minion ASV as a platform for autonomous vehicle research to attract external research funding. Compete with the platform in the 2016 Maritime RobotX challenge. The teams efforts with the Minion platform have attracted $1.3 Million in funding for faculty and students at Embry-Riddle.
- MMinion ASVSep 2013 - Dec 2014 (1 year 4 months)Work with a small team of students and faculty to develop a fully autonomous 16ft surface vehicle for entry into the 2014 RobotX competition in Singapore. On the project I served as a technical lead and developed real time path planning algorithms with obstacle avoidance and a trajectory tracking control system. I was also responsible for the design of electrical, power management, health monitoring, and fail-safe systems.
- FFloating Point ASVMay 2013 - Jul 2015 (2 years 3 months)Team developed a small surface vehicle to compete in the AUVSI Roboboat competition. During the 2014 competition I acted as the projects lead software developer. During the 2015 competition I acted as a graduate adviser to a team of undergraduate students. On the project I developed path planning, obstacle avoidance, objective tracking, communications, and perception software. The project earned second in design and first place overall both years.
- MMOLLEBotApr 2013 - Jul 2013 (4 months)Short term project to submit and entry to the 2013 AUVSI International Ground Vehicle competition. On the team I served as the mechanical and electrical engineer. I built the platform, designed the electrical systems and implemented real time path planning and control algorithms. The vehicle was awarded first place design.
- RRaven/Raven IIMay 2012 - Aug 2013 (1 year 4 months)Develop an indoor autonomous aerial vehicle for the International Aerial Robotics Competition. For the 2012 competition I served as the controls guru. I took over leadership of the project for the 2013 competition. On the project I designed vehicle stabilization algorithms, implemented flight control and sensor systems on a printed circuit board and wrote navigation software. In 2013 I lead a redesign of the vehicle component integration and layout leading to significant weight savings. We were awarded a first place design at both competitions.
- Awarded first place design two years in a row.
Awards
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- IMechanical Engineering Graduate Student of the YearIssued by EmbryRiddle Aeronautical UniversityAward for graduate student leadership and excellence.
- IAerospace Engineering Student of the YearIssued by EmbryRiddle Aeronautical UniversityEngineering week award for student leadership and excellence.