Michael Pierce
Mechanical Engineer
Hi, I'm Michael.
A portfolio of my college projects and professional career.
WPI Mechanical Engineering Class of 2020.
Mechanical Engineer
Volta Labs, Boston, MA 2023- Present
Member of the hardware team, working to develop and launch the Volta Labs Callisto, an all-in-one digital fluidics platform that simplifies and automates preparation of multiple library workflows for DNA sequencing
Optimized and simplified the manufacturing process of the Node, the consumable used by the instrument, by designing custom fixtures, jigs and tools in OnShape, and made them using laser cutting, 3D printing and building an 80/20 fixture. Improvements resulted in 45% decrease in time per unit, increasing yield by 30% and a 22% decrease in waste of a key material
Performed root cause analysis of faulty Nodes, determined the root cause and opened investigation into finding a suitable replacement for the point of failure, currently in process of verifying and validating replacement to eliminate this point of failure
Liaise with domestic and overseas vendors for manufacturing of injection molded, water jet and CNC parts, assemblies and die cutters, and for procurement of adhesives and films
Collaborated with the R&D team to ideate, design and develop a custom instrument enclosure for testing critical instrument specifications, making it simple to change location of parts to enable rapid testing of multiple conditions, resulting in the team being able to quickly determine a new suitable location for the parts to improve instrument performance
Collaborated with mechanical engineers to design a unique labware mounting system for the instrument, making it easier for users to load and verify that labware was installed correctly. Worked with electrical engineers to redesign the TEC and thermal block, reducing the time to reach the cooling specification by 50%, and allowing compatibility with all tubes used for biology
Responsible for using in-house tools to laser cut, water jet, and 3D print components for the Volta Labs instrument to support building, testing and maintaining a fleet of ten instruments
Safety Officer for the machine shop, gave company-wide safety talk, onboarding new employees on machine shop practices and how to safely operate tools and equipment, with over twenty trained users and no accidents
About Callisto
Callisto helps labs eliminate the burden of method development, improve operational flexibility, and reduce risks related to manual sample handling. Volta has reinvented the hardware and software used to run next-generation sequencing protocols, creating powerful solutions for sample prep with this benchtop instrument.
Hardware Engineer, Systems Integration & Test Engineer
Phuc Labs, Boston, MA, 2021-2023
Develop the Vision Valve; a cutting-edge approach to particle separation that combines novel artificial intelligence and machine learning methods with the latest hardware to digitize current analog separation methods, allowing the device to be used in multiple applications ranging from EV battery recycling, wastewater treatment, soluble remediation and new-age mining
Collaborate with hardware team to ideate, design, manufacture, assemble and test five iterations of functioning prototypes of the Vision Valve, resulting in two separate system types being used by two customers
Spearheaded the install of Vision Valve to the first customer, Light Rail Manila Corp. in the Philippines, custom manufactured the rig for the specific need of the client, delivered and assembled in their production environment, gave training, instructional documentation, and provided support for the operators and used customer feedback to provide continuous improvement of the system
Lead live demonstration to explain the sub-systems of the Vision Valve and show processing of materials to investors
Worked with software team to ensure successful implementation of new features, performed stress and user tests, reported bugs and issues back to team to be resolved, learning how to debug code and able to fix issues myself
Design and run tests on all systems, recording results and using the data to further improve the Vision Valve system
Ideated, designed, manufactured and coded equipment to automate the synthesis of Poly-Ligand Exchange Resins, and ensuring identical size to optimize soluble copper ion absorption for the wastewater remediation application of the Vision Valve
Planned a feeder system to bring bulk recycled batteries into the Vision Valve system
Automated the process of teaching the machine learning models used by the Vision Valve by up to 90% by creating a system to continually capture particle data, enabling quicker turnaround of new client inquiries
Reviewed applications, interviewed and hired two interns to work in the lab, providing them with knowledge and skills to do lab tasks on their own including 3D printing and laser cutting parts, using SolidWorks, making data models, and running lab experiments
Assisted in creating data models using YOLOv5, PyTorch, and Roboflow for new material samples that customers would bring in, tested, trained and verified that the models were performing within the desired specification of detection
About the Vision Valve
This video shows the most recent version of the vision valve technology, giving a brief overview of what each of the subsystems are and shows it in action sorting the copper from the recycled EV battery sample.
Mechanical Engineer I
McLaughlin Research Corporation, Middletown, RI, 2020- 2021
Supported the Naval Underwater Warfare Center Newport Fleet Support & Systems Assessment Division in the Fleet Engineering Branch in the Reliability and Maintainability Department
Developed, revised, verified, and implemented new procedures for the construction and maintenance of torpedoes
Designed a new test fixture to improve accuracy of the test by updating the analog test system to a digital test system
Converted and updated legacy drawings and part models into SolidWorks assemblies for illustrated technical manuals
Performed root cause analysis of a critical system to determine why certain damage was occurring, developed and implemented a new procedure to eliminate this damage in future torpedoes
Revived a project that had been tabled for ten years due to cost, discovered and implemented a method to reduce the cost by over 90% using new technology and improved manufacturing methods to improve end of life recovery and safety for torpedoes
Lead Integrated Project Team of six to determine the root cause of anomalous torpedo performance over the past decade
Granted United States Secret Security Clearance, Expiration January 2031
College Projects
Self Driving RC Car
2019-2020
WPI Major Qualifying Project.
Working with a team of students to create and design an autonomous driving RC car using SolidWorks. The car has a modular gear box and modular steering linkage, for easy testing of new systems. Developed manufacturing processes to make the car easily reproducible for classroom needs, using a majority of 3D printed parts. Researching to make a scale Mars Rover using a scalable Control Moment Gyroscope to demonstrate potential applications of the car platform.
Car Top Speed Run
The most recent update of the car. Calculating a top speed of 16.1 MPH.
Car Test Drive
The Car Drives! Demonstrating climbing up ramp with and without the Control Moment Gyroscope
SolidWorks Model
3D Printed Car
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StairWalker
2018
WPI Introduction to Engineering Design.
During this class, a walker was designed that introduced the independent movement of either side of the walker. This would allow for a user of the walker to go up and down stairs. This project is currently under provisional patent stage, so the nonconfidential writeup is attached. This project got our group inducted into the National Academy of Inventors as Honorary Members.
Scotch Yoke Flashlight
2020
WPI Kinematics of Mechanism
In this project, our team was tasked with making a simple mechanism that would teach middle and high school students about two different STEM topics. The Scotch Yoke Flashlight not only teaches these students about the scotch yoke mechanism, but about basic electrical principles and the Faraday Effect.
Bumper Bracket
2019
WPI Automotive Materials and Process Design.
The final project for this class was to design a bumper bracket for a car that could withstand the requirement all new cars must face- of being able to survive a 5 MPH crash with little to no deformation. The following product was developed, meeting the strength and deformation requirements after being tested by having a 10 pound weight dropped from 3 feet. The mount was made in SolidWorks, and was 3D printed. Carbon Fiber Rod was used as the rod.
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One Space, Many Audiences
2018
WPI Interdisciplinary Qualifying Project.
During the Fall Semester of 2018, I had the once in a lifetime opportunity of traveling to Melbourne, Australia to work on a visitor analysis project with Museums Victoria. In this project, my team put our engineering skills to work to design an original study for one of the Exhibits, Beyond Perception. Beyond Perception is the newest exhibition at Scienceworks, a branch of Museums Victoria in Melbourne, Australia. It was designed to ignite an interest in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics in teenagers. We conducted a visitor tracking and timing study, visitor surveys, and observational studies to assess visitor behavior in the exhibit depending on age. We evaluated the holding power and attracting power of the exhibit. We surveyed visitors to determine the educational impact of the exhibit. We tested Bluetooth visitor tracking inside the exhibition and identified its problems with implementation. To increase visitor engagement, we made recommendations for improvement, in particular that Museums Victoria add instructions to the interactive features of Beyond Perception.
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