Stephen Mock

Research and Development Engineer II

Research and development for tactile-driven robots used in human-robot systems.

● Responsible engineer for system delivery of teleoperated HIL (human in the loop) bimanual robotic system with tactile sensors and neural haptics used for human-robot shared embodiment research
● Responsible engineer for system delivery of portable teleoperated HIL robotic system with gripper, tactile sensors, and neural haptics, presented at UN AI for Good 2025 conference to demonstrate robotics with touch
● Managed program execution of UCLA robotic system and portable demo, leading team of 8 and 6 respectively, while coordinating multi-institutional collaboration between four universities
● Released complete robotic system including hardware, software, requirements, interface control documents, GUI, Bill of Materials, and standard operating procedures, ensuring integration across university partners
● Designed and implemented ROS2-based HITL (Hardware-in-the-Loop) unit test framework, creating 200+ test cases to verify system functionality pre-deployment
● Worked with PhD students to implement advanced control algorithms and designed unit test framework to evaluate robot controller design within both simulation and hardware
● Developed robot hardware, including grippers, cable management solutions, and electronics
● Designed and implemented ROS2 software drivers including robot arms, grippers, motors, and tactile sensors
● Designed and implemented algorithms for hand mapping and stimulation using tactile sensors, neural haptics, and hand tracking devices to enhance shared autonomy experience
● Designed, managed, and trained students in proper hardware (PDM) and software (Git) release management systems, enabling effective multi-institute collaboration

Test Engineer

Systems engineering development and testing for future robotic kitchen solutions.

● Designed and developed two HITL test fixtures for root cause analysis and durability testing of a robotic gripper and 6DoF robotic arm, leveraging ROS1, rosserial, and embedded systems
● Conducted testing and contributed to the design of robotic arm peripherals, focusing on field reliability and food safety compliance
● Designed end-to-end test framework connecting hardware to cloud, automating DUT traceability, JIRA Xray issue reporting, and structured data aggregation in Amazon Athena.

Robotics Mechanical Engineer

Extreme Environment Robotics Group (347C), supporting Mars Sample Return (MSR) Capture Contain Return System (CCRS), Mars Sample Return Handling (MSRH)

Cognizant V&V Engineer, 2nd gen MSR Prototype End Effector Testbed (4 months)
● Oversaw and conducted verification and validation (V&V) to deliver testbed system
● Ensured functional testbed operations by developing and conducting 8 detailed procedures
● Designed and assembled laser nest assembly to characterize testbed stiffness using 7 single-axis lasers
● Created MATLAB script for stiffness characterization using coordinate frame transformations and inverse kinematics to track deformation in 6DoF

Mechanical Support Engineer, 3rd gen MSR End Effector TVAC Testbed (3 months)
● Conducted bearing and bolt hand-calculations for component sizing using JPL flight design principles
● Contributed to testbed heat loss calculations and design of a redundant heating system with thermal controllers, heaters, and thermocouples for temperature-critical components

Software Development Support Engineer, 4th gen MSR End Effector TVAC Testbed (5 months)
● Verified redundant heating system concept of operations by assembling and testing thermal system benchtop prototype for 15 different fault scenarios
● Wrote Python drivers for asynchronous interfacing with 16 thermal controllers and 3 power supplies using Async IO Modbus TCP, VISA TCP/IP, and USB
● Designed and tested ROS2 software architecture for thermal controller and power supply telemetry logging and service calls for operator interfacing
● Deployed testbed and conducted MATLAB data analysis of testbed fault protection response time

Mechanical Engineering Co-Op

● Conceptualized, procured, and assembled automated testbed ($100K) to characterize and evaluate misalignment error for MSR robotic arm end effector in 6 degrees of freedom (DOF)
● Designed second iteration testbed ($500K) to undergo thermal vacuum requirements (-70C, high vacuum) and higher load/stroke operations
● Created MATLAB simulation for inverse/forward kinematics for MSR Robotic Arm testbed operations
● Wrote code to minimize MSR Robotic Arm link length and joint torques, perform basic path planning and clearance/tolerance checking
● Documented and storyboarded concept of operations for MSR robotic arm using kinematic simulation
● Used FEA to prototype 2DOF flexure mechanism for end effector remote center of compliance
● Conceptualized 4 bar linkage gripper mechanism for MSR end effector latching operations
● Designed custom tools to mount, cut, extract Mars samples from tubes when returned to Earth
● Co-authored IEEE Aerospace paper on decontamination process for MSRH

Mechanical Engineering Intern

Supported development of future robotic vacuums, docks, and test fixtures.

● Designed and assembled 7 benchtop prototypes of new robot dock product with 30+ components for software testing
● Designed and tested a modular wheel traction fixture to improve tread effectiveness for a new robot product using Creo and top-down assembly modeling =
● Assisted with prototype build, root cause investigation and free body analysis to improve dock product

Mechanical Engineering Intern

Prototyped new Shark Robotic Vacuums in the Advanced Development group

● Implemented solutions to improve robot docking; design was manufactured and sold
● Trained and managed two technicians; documented and assembled prototype builds for 10+ new robots
● Tested new robot features using Arduino with various sensors and actuators for customer insights
● Performed root cause analysis to apply mechanical solutions for robots going to mass production

Twitch Chat Controlled Robot

Self-steaming Twitch robot that can be controlled anywhere remotely via. Twitch Chat. Try it out here!

● Designed and 3D Printed 2DoF (Pan/Tilt) robot to house servos for camera orientation with Teensy Microcontroller, Raspberry Pi
● Uses ROS2 (Python), MicroROS (C) to parse Twitch Chat and command specific robot behavior using UART, DDS
● Implements Video4Linux (V4L) libraries and OpenCV to capture camera images and publish them to Twitch Server using FFMPEG

EELS Sampling System

NASA JPL’s Exobiology Extant Life Surveyor (EELS) liquid sampling system, aiding in search for life on sub-glacial environments such as Antarctica and Enceladus.

● Led team of six as project manager by planning and delegating tasks for ideation, manufacturing, and assembly of final design
● Wrote source code and designed electrical system to run mechatronic system including peristaltic pump, flow, and humidity sensors, as well as solenoid valves
● Manufactured three prototypes to test sampling capabilities and leak detection for final design
● Performed literature search to find 57 sensor options for environment characterization

MedMate

Designed IoT device to help patients and caregivers track user medicine intake, store info on database, show alerts and user history on website.

● Designed, 3D printed, and tested three physical prototypes - pill bottle tracker and pill dispenser
● Wrote source code on ESP32 to publish and subscribe to MQTT nodes and transfer data to Firebase server using JSONs
● Storyboarded user test scenario and developed state machine to interface hardware and fullstack to make device fully autonomous (IoT)

Wireless Joint Motion Tracking

Creation of wireless joint tracking units to measure the position of serially linked manipulators using hall effect sensors.

● Manufactured calibration rig to characterize sensor behavior which implemented hall effect sensors, motor controllers, encoders, and quadrature counters
● Prototyped and tested initial glove design to demonstrate device functionality; device used sensors to control servo position through corresponding finger position
● Wrote and documented source code and libraries for future students regarding serial communication (I2C, SPI), and PID control within the calibration rig

Robot Human Augmentation

Conducted research to improve powered prosthesis for below-knee amputees by creating a scaling equation for variable torque.

● Designed and manufactured parts to interface with existing prosthetic
● Gathered data with able-bodied and amputee subjects; used MATLAB to analyze metabolic, kinetic and kinematics data
● Tested prosthetic sensors (Encoders, IMU) using Arduino

Autonomous Board Game

Designed and prototyped a fully automated playing board to move pieces in an original game.

● Implemented reverse kinematics to map coordinates and control movement of game pieces.
● Integrated Arduino, servos, electromagnets and manufactured working prototype of game device