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Education: |
MSME - Product Design -
Stanford University
BSME - University of the Witwatersrand |
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Experience: |
I have grown professionally
outside of the corporate path for most of the last 20 years, more
by circumstance than by choice. The exception was the period of
1997-2001, where I was employed with Bridge Design (Senior
Project Manager), Patria Design (Product Development Manager) and
Digiscents (Mechanical Engineering Manager).
From 83 to 93 my focus was on disk drive technology, including
testing and manufacturing equipment, since my career start at
Cambrian Consultants Inc., Calabasas. In 1986, a joint project
with two colleagues resulted in a device that was patented and
licensed successfully for a number of years. This income stream
allowed me to go back to school and explore a deep interest in
the human aspects of product development.
After two years at Stanford I continued consulting for two years as I adapted to a new career in
development of products directed to consumers and medical users
(Lunar Design, Bridge Design). In 2001 a bad economy combined
with a desire to explore family roots lead me to relocate to
Portugal. At the end of 2003 I returned to the US to reignite a
consulting career and other personal projects, but maintained a
highly satisfying relationship with ISR-Vislab, the robotic
vision lab of Lisbon's premier engineering university (IST).
That relationship has yielded a number of interesting projects
related to android development, including a participation in the
Robotcub – a European project (www.robotcub.org).
The establishment of Miguel Praca Design (2005) at Center Studio
in rustic San Anselmo is a continuation of an activity that
allows me to pursue a number of parallel interests,
including product development consulting, and the launch of a new original MPD product (see
www.hitchcraft.net ). |
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Patents: |
Removable hard disk drive - US
Patents: 4,941,841 (1990) / Re. 34,369 (1993) / Des. 308,052
(1990)
Point of sale bottle dispenser - US Patent: 6,206,273 (2001)
Fastening and stretching devices – (EU) OHIM registration:
000423074-0001 (2005)
Rope Fastening and Tensioning Device – US Patent: DD560,475 S (1/29/08)
Device for quick fastening and tension adjustment of multiple
cord configurations –
US Patent: 7,464,443 (12/16/08)
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Articles: |
An anthropomorphic robot torso for imitation: design and
experiments.
Design of the Robot-Cub (iCub) Head
Rethinking the Electric Car Design |
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