Rock Boynton

Embedded Software Engineer | Firmware Engineer
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Snagging a puck out of the air from my time in NCAA D3 college hockey
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I had a computer chip with my school logo painted on the back of my helmet
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30 mile, 4 day, 3 night backpacking trip through Yosemite National park with my 2 best friends
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Wisdom tree hike
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Me and my two dogs on a hike
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Roasting my first Thanksgiving turkey
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My lovely girlfriend and I visiting Chicago
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My awesome family on Christmas Eve

About

Myself

I am a Firmware Engineer at Tesla and Computer Engineering graduate of Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE) where I focused on embedded systems. At school, I served as the lead for my school's Google Developer Student Club chapter and the corresponding secretary of the IEEE - Eta Kappa Nu (HKN) honor society.


When I am not studying, I enjoy working playing with my Arduino, STM32, and new Raspberry Pi Zero W development boards.


Outside of tech, I was a member of the MSOE varsity hockey team as a goaltender where I had earned NCHA All-Academic team honors for 3 years in a row.


Some of my other interests include hiking/backpacking, skiing, cooking, Brazillian Jiu-Jitsu (blue belt), learning languages (Spanish, Japanese) and spending time with my loved ones.

Skills

What I can do for you

Embedded Software Engineering

Extensive experience programming with Rust, C, and C++ with some Assembly using ARM, NXP, and TI microcontrollers plus hardware development with VHDL and Qsys

Software Development

Experience developing applications with Rust, Python, C++, and Java with git for version control

User Experience Research and Design

Experience conducting user and usability research and designing multimedia

Hardware Engineering

Experience with creating schematics, hardware part selection, and PCB layout

Work Experience

Past and current jobs

  • Firmware Engineer - Tesla

    • Designed and developed firmware in C for the Tesla Supercharger Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE) system running with an RTOS serving 1.9 million charge sessions per day with 99% uptime
    • Implemented device-side authentication system for third-party vehicle supercharging opening in Europe, multiplying total addressable market by 11X
    • Supported North American third-party expansion with firmware drivers for new electromechanical hardware in addition to charging protocol and billing modifications, resulting in > $2 billion of federal and state funding access
    • Built software support for the state-of-the-art immersion cooling technology required for the Tesla Semi and V4 Supercharger 1 MW charging
      • Features include coolant ground current measuring algorithm capable of maintaining functional safety through stress tests, controls for new pump and fan, robust fault detection, and CAN telemetry + logging
    • Spearheaded the first firmware component in Tesla written in Rust, resulting in an estimated savings of $1 per vehicle or ~$1.8 million per year
      • o Features include robust single-wire UART comms to EVSEs over 3 m and 8 m cables, simultaneous BLE and proprietary radio comms with Tesla vehicles, and over-the-air (OTA) update capability

  • Software Engineer, Intern - Cognex Corporation

    • Enhanced C++ FW/embedded SW in machine vision tools, unit tested w/JavaScript, integration tested w/Python
    • Compiled builds, and remotely connected to smart cameras running Linux on ARM via SSH in Bash
    • Fixed bugs and improved usability in our software for developing machine vision applications on .Net Core with C#
    • Recommended, implemented, and demonstrated Jira workflow triggers for company-wide Agile development teams to smoothly transition issues through the Scrum board via Git commit, branch creation, and PR submissions

  • Software Engineer, Intern - Leonardo DRS

    • Developed 3 CLI scripts in Python to aide in regression testing for the upcoming Columbia class US Navy nuclear submarine Main Propulsion Drive (MPD) programmable logic device (PLD) firmware verification team
    • Facilitated conversion of existing code repository from Surround SCM to Git/Bitbucket by resolving edge case crashes and implementing multithreading in a Python conversion script increasing speed of conversion by 30%
    • Debugged PLD test scripts in Modelsim as well as VHDL firmware code in a Git feature workflow contained in 2 week Agile sprints tracked in Jira with requirements managed in DOORS
    • Produced a quick start guide for new hires outlining steps on getting acclimated with the code base and Git workflow

Projects

View some of my recent work
Embedded Software

Automatic Hand Sanitizer Dispenser

  • Automated a hand sanitizer bottle using a photo resistor as a motion sensor to trigger (3) SG90 Servo motors attached with dental floss to the nozzle
  • Utilized a STM32 Nucleo 64 development board w ith ARM microcontroller programmed with C++ and the mbed platform
View Code
Embedded Software/Hardware

Joystick + Accelerometer Controlled Camera Mount

  • Teamed with a partner utilizing a DE10 Lite SoC with Nios II processor to produce a multifunctional camera mount
  • Built custom hardware with VHDL and Qsys including 4 wire SPI component controlling a 10 bit ADXL345 accelerometer chip and an I2C Master component to control an OV7670 camera; developed respective drivers.
  • Assembled an API for application developers in C plus a complete user manual outlining features, architecture, usage, memory map, GPIO pinout, HAL, and example code
View Code
Embedded Software

Remote Locking System

  • Designed and programmed an IR remote lock ing system in C using STM32 Nucleo 64 dev board with UART
  • Used a timer in the MCU to read from an IR sensor soldered on a dev board with interrupts on input capture
  • Decoded the remote IR modulated signals for each key press using an oscilloscope and processed the ISR with a FSM
View Code
Software Application Development

Transit System Application

  • Worked in a group of 4 to develop an application with Java/JavaFX to view and edit GTFS files in a visual interface
  • Created data structures based on OOP principles, such as Stop and Trip and used the Java Collections Framework
  • Implemented a full featured map including plotting stops individually and on routes by using the OpenStreetMap API

* Private academic repository