Humanizing AI, robotics, and autonomous systems through strategic design research. I specialize in translating cutting-edge technology into products people want to use. Whether it's autonomous vehicles at Cruise, humanoid robots at 1X, or AI wearables at HP, I uncover the human insights that make or break adoption.
Experience
2025 — Now
2025 — Now
Sunnyvale, CA
2024 — Now
San Jose, California, United States
Founded a consultancy specializing in research for emerging AI technologies, serving Fortune 500 clients including Samsung, HP, and innovative robotics companies.
Currently leading research initiatives that define how humans interact with AI wearables, humanoid robots, and embodied AI systems. My work transforms abstract technical capabilities into validated product strategies that shape investment decisions and product roadmaps.
Recent Client Impact:
1X Robotics (NEO humanoid robot): Transformed abstract robotic concepts into tangible insights through innovative research methods, fundamentally changing assumptions about product capabilities and expanding target user definition beyond early adopters
HP AI Wearables: Validated AI-enhanced glasses as optimal form factor for field technicians through multi-industry research, insights that influenced HP's strategic acquisition strategy in the wearable AI space
Samsung Display Innovation Center (SDIC): Introduced a science-backed framework for AI companion products, identifying two distinct product opportunities that shaped portfolio-wide development strategy
Specializations: Human-robot interaction, embodied AI, wearable intelligence, autonomous systems research, AI product strategy
Building on 20+ years of experience leading research at scale (Cruise, Ford, IDEO), I now focus on hands-on research that defines the future of human-AI interaction.
2022 — 2024
2022 — 2024
San Francisco Bay Area
Scaled Cruise's autonomous delivery from pilot to 8,000 monthly Walmart deliveries through strategic research
Partnered directly with product, engineering, and operations teams to transform autonomous delivery from concept to reality. My research insights informed critical decisions that doubled the delivery volume in six months and secured Walmart's expansion commitment.
Key Impact:
Doubled delivery efficiency through targeted research identifying operational friction points, reducing delivery time by 35% and enabling the removal of safety drivers
Secured Walmart partnership expansion to 8,000 monthly deliveries by validating customer acceptance metrics and operational readiness through mixed-methods research
Shaped $50 million AV freight strategy through 18 executive interviews and market analysis, establishing Cruise's roadmap for Class 6 and Class 8 autonomous vehicles
Prevented service failures by identifying latent issues before scale, implementing research-driven solutions that improved the delivery success rate from 78% to 94%
Influenced product roadmap for multi-stop routing and unattended delivery, research that became the foundation for the 2024 product strategy
Methods: Field studies, operational shadowing, customer interviews, journey mapping, service blueprinting, quantitative analysis of delivery metrics
2021 — 2022
2021 — 2022
Alexandria, Virginia, United States
Led design transformation initiatives for government and higher education clients, embedding design thinking into traditionally bureaucratic organizations.
Joined a small consultancy where design was often misunderstood as purely visual. Fundamentally shifted how design was valued by introducing strategic design methods and building organizational design literacy across federal agencies and universities.
Key Impact:
Won U.S. Navy as strategic client through facilitated visioning workshops that transformed initial skepticism into multi-phase engagement, demonstrating design's value in complex defense environments
Built design capability across organizations by creating weekly design charrettes and training programs, elevating two junior designers to lead their own client engagements within 6 months
Shifted organizational mindset from design-as-decoration to design-as-strategy through executive workshops that resulted in 3 clients establishing permanent design roles
Navigated complex stakeholder dynamics in federal environments, aligning competing interests across multiple agencies to achieve consensus on transformation initiatives
Note: Brief tenure due to limited scope for strategic design work within existing client constraints. Sought opportunities with a greater innovation mandate.
2018 — 2021
Palo Alto, California, United States
Led strategic design research that identified a $460M market opportunity, fundamentally challenging Ford's traditional vehicle portfolio strategy.
Faced with threats to Ford's work truck dominance from the gig economy and on-demand services, I led a 25-person cross-functional team exploring new vehicle architectures. My research transformed how Ford's engineering and finance teams approach early-stage innovation.
Key Impact:
Identified $460M market opportunity through deep ethnographic research into commercial fleet needs, proposing modular vehicle architecture that secured $40M investment commitment despite exceeding typical funding thresholds
Influenced F-150 product strategy by co-creating research roadmap with Design Research Director, leading synthesis sessions that converted insights into features now in production
Transformed investment decision-making by establishing design research as critical input for significant capital allocation, shifting Ford from assumption-based to insight-driven innovation
Built bridges between design and finance - first design leader to present directly to the CEO's innovation committee, establishing a new precedent for research-driven business cases
Pioneered new research methods for the automotive sector, adapting tech-industry approaches to a 100-year-old manufacturing culture
Methods: Jobs-to-be-done framework, ethnographic fleet studies, financial modeling integration, opportunity mapping