# Joshua Manela > Deploying nets on robots since 2016 Location: San Francisco Bay Area, United States Profile: https://flows.cv/joshuamanela Robotics generalist focused on building intelligent machines that can perceive and act in complex, unstructured environments. I specialize in creating robust perception systems through computer vision, machine learning, and low-latency software optimization. My experience spans from developing novel sensor fusion algorithms for heterogeneous sensors to training and deploying imitation learning policies on mobile manipulators and autonomous vehicles. I thrive in cross-functional teams, bridging the gap between perception and control to bring robotics from theory to reality. For project details and publications, please visit my portfolio at www.joshmanela.me ## Work Experience ### Founding Engineer @ Bedrock Robotics Jan 2024 – Present Working on a product-focuses team writing software for robots out in the field. If you have experience ... ... implementing learned behavior policies ... simulating robots ... developing ML infrastructure for robotic and / or embedding systems ... writing and deploying robotics middleware ... deploying perception models for safety-critical systems ... writing rust for robots please reach out! For more information, see our website https://bedrockrobotics.com/ ### Staff Software Engineer, Perception @ Waymo Jan 2023 – Jan 2024 | San Francisco Bay Area Tech lead for various sensor fusion efforts across waymo. Projects ranged from IC contributions to management of projects across teams of roughly twenty-five to forty people. Managed and deployed Waymo's largest sensor fusion model, consolidating over a dozen nets into a single model. I still spent time training models and writing code while figuring out a hectic meeting schedule. ### Senior Software Engineer, Perception @ Waymo Jan 2021 – Jan 2023 | San Francisco Bay Area Responsible for the development, integration, and maintenance of novel long range sensor fusion algorithms. This lead to me spearheading Waymo's long-range sensor fusion strategy. I lead meetings, delegated projects, and presented to leadership while shepherding the work of over a dozen incredible engineers. I still somehow managed to write a ship a fair amount of code myself. Cross-functionally developed perception algorithms for next-generation radar products alongside hardware engineers. Collaborated with the research team to push the state-of-the-art in long range sensor fusion. ### Senior Software Engineer, Perception @ Argo AI Jan 2020 – Jan 2021 | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States As one of the original members of the team, I worked across the company designing novel perception algorithms, building low-latency C++17 infrastructure, and pushing several features to the car. I worked on projects spanning mapping, lidar processing, image detection, geometric computer vision, tracking, and core runtime infrastructure. I spent a fair amount of time at argo leading the development and integration of a deep lidar object detector. This included getting labels, working with labeling companies, cleaning data, writing modeling code, optimizing the model with TensorRT, deploying the model onboard, integrating the output with other teams, and metrics throughout each step of the process (and after!) This then grew to my first tech-lead role of managing the day-to-day projects of around eight people. To further improve Argo's lidar capabilities, I worked with the Argo Lidar team enhancing the firmware capabilities of our custom geiger-mode lidar sensor. I also performed novel published research in stereo vision. ### Software Engineer, Perception @ Argo AI Jan 2017 – Jan 2020 | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States ### Software Engineer, Planning and Prediction @ Uber Jan 2016 – Jan 2017 | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States Trained models and wrote C++ infrastructure for solving end to end self driving problems. Wrote onboard software for long-horizon actor prediction. ### Machine Learning Specialist Intern @ Uber Jan 2016 – Jan 2016 | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States Started as an intern working on the "Machine Learning Team" collaborating with various other groups throughout the company helping to incorporate machine learning into classical robotics problems. Beyond helping other teams, I owned a large portion of an end-to-end (image to steering wheel & pedals) deep learning model. Although originally this was meant as an internship between my undergraduate and PhD studies, I ended up not pursing a PhD and transitioned to being a full-time employee. ### Learning Center Coach @ Michigan Technological University Jan 2015 – Jan 2016 | Houghton, Michigan, United States I tutored in both the Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) and the Computer Science (CS) Learning Centers as a student coach to mentor students through related courses. ECE Courses Tutored: Circuits I & II, Electronics, Linear Systems, Digital Logic, and Math for ECEs CS Courses Tutored: Intro to Programming I & II, Data Structures, Systems Programming, Discrete Structures and Artificial Intelligence. ### Undergraduate Researcher @ Michigan Technological University Jan 2013 – Jan 2016 | Houghton, Michigan, United States Worked under Dr. Timothy C. Havens in the Pattern Recognition and Intelligent Machines Engineering Lab. Investigated various Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) algorithms for use on autonomous drones. Designed and fabricated a data collection system with a planar lidar, a gig-e blackfly camera, and a six axis IMU that was mounted on a drone. Implemented camera-lidar SLAM sensor fusion algorithms. Designed, wrote, and published a novel extension to Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO). ### Intro to Programming Lab Assistant @ Michigan Technological University Jan 2015 – Jan 2016 | Houghton, Michigan, United States Mentored students during two lab sections of the Intro to Programming Class (CS 1121) at Michigan Tech. ### Resident Assistant @ Michigan Technological University Jan 2013 – Jan 2014 | Houghton, Michigan, United States Responsible for the well being of roughly forty undergraduate students. Planned and organized hall activities and programs Made informative bulletin boards every month Monitored the hall and responded to situations in the dorm to get them under control Wrote weekly fire reports and monthly block reports Wrote concern reports, warning reports, and incident reports as necessary ### Hardware Validation Engineering Intern @ Facebook Jan 2015 – Jan 2015 | Menlo Park, CA Developed hardware power tests for switches deployed across several data centers. Influenced the design and manufacturing decisions of custom network switches. ### Software Engineer Intern @ Amazon Jan 2014 – Jan 2014 | Greater Seattle Area Implemented RESTful APIs which posted microservice metrics to a custom NoSQL database to monitor for suspicious activity. ### Software and Controls Co-op @ Mercury Marine Jan 2013 – Jan 2013 | Fond Du Lac, WI Designed, Tested and Built an encoder simulator box which allowed the user to select a desired RPM, CAM phase, and Encoder Type. The box outputted a half-moon CAM signal, VR+- (analog encoder), as well as a Digital Encoder Signal. Wrote drivers for the Mercury Marine Security System, specifically the CAN, RFID, and general IO libraries. Interpreted the encoding coming out of the RFID key fob and generalized everything so improvements can be made in the future. Wrote code to convert specific SmartCraft Fault messages to J1939-DM1 messages. Wrote scripts to automate testing of multiple faults. ### Robotics Simulation Engineering Intern @ Applied Manufacturing Technologies Jan 2012 – Jan 2012 | Lake Orion, MI Set up industrial robotic cell layouts for various integrators and manufactures. Used the Delmia IGRIP CAD systems to simulate robotic assembly lines. Programmed macros for Delmia IGRIP to make use of the software more efficient. ### Senior Technical Instructor @ The Robot Garage Jan 2011 – Jan 2012 | Birmingham, Michigan Taught students the fun of building with Legos and designing/ programming Lego robots. Designed curriculum for various robotics camps, classes, and events. Wrote the framework code for the current "SUMO" system in use. Helped students connect large lego cities by simulating a real-life power grid. ### Research Assistant @ University of Miami Jan 2011 – Jan 2011 | Miami, FL Worked in the Psychology Department under Dr. Barry Hurwitz. Wrote software to analyze blood vessel expansion and contraction. Used National Instruments LabView and DAQ toolpacks to study radial dimensions of veins and arteries. Built an application to monitor visual ultrasound machine data. ### Software Engineering Intern @ First Source Partners, Inc. Jan 2009 – Jan 2010 | Birmingham, Michigan Wrote Electronic Medical Record (EMR) software using visual basic, SQL, and javascript. Designed and Implemented a feature which allowed doctors to record and save audio notes in the cloud for each patient. Added a feature allowing users to save, restore, and edit credit card signatures. ## Education ### Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Engineering Michigan Technological University ### High School Diploma Bloomfield Hills High School ## Contact & Social - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/joshuamanela - Website: http://joshmanela.me --- Source: https://flows.cv/joshuamanela JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/joshuamanela/resume.json Last updated: 2026-04-05