# Nicholas Palomo > Robotics and AI Engineer Location: San Francisco Bay Area, United States Profile: https://flows.cv/nicholaspalomo I am a Civil & Robotics Engineer with a strong interest in legged robotics, autonomous vehicles, computer vision, reinforcement learning, state estimation, and motion planning/ predictive control. ## Work Experience ### Software Engineer @ Waymo Jan 2025 – Present | Mountain View, California, United States ### Software Engineer @ Hayden AI Jan 2024 – Jan 2025 | San Francisco, California, United States ### Robotics and AI Engineer @ Figure Jan 2024 – Jan 2024 | Sunnyvale, California, United States State estimation and motion planning algorithms ### Sr. Software and Controls Engineer (Legged Robotics) @ Apptronik Jan 2021 – Jan 2023 | Austin, Texas, United States Developing whole-body motion planning and state estimation algorithms for humanoid robots. ### Robotics Software Engineering Intern @ Bosch USA Jan 2021 – Jan 2021 | Sunnyvale, California, United States ROS2 development, reinforcement learning for robotic manipulation ### Student Researcher @ NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Jan 2021 – Jan 2021 | Pasadena, California, Estados Unidos Research topics: Quadruped locomotion with reinforcement learning; scene representation and computer vision ### Robotics Engineering Intern @ Sunflower Labs Jan 2020 – Jan 2020 | Birmensdorf, Zurich, Switzerland Robotics engineering intern for failsafe control on autonomous home security drone in C++. ### Software Development Intern @ embotech Jan 2019 – Jan 2020 | Zürich, Canton of Zürich, Switzerland Software development intern for automotive engineering projects involving model predictive control (MPC). ### Controls Engineer @ ETH juniors Jan 2019 – Jan 2019 | Zürich Area, Switzerland Controls and software development engineer for ETH Juniors working with the Alfa Romeo Racing/Sauber Formula 1 team. Designed and implemented the software-hardware interface for race-preparation training equipment for the pit crew team. ### Student Assistant, Engineering and Architectural Sciences @ California Department of Water Resources Jan 2013 – Jan 2018 | 1416 9th Street, Sacramento, CA 95814 - Room 515 Description: Provide technical engineering support for various hydroelectric power equipment projects managed by DWR’s engineers pertaining to the operations and maintenance of the facilities of the California State Water Project. Past Projects: NI LabVIEW VI (virtual instrument) programming for real-time strain gauge data acquisition and data processing (including regression analysis) for wire-rope tests. Producer-consumer structure used for state machine design of the VI. Structural design (via FEA analysis, mechanical design) for a new freight elevator/ lift system to transport 30” butterfly valve assemblies along the intake shaft of a dam in Plumas County, CA. Design of H-infinity optimal controllers for Pelton turbine governor control system at a power plant in San Bernardino, CA using mixed sensitivity loop shaping techniques. Control system involves generator speed controller and needle nozzle servomotor position controller. Completed several large SolidWorks CAD modeling projects of various pumps, turbine components, and valves manufactured by companies including Voith Hydro, Fuji Electric, ITT Co., and Hitachi Ltd. View virtual tour here of CAD model I made of the Francis turbine in Oroville, CA (https://goo.gl/eQXXqJ). Design of wicket gate bushing and watertight seal installation fixture for turbine unit in Oroville, CA. Design included FEA analysis and drafting using GD&T of the fixture used to support the seal installation jack. Constructed, programmed, and maintain/admin a database that tracks over 200 million USD for projects managed by O&M. Database also serves as basic document management system. Drafted as-builts for the HVAC system for the newest pumping plant in Southern California. Extensive experience querying/retrieving reports from DWR’s SAP database. and more... ### Teaching Assistant (TA) @ University of California, Davis Jan 2016 – Jan 2018 | Davis, CA Teaching Assistant for: ECI 141L - Engineering Hydraulics Laboratory (Fall 2016, Fall 2017) ECI 146 - Water Resources Simulation (Winter 2017) ENG 035 - Statics (Spring 2017) ECI 193A/B - Capstone Project for Civil Engineering (Winter, Spring 2018) ECI 145 - Hydraulic Structures Design (Spring 2018) Reader for: ECI 141 - Engineering Hydraulics ### Undergraduate/Graduate CFD Researcher @ University of California, Davis Jan 2015 – Jan 2018 | Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering I am currently an graduate researcher at UC Davis working under a professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. My current research project involves water disinfection with UV lighting and the study of turbulent swirling flow. Project workflow includes: - Design, optimization of the geometry in SolidWorks, - Testing and design validation in ANSYS Fluent, - Laboratory experimentation with a 3D printed prototype of my SolidWorks model and with live E. coli specimens. - Current prototypes for the design installed at UC Davis Environmental Engineering laboratories and at the American University of Beruit, Lebanon (as of March 2018) ## Education ### MSc Robotics in Systems and Control, Mechanical/Electrical Engineering ETH Zürich ### Master’s Degree in Civil Engineering University of California, Davis ### Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering University of California, Davis ## Contact & Social - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/nicholaspalomo --- Source: https://flows.cv/nicholaspalomo JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/nicholaspalomo/resume.json Last updated: 2026-04-11