Hi, I’m Tim. I’m a Programmer, Engineer, Robot Hobbyist, and an Armchair Astronaut. I live in Melbourne, Australia with my amazing wife, two kids, and our Border Collie.
Background
I have a degree in Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering (Hons.) and a degree in Computer Science from Monash University. I have extensive experience in industrial computer vision (image processing), numerical controls (CNCs), automation, and human-machine interfaces (HMIs). This experience has exposed me to a broad range of industries including Automotive, Medical, Food and Beverage, Publishing and Printing, Packaging, and Machine Tools (Grinding, Laser, Waterjet, Plasma, Milling) – a walking talking How It’s Made episode.
These days I spend most of my time leading a kick-ass team of developers at ANCA Motion, and developing software in C# with a smattering of C/C++ and Python. You can find my professional profile on LinkedIn.
Too Much Information
I have always been fascinated with how things work. My childhood revolved around Lego, Big Trak, and Science Fair 160 in One Electronic Project Kit.
I sometimes miss the simplicity of booting into XTree. XTree’s hex editor sparked my passion for software. With three brothers it was all about “winning”, and sometimes a hex editor made all the difference. These were the days of Grand Prix Circuit, Gods, Another World, Prince of Persia, Leisure Suit Larry, and Police Quest.
1994 was a pivotal year in my life. My father lost his long battle with cancer, and I left my primary school a year before all of my friends. Remarkably, that same year I finished 1st in class at my new school, and made many new friends that I still have to this day.
The next few years I spent religiously attending weekend computer swap meets – harvesting stepper motors from cheap 5 1/4 inch drives to make mobile robots, building PC’s and websites for family and friends, endlessly installing the next Linux distro, and creating lots of drink coasters with a 1x Smart and Friendly SCSI CD burner.
The remainder of my non-professional life was filled with various obsessions programming TI graphing calculators, BASIC Stamps, PICs, AVRs, and this.
“Your future is whatever you make it, so make it a good one.”
“Doc” Emmett Brown