Hi, I am Alex Otlacan. I am a Robotics Engineering Student at the University of Michigan

Junior Robotics Engineering student at the University of Michigan. I care about learning and teaching everyone about Engineering.

RoboticsControlsCADPrototypingFront-endAnimation
See projects See experience

Research

Wing Sweep, Thickness, and Proportion vs Lift

Wind tunnel study that tested sweep, thickness, and chord proportion on lift.

AP PhysicsCADExperimentResearchAir Foils

Read paper (PDF)

Nerf Darts Range and Accuracy

Center of mass vs range and deviation.

PhysicsBallisticsResearch

Read paper (PDF)

FIRST Robotics

Highlights

  • Einstein Field, FIRST Championship. 2023 Curie Division.
  • Top ranking in Michigan.
      • Rank 4 in 2023
      Rank 51 in 2022
  • Rebuilding years from 2019 to 2020 after COVID with a big focus on rebranding and getting student skill prepared for next seasons.
  • Became lead scout. Built and ran the first offline scouting system for low bandwidth events.
  • Watch our Behind the Bumpers from the 2023 season.
ScoutingDataCADLeadership

Gallery

2022 Robot 2023 Robot Me with States Championship Medals Winning Team Picture at States

Michigan Marching Band

Highlights

  • Proud member of the Alto Saxophones. Game day at the Big House is a favorite.
  • Rose Bowl trip when Michigan won the NCAA Football Championship in 2023–2024. Rehearsed on USC’s field and marched the New Year’s parade.
  • Active in Michigan Basketball Band. Supported both teams at home and playoffs.
PerformanceLogisticsTeamwork

Photos

Rose Bowl Practice Rose Bowl Win Championship Parade in Ann Arbor

Personal Projects

MBathroom homepage with campus map MBathroom hackathon team MBathroom team winning Cloudflare Best AI Application

MBathroom — Campus Bathroom Finder

MBathroom helps University of Michigan students pick the right restroom fast with a campus-wide map, per-room reviews, and live accessibility notes.

We shipped the full-stack app in one hackathon weekend and won 1st place for Cloudflare Best AI Application (Prize: Arduino Student Kit) by leaning on Workers AI and D1.

WebAPICloudflareMaps
  • Features: interactive OpenStreetMap view, per-room ratings, live sidebar updates.
  • Stack: React (Vite) + Leaflet, Cloudflare Workers + D1, Python data helpers.
  • Hackathon: learned React on the fly, tuned Workers AI, planning to expand beyond UMich.

Live site · View on GitHub

Nurse Case Study — Autonomous Medication Dispensing Robot

Workflow, UI, and system overview for a hospital medication-dispensing concept. Case study with interviews of nurses focused on burnout and workable robotics support.

UXRoboticsCase Study

Open slides

Under construction preview

LeRobot Build Log (Coming Soon)

This section will document my experiments with LeRobot. I will be experiementing and starting with SO-101 and will have full documentation about my experience with it once that gets going. Check back soon to see my progress.

RoboticsDIYLeRobotHF

LeRobot hub · GitHub repo

Team 830 Scouting 2025

Offline friendly scouting web app for match data collection and analysis used at low bandwidth events.

ScriptingWebData

Open app

Gym Discord Bot preview

Gym Discord Bot

Side project to learn scripting and build a Discord bot that responds to commands and uses the Discord API.

ScriptingWebData

Open app

I Love You More Tomorrow — book cover

I Love You More Tomorrow

My first book. A look at the first year of my relationship, what it felt like, and what we learned.

WritingNon-fictionLove

View on Amazon

CAD

Featured CAD

Rookie Assembly that was made specifically as a design challenge for early CAD students, and also made as a mechanical challenge to make students use every tool in the shop to create this. This is a pre-requiste for students to be able to put parts on the team's robot.

Fusion 360 Practice Models

Experience

  1. Jan 2024 to Present · Ann Arbor, MI

    Mechanical and Design Mentor · FRC RatPack Robotics

    • Support 30+ students during build season and events.
    • Train students on CNC and 3D printing, faster assemblies with custom brackets.
    • Excel and VBA match analytics to improve strategy.
    • Mentoring
    • CNC
    • 3D Printing
    • PID
  2. Oct 2024 to Present · Ann Arbor, MI

    Computer Consultant Fellowship · Duderstadt Ground Connection

    • Certified on CNC, laser, FDM and SLA printers.
    • Assist with fabrication and troubleshooting to reduce downtime.
    • CNC
    • Laser
    • FDM
    • SLA
  3. Oct 2019 to Jun 2023 · Warren, MI

    Lead Scout and Design · FRC Steel Armadillos

    • Built the team’s offline scouting system for low bandwidth events for FRC matches that I helped modify from an Open-Source project.
    • Created a machining training device to raise proficiency.
    • Scouting
    • Data
    • CAD
  4. Aug 2023 to Apr 2027 · Ann Arbor, MI

    University of Michigan · B.S.E. Robotics Engineering, Music minor

    • Courses: Computational Linear Algebra, Human Robot Systems, Intro Data Structures, Multivariable Calculus, Logic Design.
    • Robotics
    • Music
  5. Aug 2021 to Apr 2023

    Macomb Community College · Dual Enrollment

    • STEM
  6. 2019 to 2023

    MMSTC and Warren Mott High School

    • Honors
    • FIRST
    • Band

Skills

Languages

C++HTMLCSSJavaJavaScriptLUAPythonMATLAB

Tools and frameworks

OpenAILlama 3Google GeminiMicrosoft CopilotReactViteLeafletCloudflare WorkersCloudflare D1Cloudflare Workers AIOpenStreetMapArduinoAutodesk Fusion 360OnShapeCuraPrusaBambu LabSolidWorksBlenderGoogle FirebaseGoogle ScriptMicrosoft ExcelVBAAdobe IllustratorAdobe PhotoshopAdobe PremiereAdobe LightroomMaterialise MagicsGrabCADPreFORMAsiga ComposerCrealityGit/GitHub

Machines

CNC MillBantam CNCBigRep Studio G2Stratasys J850Epilog Fusion Pro Laser Cutter/Engraver3D ScannerPrusa MK4SolderingFormlabs 3/4 Resin PrinterSewing MachineCricut MakerCreality Ender 3 V3 3D

Contact

Resume

Download resume (PDF)