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

Research

Soft Robotics Locomotion Modes

Designed, prototyped, and benchmarked soft robotic mechanisms that crawl at speed, jump, and passively locomote to increase endurance and adaptability.

Soft RoboticsFusion 360FDMRapid Prototyping

Zoetic Robotics Lab and Find me in the lab

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.
• Since 2023, mentor FRC 830 the RatPack out of Pioneer High School in Ann Arbor, volunteering my time as much as I can throughout the school year.
• Support students with mechanical design, CAD, and build strategy during build season and events.

ScoutingDataCADLeadership

Gallery

Michigan Marching Band

Highlights

• Proud member of the Alto Saxophones in a 400+ member band. Game day at the Big House is a favorite.
• Perform for over 100,000 live viewers every halftime show and millions more through live streams online.
• Part of Michigan’s alumni network, the largest university alumni network in the world.
• 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.
• Performed at Band-O-Rama 2025 alongside Chad Smith, drummer of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
• Performed at Ford Field for a Detroit Lions Half-time show in 2025.
• Traveled to the Cheez-It Bowl in 2025 to support the team in post-season games.
• Active in Michigan Basketball Band to support the team every home game and travel on playoff trips spanning LA, Georgia, Chicago, and more.
• Check more of the band: Michigan Marching Band on YouTube

As of the 2026–2027 season, I am the Section Leader of the Alto Saxophones, leading a section of 28 through sectionals, office hours, and advice.

PerformanceLogisticsTeamworkMusicAlto SaxophoneNCAA Championship

Photos

Academic Projects

ROB 330 - MBot Challenges

Four robotics challenges completed with the MBot platform in ROB 330, covering setpoint control, maze escape, SLAM mapping, and vision-based navigation.

RoboticsC++SLAMControlsComputer Vision

Setpoint Challenge · Escape Challenge · SLAM Challenge · Vision Challenge

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

ROB 311 — Ballbot Balancing Robot

Designed, fabricated, and tuned a ballbot that balances and drives on top of a basketball, built around PID control for a series of balancing and maneuvering challenges.

RoboticsPIDControlsFabrication

Read report (PDF)

Personal Projects

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

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

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

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

I Love You More Today

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

WritingNon-fictionLove

View on Amazon

CAD

Summers

Experience

1. Oct 2025 to Present · Ann Arbor, MI

   Undergraduate Research Assistant Zoetic Robotics Lab

   • Designed, prototyped, and benchmarked soft robotic mechanisms enabling crawling, jumping, and passive mobility.
   • Used Fusion 360 CAD to optimize geometries for performance and durability.
   • Built rapid prototypes with FDM 3D printing to integrate microcontrollers quickly.

   • Soft Robotics
   • Fusion 360
   • FDM Printing
   • Rapid Prototyping
2. 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
3. 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
4. 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
5. 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
6. Aug 2021 to Apr 2023

   Macomb Community College · Dual Enrollment

   • STEM
7. 2019 to 2023

   MMSTC and Warren Mott High School

   • Honors
   • FIRST
   • Band

Skills

Languages

Tools and frameworks

Machines

Contact

Open to summer internships and any other job or research opportunities please feel free to reach out.

• School [email protected]
• Personal [email protected]
• LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/aotlacan
• GitHub github.com/aotlacan

Resume

Download resume (PDF)