Black in Robotics ‘Meet The Members’ collection: Andrew Dupree

Within the event studios of San Francisco-based Dexterity, Inc. there’s a robotic arm that stands as tall as a human. It’s positioned between a conveyor belt and a number of other picket pallets, all of that are typical of most warehouse packing services. However that is no typical warehouse facility.

That is the situation the place most warehouse packing services would have groups of individuals manually selecting up containers from the conveyor belt and thoroughly putting them onto the pallets for wrapping and delivery, however there aren’t any such individuals right here. As a substitute, because the packages come down the belt, this robotic acknowledges them, picks them up, after which deposits them onto the goal pallet with a mild contact. It could possibly do all of this by itself, and when a human does enter its neighborhood, the robotic is aware of to keep away from the human’s space because of a “mild curtain” sensor.

Andrew Dupree is likely one of the product managers creating expertise like this at Dexterity (p.s. they’re hiring!) and, on this ‘Meet the Members’ submit, we are going to have a look at his journey from pure engineering and dealing with nonprofits in Haiti to doing product growth within the bay space for a number of budding {hardware} startups.

Andrew’s trajectory

Andrew described his early childhood as that of a typical “blerd” (aka a black nerd). His father was an early adopter of issues like private computer systems and Andrew vividly remembers his first pc, a Gateway machine, being delivered to the home.

He spent tons of time poring over the system and creating web sites together with his brother utilizing Angelfire and HTML. This ardour for expertise later be mixed with a drive to have a social affect on the College of Maryland – Faculty Park. The plan was to do “a Pc Engineering diploma specializing in low-cost computer systems”, however whereas Andrew labored by programs like Sign Concept, he famous that one thing appeared to be lacking from his expertise.

His first try to seek out that “lacking piece” was to affix a laboratory at UC Berkeley for an internship at their TIER Lab. When the internship was completed and he returned to the East Coast, he remained linked to the native Data and Communications Expertise for Growing Nations (ICT4D) neighborhood. It was at one of many neighborhood’s meetups that he was launched to a nonprofit working in Haiti and “they really knew the professor that I’d labored with in Berkeley as a result of it’s a small scene.”

Andrew leveraged this connection to succeed in out to them with a suggestion:

I reached out to them and mentioned “Look, I’ve achieved this internship and I’ve achieved this work. Are you hiring?”

They usually had been like “No.”

Then I mentioned, “Are you positive?”

They usually mentioned “We’re positive.”

Then I requested “What if I volunteer?”

They usually responded “Let’s speak.”

And thus, he had locked in an eight month expertise with the nonprofit Inveneo specializing in establishing pc labs and implementing pc literacy applications in Haiti. There was just one element that he wanted to work out: Determining what to do with the graduate college admissions affords that had begun to come back in. He started to ask round about deferring his admission for a yr with shocking outcomes.

“All the different grad faculties that I requested about deferring [said “No”, but] Stanford really actually bent over backwards to assist me defer. They don’t have a correct deferral, however they [found a way] and actually hooked me up.”

— Andrew

Whereas Stanford’s graduate college supply was being labored out, he dove into the world of Haiti’s Inveneo which was crammed with ups and downs. Andrew humbly summarizes his feelings with “Fixing the world is admittedly laborious. I had good days the place I felt like ‘I’m actually making an affect’ and I had dangerous days the place I felt like ‘My work is doing nothing right here. It is a robust problem.’” When he finally returned to the USA for his Grasp’s at Stanford, he determined to focus extra on the engineering abilities that he had not had the time to give attention to whereas working on the nonprofit. In his engineering courses once more, he felt like he was lacking one thing, not accessing part of himself that he actually wished to.

“… I ended up doing a bunch of design courses. And [specifically the] enterprise administration for engineers class, that final one was an enormous eye opener for me. As a result of I noticed we had been doing case research, and analyzing enterprise methods [and more]. I actually loved that materials.”

— Andrew

Andrew did so properly within the class that the professor strong-armed him into TA’ing it the next yr. Inquisitive about how he might mix his love for enterprise administration together with his engineering experience, Andrew requested this professor what careers would greatest combine these two worlds. “That’s straightforward,” the professor defined. “You turn into a product supervisor.”

So, as Andrew started his profession, he sought out experiences to work with or turn into a product supervisor. After engaged on a number of vital {hardware} engineering groups, he was in a position to efficiently make the soar and has held the title of product supervisor (in some kind) at a number of Silicon Valley hardware-focused tech firms.

He’s at present thrilled to be a product supervisor on the excessive progress start-up Dexterity, Inc. which develops “full-stack, end-to-end techniques for kitting, selecting, packing, counting, sorting, palletizing, and order success.”

“… Working at a small, high-growth startup is lots of enjoyable … and I feel that robotics in Provide Chain/Logistics is big. It’s going to be even greater. … I’ve labored in a bunch of various industries at this level and that is my first expertise working in an trade the place prospects actually have an enormous drawback and so they want you to assist them clear up it.”

— Andrew

Along with his work at Dexterity, Andrew is happy to return to his ardour for social affect. After studying and reflecting on his a number of experiences (each in trade and with ICT4D), he desires “to proceed to consider tangibly [making] steps in direction of social affect and making the world a greater place. I’m unsure what that appears like but, however I’m excited to determine that out.”

Andrew’s challenges

Discovering Andrew’s internal “product supervisor” might need been accelerated if he had been extra receptive to the concept earlier on. He remembers colleagues teasing him whereas on the College of Maryland with “Oh, you’re simply gonna be a enterprise supervisor in some unspecified time in the future.” The tradition of valuing technical experience above all else inspired individuals like him to reject the concept of changing into a enterprise supervisor or chief. It’s an issue that also exists immediately and that Andrew wish to counter:

“I feel what I might’ve internalized earlier is that there are lots of methods to contribute in technical areas/technical disciplines [like robotics]. For instance, it’s crucial to grasp the issue that you simply’re making an attempt to unravel, to outline that clearly, to speak that clearly and likewise to maintain engineering efforts centered on an impactful final result.”

— Andrew

One other problem that Andrew encountered was trying to get a Product Supervisor place with solely engineering expertise on his resumé. Realizing that he wanted to persuade potential recruiters of his capabilities, he:

1. Showcased his understanding of {hardware} and enterprise by way of weblog posts on his web site,
2. Mentioned related product administration occasions and concepts with others on Twitter, and
3. Moonlit as a product supervisor whereas additionally performing his present position (as a challenge supervisor)

Be at liberty to take a look at his web site, the place he has authored dozens of weblog posts on subjects starting from round buffers to conducting consumer analysis to understanding the choices for {hardware} housings. Utilizing this method, Andrew efficiently showcased an understanding of product administration that received him the eye of a number of fascinating {hardware} groups.

Andrew’s phrases of knowledge

We requested Andrew to share among the intangible classes he has discovered by the challenges talked about above and he had many. Among the vital ones are described beneath.

One of many classes that has served Andrew properly is the significance of self-help books. As he places it: “Lots of people have been doing this `human` factor for some time. There’s most likely no have to reinvent the wheel.” He particularly picks up books which might be pervasive or problem his present concepts in regards to the world. Some examples of books which have beforehand landed on his studying record are:

“You’ve bought to separate out among the nonsense, however being proactive about your private progress … is one thing that I’ve been intentional about.”

— Andrew

His plan for changing into a Product Supervisor was one of many issues that he had been intentional about and he established a technique that was in a position to get him into the profession of his alternative!

Andrew additionally advises towards pressuring your self to at all times be in a rush, whether or not it’s in robotics or in life.

“One of many issues that’s stunned me in hindsight is that there’s lots of time. There’s no big rush. It seems like in case you have turned twenty-six and haven’t made a sure affect, then [there’s a problem.] However trying again, I see that I’ve labored throughout a bunch of various industries from Educational Analysis to Shopper Tech. A few totally different flavors of business stuff. And I’ve had not less than three or 4 totally different job features completely. There actually doesn’t should be a rush.”

— Andrew

Extra from Andrew

To see extra from Andrew, please be at liberty to go to his web site.

Additionally, Dexterity is rising and would possibly want a Black roboticist such as you! Attain out to Andrew on our Slack (or by his contact data above) if you happen to’re thinking about a task there!

Acknowledgements

Drafts of this text had been corrected and improved by Andrew Dupree, Nosa Edoimioya, and Nailah Seale. All present errors are the fault of Kwesi Rutledge. Please attain out to him if you happen to spot any!