With the close of Argo AI, I’ve had a bit of free time to polish up some side projects and work on some hobbies. Right now I’m sitting in a park in Porto, Portugal working on my website! I’m hoping to use this as a place where people can get in contact with me professionally, and to use this as a sounding board for others in the Robotics field!

The most likely reason you’re seeing this is if you have one of my business cards, and if you’re one of those few then — congratulations! I’m glad we’ve connected! I hope this means we had a pleasant conversation and that we can stay connected in the future!

If you’ve stumbled here for some other reason then — also congratulations! It’s great to meet new people and to share ideas with others. I say this on my second week abroad, on a day I haven’t spoken my native language to a single person. Connection is important to me, and whether it’s in-person or online I believe in the power of words to bring people together.

As to how I got here - roughly five weeks ago we received word that Argo AI was shutting down - a move that really gutted me. I was incredibly fortunate to not be immediately laid off, but my future was uncertain. My first thoughts were to the people who were immediately terminated, and how I could help them. This was my first job out of college, and I loved working with every single person at Argo. So, we started getting people connected! It was in incredibly scary time for the Pittsburgh robotics community, but I’m so proud of all of the companies of the Pittsburgh Robotics Network for how quickly they banded together to try to place as many laid off people as possible.

The next thing I did was check my email, and lo and behold, I had an email from United warning me I had an expiring flight credit! Enter: Portugal, a nation I could get to from Newark Liberty Airport with $40 in credits to spare!

As I said, I was not terminated with the closing of Argo AI, but I will be continuing my journey in self-driving alongside many of my former Argo colleagues in Ford’s Level 3 Program. I’m excited at the opportunity to see what I work on deployed at the scale Ford is capable of, and I’m really excited to see how my career as a roboticist can progress.

Thanks for reading, and if people find this interesting I’ll keep writing. Until next time!