zach walcott san francisco, ca
— Portfolio · 2026

I'm Zach.
Mechanical engineer
who builds hardware.

Mechanical Engineering @ Tufts.

Fabrication Systems & Automation Intern — Immersive Commons (Frontier Tower)

Three interconnected systems for the Frontier Tower print farm — a slicing pipeline, G-code vault transport, and real-time fleet monitoring across 6+ printers; manual queue management down ~80%.

  • Printers 6+ active
  • Stack Python + systemd
  • Queue load −80%
View on GitHub →

Framework Research Intern — Concrete Engine

Mapped 50+ AI/robotics frameworks across vision, SLAM, planning, and control; built a ROCm compatibility matrix (PyTorch, ROS2, YOLOv7, ORB-SLAM3) surfacing critical driver and build gaps.

Drone Research, Design, and Manufacturing — Independent Research

Rendered CAD model of the wildfire-monitoring UAV, final revision (v64), three-quarter view, matte dark-grey airframe

Dual-sensor (visual + 640×512 thermal) fixed-wing UAV for wildfire monitoring, with 60+ CAD revisions in Fusion 360.

Diagnosed a rear-push propulsion failure before it reached flight test: the motor's rotation direction was mismatched to the propeller thread, so centrifugal load under power would back it off its own shaft.

  • Wingspan 0.827 m
  • Airframe LW-PLA, 8mm carbon spars
  • Avionics Pixhawk 4 / 30km LoRa / ELRS
  • Iterations 60+ CAD revisions
  • Budget ~$900 total

Linkyard

Open-source, self-hostable PrusaLink client and print-queue system, generalized out of the Frontier Tower deployment so any makerspace can run it against its own printer fleet. Three independently-installable Python packages: a core client/queue library, a FastAPI reference service, and an optional MCP adapter for agent access.

  • Packages core (client + queue) / service (FastAPI) / mcp (MCP adapter)
  • Language Python
  • Safety Upload-only by default, per-printer auto_print off by default
View on GitHub →

Emporia Power Tracker

Self-hosted dashboard for Emporia Vue energy monitors — live per-circuit power draw via SSE, a 7-day history chart, an NEC-80%-rule breaker-capacity advisor, an EV charging-headroom calculator, and a state-by-state electrical permit/electrician finder.

  • Stack Python/Flask, SQLite, vanilla JS + Chart.js
  • Live data 1s SSE polling
  • Breaker advisor NEC 80% continuous-load rule
  • Auth Multi-user, Emporia credential sign-in

Electronic Lead Detector — Biopunk Biosecurity Hackathon

Rendered CAD model of the lead detector's dark casing with a light-colored screen panel on top

Cost-first lead detector built around a biomechanical riboswitch, with a bio-safe enclosure and a self-managed supply chain under contest time pressure. Took first prize.

  • Result 1st place, $1,250
  • Sponsor Pilgrim Labs
  • Focus Cost + accessibility

Desk Lamp

Rendered CAD model of the desk lamp: a cast-concrete cylindrical base with an L-shaped light-toned wood arm rising from it

Cast-concrete base and laser-cut wood arm; twisting the housing drives a spur-gear linkage that converts that rotation into linear motion to mechanically actuate the LED's switch. Structural plastic components were 3D-printed.

  • Base Cast concrete
  • Arm Laser-cut wood
  • Switch mechanism Rotary-to-linear spur gear
  • Smaller components 3D-printed plastic