Engineering & Innovation
Student engineer, founder, and builder. I design and fabricate real hardware — from quadruped robots and custom PCBs to 3D-printed mechanisms — and I love turning ideas into physical things that actually work.
I am David Shapsis, a freshman at Bergen County Academies in New Jersey with a deep passion for engineering and building things from scratch. I've been designing, printing, and wiring up projects since middle school, and over the years that has grown into a pretty serious set of skills across CAD, electronics, programming, and fabrication.
My biggest project right now is APEX, a fully custom quadruped robot dog I am designing and building entirely on my own. It walks using a real-time inverse kinematics engine I wrote from scratch, balances with an IMU, navigates autonomously using GPS, and streams live video back over WiFi. Every part of it including the math, firmware, mechanical design, and PCB were fully designed and constructed by me.
Alongside APEX, I co-founded Trovak, a IoT startup where we are developing passive infrared occupancy sensors to help university students find open seats in campus libraries. I handle the hardware and firmware side, including custom ESP32-based PCB design and sensor integration.
Outside of my own projects, I have competed in FTC robotics for several years and have taken on increasing responsibility each season, from leading CAD and 3D printing to captaining the team. Building real things that actually work is what drives me, and I am always looking for the next problem worth solving.
I work across the full stack of hardware engineering — from initial concept sketches and CAD models through PCB layout, firmware, and physical fabrication.
With 6+ years of experience across Autodesk Fusion and Onshape, CAD is one of my strongest skills. I have designed upwards of 50 projects ranging from individual components to full assemblies, and it is the foundation of nearly everything I build.
I have solid working experience designing custom PCBs, including ESP32-based sensor boards for Trovak and a high-current control board for APEX that manages power distribution and signal routing across twelve motors simultaneously.
6+ years of hands-on experience with FDM printing across a wide range of materials including PLA, PETG, PETG-CF, and TPU, selecting and tuning each based on the mechanical demands of the application. Knowledge in the various methods of plastic-based production including SLA, SLS, FDM, Injection Molding, and more.
3 years of practical experience working with electronics, from wiring motor drivers and microcontrollers to designing full embedded systems. Comfortable working at the intersection of hardware and software to bring a complete system together.
Whether you want to collaborate on a project, talk engineering, or just say hello — my inbox is always open. Fill out the form and I will get back to you as soon as I can.