Hello,
I’m Maikol.

I build things. Mechanical systems, software, and companies of my own.

I study mechanical engineering at UCF, with a minor in computer science. Here’s what I’ve been working on.

Explore my work
Maikol outdoors wearing sunglasses, with flowers and blue sky behind him.
Engineering, a little curiosity, and a camera.

Where I’ve worked

Experience

Minneapolis, MN

Automation Engineer — Contractor

Medtronic · Part-time contract

Mechanical design and tooling development for manufacturing automation systems.

Read more about Automation Engineer — Contractor at Medtronic

Across my 2026 internship and continuing contract work at Medtronic, I led a cross-site mechanical design workstream that delivered 61 designs across 12 manufacturing automation systems.

I worked with the design team to close throughput gaps, with a projected 20–30% machine gain. I also diagnosed deburr tool-material limits and redesigned the tooling, raising trial yield from 20% to 90%.

Minneapolis, MN

Automation Engineering Intern

Medtronic · Second internship

I returned to Medtronic’s automation engineering team for a second summer, then continued as a part-time contractor in September.

Orlando, FL

Undergraduate Research

MPCL Research Lab · UCF

Restoring legacy test equipment and investigating how materials behave.

Read more about Undergraduate Research at MPCL Research Lab · UCF

I reverse-engineered legacy column-buckling rigs and designed protoboards that restored the systems to correct operation. The work combined mechanical troubleshooting with electronics design to bring existing research equipment back into use.

University of Central Florida logo
Louisville, KY

Embedded Software Engineering Co-op

GE Appliances

Firmware validation for Wi-Fi air-conditioning units, plus a co-op robotics competition.

Read more about Embedded Software Engineering Co-op at GE Appliances

I developed C scripts to validate parametric over-the-air files, enabling QA to test firmware releases on Wi-Fi air-conditioning units.

I also led a co-op Sumo Bot team. Integrating a LiPo battery and voltage regulator let us overdrive the motors by 40% without failures.

Minneapolis, MN

Automation Engineering Intern

Medtronic · First internship

Prototyping and acceptance testing for medical-device automation systems.

Read more about Automation Engineering Intern at Medtronic · First internship

I built and iterated 3D-printed prototypes from vendor concepts for an automation project with $1.3M in projected savings. I also redesigned an oven fixture in SolidWorks, expanding the automation scope and cutting labor by up to 83%.

I authored the acceptance test plan adopted for factory acceptance of a robotic automation system targeting $3.5M in savings.

Louisville, KY

R&D Mechanical Engineering Co-op

GE Appliances

From testing fixtures and sensor integration to a universal oven spill-guard, bringing new product ideas into working prototypes.

Read more about R&D Mechanical Engineering Co-op at GE Appliances

I led a co-op team designing a universal oven spill-guard, helping kickstart a new R&D product line.

I also built two Python tools—a BOM cost analyzer and a sensor-to-Excel converter—to reduce manual review for R&D leads.

Building something of my own

Startups

Fornax Studio

Co-Founder · Head of Product & Technology

Shop-management software for job tracking, bills of materials, costing, and quoting.

Read more about Fornax Studio

As Co-Founder and Head of Product and Technology, I direct development of shop-management software for job tracking, bills of materials, costing, and quoting.

I created a scraping tool that compiled 140K potential business leads for prospecting. I also oversee test-driven development infrastructure, automated validation, and review gates for product changes.

Visit Fornax Studio ↗
Fornax
Studio
Costing. Quoting. Shop management. fornax.studio

ZeroMakeLab

Founder · Engineering & storytelling · YouTube ↗

A home for DIY electronics, product builds, and the videos behind them.

Read more about ZeroMakeLab

I create and explain PCB, electronics, firmware, and manufacturing builds, taking projects from the engineering work to the videos that document it.

That work has reached 50K+ combined views and impressions. ZeroMakeLab is also the home for my PomoBox and TutorBot builds.

Visit ZeroMakeLab ↗
ZeroMakeLab homepage, featuring its Assemble them yourself headline and PomoBox and desk-bot product renders.

From an idea to a thing

Projects

PomoBox

Embedded hardware · Designed from the ground up

A pocket-sized focus timer I designed and built from scratch, from the enclosure and electronics to the embedded software.

Watch the build ↗
PomoBox product render from ZeroMakeLab.

TutorBot

Local AI · Built from the ground up

A tutoring bot I designed and built to run a local AI model, answer questions about classes and homework, and help explain difficult concepts.

TutorBot product render from ZeroMakeLab.

F1Tenth Racing Car

SHPE Team

Building and racing an autonomous car with the SHPE team.

Read more about F1Tenth Racing Car at SHPE Team

With the SHPE team, I helped build and race an F1TENTH autonomous car. The car used LiDAR for sensing, with ROS running in Docker on a Raspberry Pi.

F1TENTH autonomous racing logo

SEDS Rocketry Club

Expandable wheel · Payload engineering

An expandable wheel mechanism for a SEDS payload, alongside rocketry design work at FIU and UCF.

Read more about the SEDS expandable wheel and rocketry work

I worked as a payload engineer at FIU and later as a design engineer at UCF. The expandable wheel shown here was part of my payload work.

For the Spaceport America Cup, I designed powertrains and composite fins using SolidWorks and finite element analysis, with mentorship from Blue Origin engineers.

Studio render of the SEDS expandable wheel, showing its segmented tread and radial mechanism.

Foldable Drone

Mechanical design · Prototyping

A compact drone built around folding arms and a custom electronics stack.

Read more about Foldable Drone at Mechanical design · Prototyping

I designed and prototyped hinge-based folding arms, with mounts for sensors, a camera, and a LiPo battery. The mechanical design took inspiration from DJI’s Mavic series, and I used computational fluid dynamics simulations to evaluate the design.

CAD render of my foldable drone with all four arms fully deployed and its original part colors.

Sumo Bot

Robotics · Hardware & software

A competition robot with a custom chassis, adjustable motor power, and a little extra push.

Read more about Sumo Bot at Robotics · Hardware & software

For GE’s co-op competition, I led the team and redesigned the chassis around a LiPo battery in place of four AA batteries. A voltage regulator provided adjustable motor power; the setup overdrove the motors by 40% without failures.

I also designed a new front shield and integrated IR sensors for detection and control.

Front three-quarter CAD render of my latest Sumo Bot design, with five IR sensors fitted to the attachment mounts.

Oven Tray

Product development · Team leadership

An oven add-on designed to catch solid spills during baking, from CAD to a fabricated prototype.

Read more about Oven Tray at Product development · Team leadership

I led a team of GE Appliances co-ops through the design and manufacturing of a universal oven spill-guard. We produced CAD models and fabricated mockups, then presented the concept to company directors for evaluation as a new product initiative.

CAD rendering of the oven tray prototype.

Renewable Energy Generator

Energy · Team project

A water-powered generator exploring how motion becomes electricity.

Read more about Renewable Energy Generator at Energy · Team project

In high school, I worked in a team of three on a turbine-driven magnet–coil assembly. Flowing water turned the turbine, converting mechanical motion into electricity through electromagnetic induction.

The assembled renewable energy generator on a classroom workbench.

A bit beyond the work

Always making
something.

I’m Maikol (Michael) Ruiz. I was born in Cuba and moved to Miami in 2015. Since then, engineering has taken me through Houston, Orlando, Minneapolis, and Louisville.

I like the whole process of building a product: design, materials, electronics, software, and figuring out how to bring it into the world. Away from that, I write, play music, and think about films I’d like to make.

University of Central Florida
Mechanical Engineering · Computer Science minor
Expected graduation: December 2027

Have something in mind?

Let’s talk.

maikolruiz2004@outlook.com