Best Fit Roles
- Embedded Software Intern
- Robotics / Mechatronics Intern
- Systems or Integration Engineering Intern
- Data-focused technical internship with strong implementation work
Engineering Profile
University of Washington - ECE + Data Science
Ziang Tan
Embedded Systems Intern | Robotics Intern | Systems Integration Intern
Available for Summer/Fall 2026 internships
Electrical & Computer Engineering + Data Science student building embedded systems, robotics workflows, and reliable engineering prototypes.
I am a University of Washington student who enjoys turning technical ideas into working systems. My work spans firmware, sensing, robotics modeling, PCB design, and data-driven problem solving, with a strong focus on debugging, integration, and practical execution.
Quick Takeaways
At a glance.
Core Strengths
- Current FPGA research experience with computer vision acceleration and real-time inference.
- Comfortable across firmware, hardware debugging, and system integration.
- Able to translate technical ideas into working prototypes and testable workflows.
Why This Profile Stands Out
- Dual-degree background in ECE and Data Science.
- Hands-on project depth with visible build work, not just class descriptions.
- Clear interest in roles where execution, debugging, and learning speed matter.
About
A practical builder with both hardware and data depth.
I am pursuing dual bachelor's degrees in Electrical & Computer Engineering and Applied Mathematics: Data Science at the University of Washington. I am most energized by work that sits between software, hardware, and system-level problem solving.
Across coursework, internships, and club projects, I have built a habit of shipping real technical work: debugging embedded labs, prototyping sensor-based devices, modeling robotic motion, and organizing messy data into usable engineering outputs.
100+
students supported as an Embedded Systems TA
3
engineering areas I actively combine: embedded, robotics, data
5+
hands-on projects featured across firmware, modeling, and sensing
Experience
Research, teaching, prototyping, and applied engineering work.
FPGA Research Assistant
ARC Lab | Part-time | Seattle, WA
- Design and implement FPGA-based solutions for computer vision acceleration using Xilinx Kria KV260.
- Develop real-time image processing and object detection workflows for drone applications.
- Use Vitis AI and YOLOv3-tiny to target 30 FPS video inference with precise latency measurements.
Undergraduate Teaching Assistant
University of Washington - EE/CSE 474: Embedded Systems
- Support 100+ students in embedded systems labs involving ESP32-S3 programming, I2C, and FreeRTOS scheduling.
- Hold weekly office hours focused on hardware debugging, firmware structure, and implementation troubleshooting.
- Assist with grading and course documentation for a large programming-intensive systems course.
Engineering Intern
Shenzhen Volcos Technology Co., Ltd.
- Developed a wind-speed measurement module integrating humidity and temperature sensors.
- Prototyped an automated cat care device using motor control and ultrasonic sensing.
- Designed PCB layouts in Altium Designer and programmed microcontrollers in Keil5.
Engineering Intern (Field Application Engineer)
EMA Yingma Tech Co., Ltd.
- Tested accelerated graphics cards to evaluate functionality and performance.
- Identified hardware and software bugs during development and troubleshooting.
- Researched application markets and explored international buyer opportunities.
Engineering Intern
Syron Intelligent Lock Co., Ltd.
- Assisted with design and assembly of OEM smart lock systems.
- Performed functionality and reliability testing on smart lock devices.
Projects
Selected work across embedded systems, robotics, and data science.
Embedded Systems
Autonomous Embedded Cat Care System
Built a real-time embedded prototype on ESP32-S3 with interrupt-driven ultrasonic sensing, hardware timers, buffered sensor logic, and state-machine motor control for automated feeding and cleaning behavior.
What this demonstrates: Real firmware structure, timing reliability, and sensor-to-actuator integration under practical constraints.
- Used ISR-based event handling and deterministic timing.
- Reduced race-condition risk with volatile variables and critical sections.
- Delivered a stable prototype that coordinated sensing and actuation reliably.
Robotics Modeling
Robotic Arm Kinematics and Trajectory Control
Created a Python workflow for 6-DOF manipulator modeling using Denavit-Hartenberg parameters, forward kinematics, numerical inverse kinematics, and trajectory generation for pick-and-place tasks.
What this demonstrates: Strong mathematical modeling, robotics reasoning, and the ability to turn theory into validated motion-planning workflows.
- Implemented SciPy-based optimization for inverse kinematics.
- Validated motion feasibility across multiple arm configurations.
- Strengthened skills in robotics control and system modeling.
Hardware Integration
Line-Tracking Robot
Designed and assembled a course robot with Arduino control, custom PCB sensing hardware, photoresistors, motors, and a 3D-printed chassis, then iteratively tuned it through repeated track testing.
What this demonstrates: Hands-on electromechanical integration, iterative testing, and system tuning from build to measurable performance.
- Integrated custom sensing hardware with control logic.
- Contributed to calibration, tuning, and full-system optimization.
- Reached a measured course completion time of 48 seconds.
Digital Systems / FPGA
3D Parking Lot Controller and Rush-Hour Tracker
Built a SystemVerilog design for a DE1-SoC FPGA that interfaces with a simulated 3D parking lot, autonomously controls entry and exit gates, tracks occupancy across three spaces, detects rush-hour timing, and stores hourly car-count data in dual-port RAM.
What this demonstrates: Strong digital design fundamentals, FSM and ASMD decomposition, FPGA I/O integration, and practical hardware-interface thinking.
- Mapped FPGA inputs and outputs to simulated parking sensors, LEDs, and gate controls through GPIO.
- Designed separate control and datapath logic to identify the first rush-hour window in an 8-hour workday.
- Used an 8x16 dual-port RAM workflow to store and display cumulative vehicle-entry counts by business hour.
Sensor Subsystem
Mars Rover Sensor Subsystem
Supported Husky Robotics sensor planning for a Mars-style rover, evaluating environmental sensing options and integration tradeoffs across gas, temperature, humidity, and subsurface measurement goals.
What this demonstrates: Systems-level thinking around sensor selection, integration feasibility, and mission-driven engineering tradeoffs.
- Compared sensor specifications, operating ranges, and integration constraints.
- Connected sensor choices to rover science objectives and feasibility.
- Contributed to subsystem development and enclosure-oriented robotics work.
Data Pipeline
Seafood Production and Consumption Forecasting
Built a Python data workflow that ingested multi-year CSV datasets, handled incomplete records, generated country-level visualizations, and estimated future production demand using forecasting logic.
What this demonstrates: Clean analytical implementation, data validation discipline, and the ability to turn raw datasets into interpretable forecasts.
- Structured messy real-world data for downstream analysis.
- Created country and global forecast outputs.
- Wrote targeted tests to validate core processing and calculations.
NLP / Analytics
Educational Text Analytics Workflow
Developed Python and Jupyter workflows for preprocessing educational text data, running topic-modeling experiments, and evaluating model quality with accuracy, precision, recall, and F1 metrics.
What this demonstrates: Applied ML experimentation, structured evaluation, and comfort working with unstructured datasets and model tradeoffs.
- Worked with unstructured datasets and transformation pipelines.
- Compared machine-generated themes against expert-defined categories.
- Analyzed how modeling choices affected interpretability and subgroup performance.
Skills
A hybrid toolkit for firmware, prototyping, and analytical work.
Programming
C, C++, Python, Java, SQL
Embedded & Hardware
ESP32, FreeRTOS, I2C, interrupt programming, PCB design, circuit testing, sensor integration
Data & Modeling
Data ingestion, ETL-style transformation, forecasting, topic modeling, clustering, model evaluation
Tools
Altium Designer, Keil5, Jupyter Notebook, Git, Linux, Matplotlib, SolidWorks, AutoCAD
Current Search
Seeking internships in embedded systems, robotics, and systems integration.
I am especially interested in embedded systems, robotics, hardware-software integration, controls-adjacent engineering, and technically rigorous roles where debugging and practical execution matter.
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