About — Uriel Magaña-Salgado

Medtronic — Surgical Robotics

Boston, MA

Senior Hardware Engineer

09/2023 – Present

Owned several mechanical changes in a project aimed to increase capital hardware use-life from 250 to 1,000 surgical procedures — including failure root-causing, iterative prototyping, and solution testing.
Drove dozens of engineering changes across multifunctional teams (PDO, Quality, Human Factors, Industrial Eng, Manufacturing, Controls, Software) and supplier partners.
Led effort to standardize fastener joint design approach across a team of 26 MEs, consulting industry experts and VDI 2230 standards.
Investigated 12+ failure modes accounting for 170+ field returns since product launch; root-caused those comprising 50%+ of failures.
Co-led mechanical changes driving a 25% cost reduction on large capital equipment, including multi-body FEA simulations and tolerance analyses.

Illuminant Surgical Inc

Cambridge, MA

Mechanical Engineering Co-op

02/2023 – 08/2023

Revamped the surgical navigation system design — reduced weight by 40 lbs, increased stability 4-fold, and decreased manufacturing cost by 20%.
Drafted FDA pre-submission V&V protocols based on 300+ pages of IEC 60601 standards and collaterals.
Designed and integrated a low-cost full system enclosure using powder-coated aluminum and polished ABS for contaminant coverage.
Integrated a pneumatic solution to arm extension that reduced 45-pound lifting effort to under 10 pounds.
Delivered DXF, STEP, and STL files to 4 contract manufacturers for outsourced parts within desired tolerances.

MIT Device Realization Laboratory

Cambridge, MA

Graduate Researcher

09/2021 – 02/2023

First-authored a journal paper proposing a novel frame-to-frame ultrasound feature tracking technique, matching Deep Neural Network accuracy with less manual setup — published in BioMedical Engineering Online.
Designed and conducted a human study with 26 subjects, analyzing physiologic data from 20+ skin-adhered sensors and markers.
Developed a Python repository for MIT Immersion Lab to facilitate post-processing and feature-tracking of ultrasound videos.
Applied signal processing techniques (FFT, Welch's method) to accelerometer signals for tremor detection.

Medtronic — Diabetes

Northridge, CA (Virtual)

Mechanical R&D Engineering Intern

06/2020 – 08/2020

Expedited materials compliance with RoHS, Prop65, EU MDR, and REACH by developing 3 intuitive tools: a custom flowchart for new materials, a workbook for previously-used materials, and a decision card for material selection.
Established a minimum alarm tone level for a diabetes pump using unpaired t-tests of sample tolerance intervals in Minitab.

Myomo Inc

Cambridge, MA

Electromechanical Engineering Intern

06/2019 – 08/2019

Designed a robust mechanical fixture for cycle testing of an orthotic system using inexpensive and 3D-printed parts.
Revised and delivered a certified testing protocol to the company's contract manufacturing firm.
Conducted fatigue, excessive deflection, and impact testing protocols.
Modeled, 3D printed, and redesigned 5 attachments to a robotic system for improved ease-of-use using SolidWorks.