Bethlehem, PA · B.S. Electro-Mechanical Engineering, Penn State University
I'm an R&D, electromechanical and automation engineer who builds the hardware, the software, and the infrastructure beneath it. I follow the problem, from the firmware, to mechanical design to the servers that keep everything together. As I work, I write down what I build along the way and how to maintain it.
Each one displays the same habit - improve repetitive tasks in my day-to-day. Then make it easier to run and understand.
🛠️ Desktop tools & utilities
| Project | What it is | Built with |
|---|---|---|
| BulkSSH | A Windows app for working with many SSH devices at once. Live terminal grid, mirrored keystrokes, broadcast commands, and confirmation prompts before anything risky hits several machines. | TypeScript, Electron |
| RB's Auto App Updater | A one-click Windows updater built on WinGet. It upgrades each package on its own, explains failures in plain English, and verifies every release with a SHA-256 check. | PowerShell |
Also in this bench, kept private: UNFED, an iPhone app (in planning) that brings back a plain "phone" feel by blocking the endless-scroll parts of social apps.
🏭 Industrial & manufacturing
Most of this work lives in private repos at work, so there is nothing to click, but it is a big part of what I do:
- Extrusion Studio: live readouts, strip charts, and CSV/SQLite logging for every extrusion line at once, served from one server to screens around the plant. It replaced three LabVIEW executables.
- ICARUS-Lite: a product I led from design through commercialization, covering the mechanical, electrical, and software sides, including custom AC heaters.
- Production tooling: ERP rollout, BOM and cost control, QC automation, and 3D-printing workflow software.
The full story, with photos and write-ups, is on the portfolio site.
🖥️ Homelab & infrastructure
| Project | What it is |
|---|---|
| Homelab | A five-node k3s cluster on mini PCs: Arch Linux, MetalLB, ingress-nginx, Rancher, and GitOps, with a decision log explaining why each choice was made. |
The cluster, its docs, its Ansible playbooks, and its manifests are private. The rule I follow: Ansible owns everything below Kubernetes, and manifests own everything above it. Nothing straddles both.
Skills in play: Proxmox, Docker, UniFi networking, VLANs, DNS, reverse proxies, and firewall routing.
🎛️ Dashboards & design
| Project | What it is | Built with |
|---|---|---|
| RileyBeenders.com | A resume-shaped portfolio. It reads like a normal resume, then reveals the proof behind each line. One set of data files renders the site, the tailored PDFs, and the application tracker. | Next.js, JavaScript |
| HomeDash | A home dashboard for small portrait touch displays, designed to bring all my devices into one view on a desk, counter, or wall. Design language and tooling are done; the app is next. | CSS, MkDocs |
Also in this bench, kept private: RB-Astro, a "soft-extruded" design system and Claude skill that I use to guide UI work across projects.
🤖 Hardware, firmware & making
| Project | What it is | Built with |
|---|---|---|
| Fabric VMC | A curated Fabric modpack for a private Vanilla Minecraft server, tuned for performance and quality of life, with installers for three launchers. | Minecraft, Fabric |
Also in this bench, kept private: a customized Duet Web Control for 3D printers, and Project Olympus, a filament-swapping machine concept.
🌐 Open source
| Project | What it is |
|---|---|
| Open Filament Database | A community-built, open database of 3D-printing filaments, run by the Open Filament Collective and facilitated by SimplyPrint. (fork) |
🧰 Toolbox
| Area | Tools |
|---|---|
| Mechanical design | SolidWorks, Siemens NX, CATIA, Autodesk Inventor, Fusion 360, GD&T, DFM/DFA |
| Manufacturing | FDM, FGF, MJF, and SLS design, fixtures and tooling, Lean Six Sigma, BOM and cost control |
| Software | Python, TypeScript, JavaScript, PowerShell, C/C++, LabVIEW, MATLAB and Simulink |
| Controls | Allen-Bradley PLCs, data logging, process analysis, workflow automation |
| Infrastructure | Linux and Windows administration, Docker, Kubernetes (k3s), Proxmox, Ansible, UniFi |
- Leading R&D and supporting internal operations at PROTEOR PRINT
- Building out the homelab, one documented decision at a time
- Designing HomeDash, a single screen for everything at home
- Open to the right next challenge, including relocation