Iván José Pérez Carrera | Mechatronics Engineering Portfolio

Journey

Engineering Beyond the Classroom

My formation hasn't been limited to completing coursework. Throughout my studies I've looked for experiences that let me apply engineering to real problems, work inside teams I don't fully control, take on responsibility, adapt to unfamiliar environments, and communicate technical work clearly — in more than one language and more than one country.

9.2 / 10 GPA

Jan 2027 Expected Graduation

UPIITA-IPN Mechatronics Engineering

01

AR-UPIITA — Robotics Association of UPIITA

Active Member · Aug 2022 — Present

Robotics is one of my main technical passions, and AR-UPIITA has been where I've put it into practice. As an active member I take part in projects spanning electronics, embedded systems, mechanical design, system integration and testing — building robots that then compete in national and international robotics tournaments.

Competing forces academic knowledge to become a working physical system on a fixed deadline. It's taught me to make engineering decisions quickly, iterate under pressure, and keep a robot functional when something inevitably breaks the night before a match.

Teamwork
Adaptability
Creative Problem-Solving
Resilience
Rapid Engineering Decisions

Two AR-UPIITA competition robots facing off inside a sumo ring

First-place Micro Sumo recognition and medals awarded to AR-UPIITA at the TXRX international robotics tournament

AR-UPIITA teammates holding combat robots at the Guerra de Robots event

02

AGH University of Krakow — Academic Exchange

Faculty of Metals Engineering and Industrial Computer Science · Kraków, Poland · Feb 2025 — Jun 2025

A five-month academic exchange at a major Polish technical university, working inside a fully international engineering environment. Coursework, labs and group projects ran in English, alongside classmates from different educational systems and cultures — which meant adjusting how I communicate technical ideas, not just what I know.

This wasn't only a cultural experience. I also carried out academic engineering work during the exchange, detailed below.

Structural Analysis

Coursework applying structural analysis and simulation in SolidWorks to evaluate mechanical components under load.

Computer / Intelligent Vision

Coursework in computer and intelligent vision, implementing detection and tracking techniques in Python with OpenCV.

AGH University of Krakow, Faculty of Metals Engineering and Industrial Computer Science building

Computer vision pedestrian-detection comparison alongside a SolidWorks structural stress simulation from AGH coursework

Erasmus Student Network AGH Cracow session in a university lecture hall

Iván at the AGH University of Krakow campus during the academic exchange

03

University of Barcelona / StartUB! — Lead to Build

Entrepreneurship & Leadership Program 2026 · Barcelona, Spain · Jul 2026 — Aug 2026

A short, intense entrepreneurship and leadership program built around a three-week development process with a multidisciplinary team. Together we developed T-Medic, a startup concept, from an initial idea through to a final presentation — and the project was recognized as a winner within its Barcelona cohort.

My contribution spanned technical tasks, business development work, presentation and team coordination. It pushed me outside my usual engineering lane into business fundamentals, pitching and communication — and reinforced an idea I keep coming back to: good engineering isn't only about technical correctness. Communication, understanding the user, and actually executing matter just as much.

Leadership
Business Fundamentals
Communication
Pitching
Adaptability

The Lead to Build multidisciplinary team at StartUB!, Universitat de Barcelona

Problem-definition worksheets and sticky notes from the T-Medic ideation process at StartUB!

Iván with a teammate during the T-Medic development sessions at StartUB!

Presenting the T-Medic concept on stage at the StartUB! program, Universitat de Barcelona

The most valuable outcome of a competition, a project or an engineering test is rarely just the final result. What the process leaves behind is what worked, what failed, and what to build differently next — and that data is worth as much as the win.

Selected Work

Selected Engineering Projects

Three engineering case studies spanning embedded hardware, mechatronic systems and data analytics — with more to come.

01

Embedded Systems · Electronics · Robotics

Advanced ESP32-S3 Control PCB for Compact Robotics

Assembled ESP32-S3 control PCB held in hand, showing its compact 47 by 20 millimetre footprint

PCB routing and layer stack-up for the control board in Altium Designer

Comparison of an earlier hand-wired prototype next to the current engineered PCB

The control board integrated into a compact competition robot chassis

The complete robot built around the ESP32-S3 control board

Overview

A 47 × 20 mm, 4-layer control PCB built around the ESP32-S3, designed specifically for compact robotic systems where available space, electrical reliability and functional density are all critical at once. The board is part of a robot that has gone on to win national robotics tournaments.

Engineering Challenge

Fitting a capable motor-control and power system inside a footprint small enough for a lightweight competition robot, without sacrificing the reliability the board needs to survive repeated matches and handling.

Approach / What I Built

I designed the schematic and 4-layer PCB layout around three motor drivers (roughly 3.6 A each) driving two motor channels, each with an integrated boost converter stepping up to 15 V, plus a dedicated buck converter regulating logic power for the ESP32-S3. Careful component placement and power-plane routing were central to keeping the board reliable at this scale — this was as much a power-distribution and layout problem as it was an embedded-firmware one.

02

Mechatronics · Embedded Systems · IoT · Hydraulic Systems

Engineering Thesis / Capstone Project

Automated Rainwater Harvesting System

3D render of the custom ESP32-S3 control board designed for the rainwater system

MATLAB/Simulink hydraulic model used to size the rainwater tank and pump

Secondary view of the filtration and pump assembly of the rainwater harvesting system

Bici-Hub M9 compliance app showing recovered rainwater volume and tank status

Overview

An engineering thesis / capstone project developed with my team, addressing a specific problem in Mexico City: atmospheric pollution can contaminate the first rainwater that reaches a collection surface, making it unsafe to store or use without treatment.

Engineering Challenge

Automatically detect the start of rainfall, isolate and discard the more contaminated first-flush volume, and only then route clean water into storage — with minimal manual intervention and clear status feedback.

Approach / What I Built

The system detects rainfall, manages a first-flush stage using level sensing, and uses solenoid valves to isolate and discard the initial, more contaminated volume before continuing collection — operating semi-automatically with phone/status monitoring. I designed the electronic control board that drives the sensors, valves and monitoring interface, integrating sensing, control, hydraulics and interface into one working system.

03

Data Analytics · Manufacturing · Decision Support

Preventive Maintenance Analytics Dashboard

Sample / Synthetic Data

Detailed maintenance, attrition and downtime report view in Power BI

Overview

A data analytics project that simulates preventive maintenance management for a manufacturing environment, built on a synthetic dataset covering equipment, downtime, repair costs and maintenance events.

Engineering Challenge

Turn a raw, messy maintenance dataset into a decision-support tool that a maintenance or operations team could actually use to prioritize equipment and spot recurring failure patterns.

Approach / What I Built

The workflow runs data generation and cleaning in Python, organization in Excel, and visualization through interactive Power BI dashboards. The goal was to identify critical equipment, visualize downtime, surface recurring failure patterns, analyze maintenance and repair cost, and support maintenance prioritization and engineering decision-making — a tool for interpretation and prioritization, not a predictive model.

Experience

Engineering in Real-World Projects

Alongside my academic formation, I take on remote and freelance engineering projects as a way to put my knowledge to work under real conditions. That's shaped how I interpret requirements, own a project end to end, make technical decisions under real constraints, and communicate with clients rather than only classmates or professors.

Freelance Engineering · Upwork

100%

Job Success

5 / 5

Client Rating

$900+

Total Earnings

6

Total Jobs

Freelance engineering lets me test academic and technical skills against real client requirements — where a design either works for someone else's problem, or it doesn't.

Featured Client Work · Gulf Blue Concepts

From Requirements to Manufacturable Hardware

Project: Black Box

Working directly with Gulf Blue Concepts, my scope covered PCB design and redesign, electronic component integration, embedded hardware development, prototyping, enclosure design and preparing the product for manufacturing — including identifying potential issues early and proposing practical improvements to reliability and system integration.

The work touched ESP32-S3-based hardware, GPS and inertial sensing, sensor and actuator interfaces, power distribution, connector placement, grounding and overall hardware layout with manufacturability in mind throughout.

The recommendation letter specifically recognizes strong work ethic, attention to detail, a solution-oriented approach, technical ability and professional collaboration.

Marc Campisi Department Head · Gulf Blue Concepts

Letter of recommendation from Marc Campisi, Department Head at Gulf Blue Concepts

Client Recommendation · September 15, 2026

Capabilities

Tools, Certifications & Engineering Skills

Certifications & Credentials

Santander Open Academy

Fundamentos de Power BI

Introducción a la programación con Python

Excel – de intermedio a avanzado

2025 – 2026

OpenAI

Fundamentos de la IA

2026

Claude Academy

Claude.ai / Claude Code

2026

Leadership Program

StartUB! — Lead to Build

2026

English

B2 · TOEFL ITP

2026

Travel Credential

U.S. Visa · B1/B2

2026 – 2036

Engineering Skills

Embedded Systems

C / C++ / MicroPython
Arduino Framework
ESP32 Platforms
Microchip Platforms
STM32 Platforms
Low-Power Applications
Sensor Integration

Electronics & Hardware

PCB Design
Schematic Design
Power Regulation
Electronic Testing
Prototyping
Soldering
Hardware Debugging
Sensor / Actuator Integration

Engineering Software

Altium Designer
EasyEDA
Proteus
Multisim
SolidWorks
MATLAB
Simulink

Data & Analytics

Python
Excel
Power BI
Data Cleaning
Data Visualization
Technical Data Interpretation

Control & Engineering

Control Systems
PID Control
Engineering Simulation
System Integration

Soft Skills

Problem Solving
Leadership
Multidisciplinary Teamwork
Technical Communication
Client Communication
Adaptability
Resilience
Creative Thinking
Analytical Thinking
Self-Directed Learning
Attention to Detail
Project Ownership

Currently Learning

HTML
CSS
Web Development Fundamentals
Italian

Currently expanding my skill set in web development, and picking up Italian.

Let's Build Something That Works.

Give me the chance to be part of your company.

I'm looking for a company that builds real things and has the patience to let someone grow into the role. I'd like that chance.

The last few years have put me in places that don't let you coast: robotics competitions where decisions had to be made fast, an exchange semester in Poland where I learned to find my footing in a new country and a new way of studying, a leadership program in Barcelona where a multidisciplinary team had three weeks to turn an idea into a pitch, and freelance clients who needed the work to hold up for their business, not mine.

Those places shaped the person I've become: someone who shows up, listens before deciding, stays steady when plans change, and takes ownership until it works. If that's who your company needs, I'd love to hear from you.

Write me an email Connect on LinkedIn ↗

Prefer webmail? Open in Gmail ↗ · josecarrera31416@gmail.com

Mexico City, Mexico

Open to International Opportunities

Iván José Pérez Carrera, Mechatronics Engineering Portfolio: Engineering with purpose and responsibility

Looking for a specific profile?

Resume Embedded Systems Hardware · PCB · Robotics · Embedded View CV ↗ Resume Data Analytics Python · Power BI · Engineering Data View CV ↗

IVÁN JOSÉPÉREZ CARRERA

Engineering Beyond the Classroom

AR-UPIITA — Robotics Association of UPIITA

AGH University of Krakow — Academic Exchange

University of Barcelona / StartUB! — Lead to Build

Selected Engineering Projects

Overview

Engineering Challenge

Approach / What I Built

Overview

Engineering Challenge

Approach / What I Built

Overview

Engineering Challenge

Approach / What I Built

Engineering in Real-World Projects

From Requirements to Manufacturable Hardware

Tools, Certifications & Engineering Skills

Give me the chance to be part of your company.

IVÁN JOSÉ
PÉREZ CARRERA