Mechatronics Consultants: 3

DireenTech is a Design and Systems Development firm in the Electronics and Software Industry. They are currently under contract with the US Air Force Academy Center for UAS Research, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in the area of using General Purpose Graphics Processing Units (GPGPU) in UAVs / Drones to provide fast autonomous target identification and GPS denied navigation. DireenTech has also partnered with FalconWorks and Falci Adaptive Motor sports on the NeuroGroove program to develop technologies to help those with neuromotor disabilities, including U.S. veterans, increase their ability to control and interact with their environment.

Core Services

• Software Design and Development
• Electronic Hardware Design and Development
• Research using GPGPUs for Control, Navigation and Image Processing
• Intellectual Property
• Reverse Engineering Hardware, Software, and Firmware
• Product Forensics

Chief Operating officer, Harry Direen, PhD, PE has over 30 years of experience as an engineer Designing and Developing Systems in the Electronics and Software Industry. He has taught engineering courses at the US Air Force Academy and at the University of Colorado. Dr. Direen currently works with a research group at the US Air Force Academy developing control systems and image processing using GPGPUs for UAVs. An inventor, he holds 3 United States patents. Dr. Direen has a broad base of knowledge in electronic and software systems gained from a long career developing a wide range of products and systems. He has reverse engineered a variety of complex systems over the years, including: media players, modems, modem compression algorithms, coriolis mass flow meters, database systems, and a range of other products to support patent infringement cases generating detailed claim charts and writing expert reports to demonstrate infringement. Dr. Direen has successfully discovered and analyzed complex digital signal processing algorithms and pertinent operations within these products for many years.

View Dr. Direen's Expert Witness Profile.

Finity Engineering, LLC comprises highly-accomplished engineers and industrial practitioners that work alongside leading researchers to provide design, analysis, consulting, and litigation support services. Associates are subject-matter experts in the areas of Automation, Mechatronics, Robotics, and Consumer Products.

Finity Engineering professionals have served scores of industry-leading companies and research institutes, and have developed and provided technical oversight for the implementation of hundreds of robotic, automation, and controls systems deployed within the facilities of high-profile end users. Collectively, Finity Engineering professionals are named inventors on over 60 patents and have founded dozens of successful entrepreneurial ventures, demonstrating pragmatic and marketable engineering innovation.

Clients Include: Alcoa, Apple, BMW, Boeing, Cargill, Caterpillar, Chernobyl, Cummins, Ford Motors, Fukushima, General Motors, Gestamp, Google, Honda, Hundai, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Johnson Controls, Kia Motors, Lockheed Martin, and many more.

Design, Analysis & Business Consulting Specialties:

 Founder, Khalid Sorensen, PhD, is a highly accomplished technology leader in Automation, Mechatronics, Motion Control, Manufacturing, Machine Vision, and Human-Machine Interaction. He has over 20 years of experience developing and deploying world class, mechatronic, motion control, and automation solutions.

Dr. Sorensen has directed the development and implementation of 100s of complex, multi-disciplinary mechatronic systems for high-profile industry leaders including Toyota, Ford, Alcoa, Caterpillar, Boeing, NuScale, and many others, and high-profile facilities including Fukushima and Chernobyl.

Previously, Dr. Sorensen Founded a technology company where he invented and was the Chief Architect of Expertoperator^TM, Safemove^TM, Automove^TM, and Cranevision^TM – technology known within the primary metals, automotive, and heavy-equipment sectors for enhancing crane safety, productivity, and ease-of-use; Developed state-of-the-art, on-line, time-optimal trajectory synthesis software for Cartesian machines - key drivers in the acquisition of his company 5 years after inception by a global leader in automation.

View Dr. Khalid Sorensen's Expert Witness Profile.

Dr. Homayoon Kazerooni is a professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, where he also serves as the director of the Berkeley Robotics and Human Engineering Laboratory. With more than 30 years of mechanical engineering experience and a doctorate degree from MIT, the results of this work on upper extremity augmentation led to Intelligent Assist Devices (IAD) that are currently marketed worldwide.

Litigation Support - Dr. Kazerooni has been deposed and testified in various Intellectual Property cases. His services include thorough examination and reporting, depositions, and trial testimony as needed.

Areas of Expertise:

Homayoon Kazerooni, Director, Berkeley Robotics and Human Engineering Lab addressing the EmTech Asia 2016 crowd on New Developments on Lower Extremity Exoskeleton Systems

Dr. Kazerooni is a professor, entrepreneur, and expert witness The Berkeley Robotics and Human Engineering Laboratory’s mission is to develop fundamental scientific and engineering principles on robotics, control sciences, exoskeletons, and bioengineering.  Dr. Kazerooni founded Ekso Bionics which became a public company in 2014. He's also the founder and current CEO of U. S. Bionics (DBA suitX) which brings advanced exoskeleton technologies to various markets.

Most of the developed technologies in this lab at Berkeley have found their ways to market.  Prior to his research work on lower extremity exoskeletons, Dr. Kazerooni led his team to successfully develop robotics systems that enhance human upper extremity strength.  The results of this work led to a new class of intelligent assist devices currently being used by workers worldwide for manipulating heavy objects in distribution centers and factories.  

Dr. Kazerooni holds a Doctorate in Mechanical Engineering from MIT and has published more than 200 articles, delivered over 130 plenary lectures in the U.S. and internationally, and holds over 200 pertinent patents and awards. He  has won numerous awards including Discover Magazine’s Innovation Award, the McKnight-Land Grant Professorship, and has been a recipient of the outstanding ASME Investigator Award. His research was recognized as the most innovative technology of the year in New York Times Magazine.