We are an end-to-end product design and engineering firm, where every action is focused on developing robust production-ready designs in accelerated time frames
HARDWARE INNOVATION ENGINEERING
Motivo Engineering was inspired by the philosophy adopted by race car engineering teams that often work on custom cars end to end. By applying the same vertically integrated mindset to other domains of hardware innovation engineering, Motivo has pioneered the concept of agile for hardware.
From cross-disciplinary brainstorms and design processes to hardware purchases and drawing creations – every action is focused on developing robust production-ready designs in accelerated time frames. Motivo’s integrated development process increases efficiency by reducing iterations and rework, resulting in clients getting more robust prototypes and low volume manufacturing in ridiculously short time frames.
OUR LEADERSHIP
Praveen Penmetsa
CEO
Praveen’s passion for helping other audacious visionaries through complex product development and his firm belief that "its not just what we do, it's how we do it" is the drive behind Motivo. Praveen brings over 18 years of hands-on experience in translating creative visions into products. His formative years in building racecars and new mobility solutions under highly compressed timelines eventually resulted in the development of the Motivo Way and his philosophy on managing innovation. He loves the creative energy that permeates the product engineering lifecycle especially on seemingly impossible projects. Outside of Motivo, you will find Praveen at the local race track with his vintage BMW.
Dr. Zachary Omohundro
Senior Scientist
Dr. Zachary has a double degree in electrical and mechanical engineering, and a PhD in robotics from Carnegie Mellon. He has worked for a NASA subcontractor and a start-up prior to Motivo. He specializes in highly modular robotic architectures, self-reconfigurable robots; multiple robots that not only collaborate, but mechanically join together to form a more capable robot; robots with parallel kinematic structures; using analog control and oscillation to achieve high level functions such as a walking gate; tighter integration of electrical and mechanical components; systematic methods of evaluating engineering trade-offs across multiple disciplines; sensor fusion techniques and designing for fault tolerance/redundancy in sensors. He ensures that even the most complex system design is extremely practical so it can be quickly validated and implemented.
Paul Olson
Manufacturing & Fabrication Lead
Paul has over a decade of experience leading manufacturing teams, with a background in aircraft composites fabrication. He continues to maintain his certifications and brings hands-on expertise in leading the shop team, thus creating a well-integrated production team. He develops lean manufacturing strategies for every project, and is obsessive about turning ideas into prototypes and real products efficiently.
Dean Banks
COO
Dean champions the evolution of people and process at Motivo, striving toward consistently awe-inspiring project execution. Dean brings 25 years of experience spanning operations, product management, and multidisciplinary technical leadership across industries ranging from internet scale software to theme park rides. Throughout his career, Dean has been drawn to complex, hard-to-solve problems and the high caliber teams necessary for making such projects a success. Dean’s optimizer mindset helps ensure that Motivo is constantly evolving into a better version of itself. Dean also enjoys home improvement projects, mountain biking, backpacking, and spending time with his family.
Chris Dunham
Director of Organizational Development
Chris champions the development of Motivo’s diverse product engineering teams that include managers, PhD’s, engineers, hackers and manufacturing groups. His role spans recruiting, culture, development, performance management and HR. He strives to identify, motivate and support the Motivo team members as they work through the project challenges. He draws on over 10 years of people-focused roles in fields ranging from nonprofit to high tech and thrives in a fast paced, highly dynamic environment that is Motivo. Chris loves to experiment with nontraditional methods of identifying and attracting talented folks, developing leaders, and supporting the team. He’s an insatiable learner and outside of work he often pursues new and experience-enhancing hobbies – most recently roasting artisan coffee.
OUR CLIENTS LOVE US BECAUSE WE ARE..
Ridiculously Fast
Our mission is to deliver better products, faster. Motivo is vertically integrated with highly skilled designers, electrical, mechanical and software engineers and fabricators working together in tightly knit teams under the same roof - resulting in development timelines that are often 3x faster than usual
Extremely Diverse
Our team has been carefully selected to bring extremely diverse skills to each project, allowing us to bring depth and breadth to each project. We brainstorm, design, engineer, solder, wire, code, print, sew, weld, machine, assemble, and test the first prototype and help the transition to full-volume production.
Constantly Creative
We don't like the word "impossible". We begin each day by challenging traditional thinking and pushing the boundaries of what's possible. We look at things differently, we embrace the unconventional and we bring creativity to every single stage of the product development cycle
Our 50,000 sqft facilities are in Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay Area
