Firmware | Robotics | Software

Building reliable systems.

I am Nickolas Barandich, a Mechatronics Engineering student at the University of Waterloo and a Firmware Developer at UW Orbital. My work spans embedded systems, robotics, developer tooling, and software projects built with precision and care.

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Focus Embedded systems, real-time firmware, robotics, and practical software design
Current Firmware Developer at UW Orbital while studying Mechatronics Engineering at University of Waterloo
Portrait of Nickolas Barandich
Current direction Firmware, robotics, and software systems built with clean engineering judgment.
C/C++

Core languages for firmware, robotics control, and lower-level systems work.

RTOS

Experience with queues, periodic scheduling, interrupt deferral, and deterministic timing.

20+

Students supported through tutoring and robotics workshops with structured lesson plans.

$5K

Funding secured to expand a school robotics club and support long-term program growth.

Featured work

Project highlights on the homepage. Full case studies one click away.

Firmware Dec 2025 - Present

UW Orbital

Built a register-level I2C driver for an LM75BD sensor in C, implemented a FreeRTOS thermal and telemetry task with queue-based scheduling, and validated the system with unit and integration testing in CMake and CTest.

  • C
  • FreeRTOS
  • I2C
  • CMake
Open case study
Robotics Oct 2025 - Dec 2025

VEX Pen-Plotter Robot

Designed, built, and programmed a VEX-based pen plotter with automated drawing from coordinate arrays, sensor-based homing, proportional vector control, and mechanical refinements that improved drawing stability by 25 percent.

  • C++
  • Python
  • 3D printing
  • Controls
Open case study
Game systems Apr 2024 - Jun 2024

Tile Isle RPG

Created a RuneScape-inspired tile-based RPG in Python and Pygame with a deterministic battle engine, a versioned save system, and simulation utilities to validate outcomes. The game was published to Itch.io and reached 200+ downloads.

  • Python
  • Pygame
  • Save systems
  • Simulation
Open case study

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About

Mechatronics student with a systems mindset and a strong desire for building.

I am currently completing a Bachelor of Applied Science in Mechatronics Engineering at the University of Waterloo. The work that pulls me in most is where software meets the physical world: sensors, motion, timing, control, and the infrastructure that makes those systems reliable.

Alongside engineering projects, I have led robotics programming workshops, run an independent tutoring practice, and kept a strong focus on communication, iteration, and turning complex problems into clean implementations.

Technical toolkit

C C++ Python Git GitHub Linux WSL FreeRTOS I2C CMake CTest SolidWorks

Highlights

Leadership, teaching, and recognition beyond the project list.

01

Robotics Club President

Led weekly robotics and Python workshops for 20+ students, secured $5,000 in funding, and organized a school-wide robotics obstacle course with more than 40 participants.

02

Independent STEM Tutor

Built and managed a tutoring practice for 20 students, handling scheduling, lesson planning, and targeted academic support that improved performance by up to 20 percentage points.

03

Scholarship and education

Recipient of the James Hillier Foundation Scholarship, selected as 1 of 4 recipients for $28,000, while pursuing a BASc in Mechatronics Engineering at the University of Waterloo.

Contact

Open to thoughtful firmware, robotics, and software opportunities.

Reach out for firmware, robotics, and software opportunities, or explore more of my work through LinkedIn and GitHub.

Nickolas@Barandich.com LinkedIn GitHub