year 2026
← catarci.ch

Water · CV

Leandro Catarci

MSc Mechanical Engineering student at ETH Zurich (microrobotics track, Prof. Brad Nelson), currently on exchange at TU Delft. I build embedded measurement hardware end to end: schematic, PCB, firmware in C on STM32, and validation against a physical ground truth.

Seeking: mandatory industrial internship, 12–24 weeks from 03/2027, Pensum ≥ 80% (ETH D-MAVT Studienreglement). Swiss citizen, no work permit or sponsorship required in CH/EU/EFTA.

leandro@catarci.ch GitHub ↗ LinkedIn ↗

Technical skills

Embedded and hardware
Firmware in C on STM32 (STM32CubeIDE, CubeMX), interrupt-driven sensor acquisition, low-power and boost-converter design, analog optical front ends; schematic capture and PCB layout in KiCad 8 and Altium Designer; hand assembly, board bring-up, and hardware debug.
Measurement and validation
Python analysis pipelines, gravimetric validation against ground truth, Bland-Altman agreement analysis, bootstrap confidence intervals, Monte-Carlo error budgets, design against IEC 60601-2-24.
Mechanical
CAD in Siemens NX and Onshape, design for FDM 3D printing, mechanical integration, load-bearing mounting design, polymechanics workshop practice.
Software
TypeScript, Next.js, React, PostgreSQL/Supabase, Docker, GitHub Actions CI, automated unit and end-to-end testing.
AI-assisted engineering
Agent-driven automation of build, flash, and bench-measurement workflows; LLM-assisted review of schematics, netlists, and firmware against datasheets.
Languages
German (native), English (fluent), Italian (advanced), French (advanced).

Timeline

Scroll down to go back in time, 2026 → 2014.

  1. Education 09/2026 – 01/2027

    Exchange Semester, Mechanical Engineering

    TU Delft, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering · Delft, Netherlands

    • Coursework: Mechatronic System Design, Compliant Mechanisms, Machine Learning for Robotics, Planning & Decision Making.

  2. Leadership 07/2026 – present

    Swiss Scout Movement (Pfadibewegung Schweiz)

    Ausbildungsverantwortlicher (training officer) · Switzerland

    • Abteilungsleiter (head of a local scout group) until 07/2026; now Ausbildungsverantwortlicher (training officer).
    • Hauptleiter (course director) of a national youth-leader training course, 04/2026.
    • Leadership team of a 140-participant international summer camp in the United Kingdom, 07/2026.

  3. Projects 06/2026 – present

    Commercial Web Engagement

    Swiss prototyping and product-design firm · Switzerland

    • Independent fixed-price engagement, contracted directly: brand concept, written build specification, implementation, and handover. Astro, headless CMS, Vercel.

  4. Education 09/2025 – present

    MSc Mechanical Engineering

    ETH Zurich, microrobotics track. MSc tutor: Prof. Brad Nelson, Multi-Scale Robotics Lab · Zurich, Switzerland

    • Coursework: Microrobotics (5.75), Molecular Sensors (5.75), Microsystems I: Process Technology and Integration (5.25), Bioelectronics and Biosensors (5.25). ETH grading scale: 6.0 maximum, 4.0 pass.

  5. Projects 02/2025 – 08/2026

    Dripito, Open-Source IV Drip Flow Monitor

    ETH Global Health Engineering (Prof. Elizabeth Tilley) · Zurich, Switzerland

    • Two-revision embedded instrument for paediatric infusion monitoring in low-resource hospitals. Both revisions were supervised theses at ETH Global Health Engineering: Bachelor’s thesis 6.0/6.0, MSc semester thesis 5.75/6.0.
    • Rev-A: Altium Designer schematic and PCB, STM32 firmware in C, photodiode drop detection, LCD interface, ~CHF 10 BOM. Rev-B: self-taught KiCad 8 redesign on STM32G071, dual-beam optical front end, single-AA-cell boost supply, ASA-printed enclosure (Onshape).
    • Validated against a Mettler-Toledo gravimetric reference over 19 paired bench runs: fitted a scalar volume constant on four calibration runs, then confirmed it on an independent holdout run rather than reporting the calibration set back to itself.
    • A follow-up session across four mount positions falsified my own generalisation claim; I traced it to position-dependent contamination of the chord measurement, quantified the residual error budget, published a 17-item ranked limitations document, and made it the primary design driver for Rev-C.
    • Built for reproducibility: one-command Docker regeneration of every figure from raw data, hash-locked dependencies, GitHub Actions CI, Bland-Altman and bootstrap-MAPE analysis, a hierarchical Monte-Carlo error budget, and an archived dataset with a citable DOI. Alarm thresholds designed against IEC 60601-2-24 and NICE CG174.

    github.com/Gluflex/dripitogluflex.github.io/dripitodoi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20199232Case study on this site

  6. Experience 10/2024 – 07/2026

    Technical Operations Support and Software Development

    ETH Hangar, Switzerland Innovation Park Zurich · Dübendorf, Switzerland

    • Part-time alongside full-time study, 1,378 hours over 22 months (33 weeks full-time equivalent).
    • Built and maintained two internal web tools: an authenticated platform for room booking, event registration, and e-ink displays (~450 users), and a booking tool for the outdoor vehicle-test zones used by ETH student teams (~100 users). Next.js, TypeScript, Supabase/PostgreSQL on Vercel, with CI/CD and automated unit and end-to-end tests.
    • Facility work: designed and installed load-bearing wall mounts for a student-built electric racecar and a rocket, installed building-services irrigation equipment, and gave engineering tours.

    Case study on this site

  7. Experience 10/2024 – present

    Technical Mentor, CELLSIUS Project H2

    Student-built hydrogen aircraft, IDSC, ETH Zurich · Dübendorf, Switzerland

    • Mentor incoming focus students on hydrogen powertrain design, electrical architecture, and system integration.

  8. Experience 09/2023 – 10/2024

    Team Lead, Focus Project, CELLSIUS Project H2

    Student-built hydrogen aircraft, IDSC, ETH Zurich. 10-student team · Dübendorf, Switzerland

    • Owned the electrical integration of Switzerland’s first student-built piloted hydrogen aircraft: power distribution units, cockpit, and low- and high-voltage cabling, interfacing with the powertrain, avionics, and structures work packages.
    • Contributed to the first successful operation of the 100 kW hydrogen-electric powertrain, the project’s principal technical milestone.
    • Coordinated a 10-student team through milestone planning and design reviews with faculty supervisors, and handled sponsor communication with industry partners.

  9. Leadership 2023

    Certifications

    ITW-Schindler GmbH

    • High-Voltage Systems (Automotive), DGUV Stufe 2Ec.
    • Gas-Powered Vehicle Safety, DGUV Stufe 1E.

  10. Experience 01/2022 – 02/2022

    Polymechanics Workshop Internship

    V-ZUG AG · Zug, Switzerland

  11. Education 09/2021 – 08/2025

    BSc Mechanical Engineering

    ETH Zurich. Bachelor’s thesis and Focus Project, both hardware-build tracks · Zurich, Switzerland

    • Bachelor’s thesis, Global Health Engineering (Prof. Elizabeth Tilley): Development of a Paediatric IV Flow Rate Monitor for Humanitarian Settings. 6.0/6.0.
    • Focus Project, CELLSIUS Project H2 (IDSC, Prof. Christopher Onder), selective admission. 5.75/6.0.

  12. Experience 01/2021 – 05/2021

    Recruit School, Cyber-Security Training

    Swiss Armed Forces · Jassbach, Switzerland

  13. Education 06/2014 – 06/2020

    Matura, Modern Languages and Computer Science

    Kantonsschule Zug · Zug, Switzerland