Sam Claassens
Engineering Manager at University of Arkansas
California, United States
Summary
👤
Senior🎓
Top SchoolSam Claassens is an engineering manager and founder with 11 years of experience turning deep-tech research into commercial products across robotics, autonomy, and industrial software. Currently leading engineering at Zoox while teaching graduate prototyping and running an AI/AR/robotics consultancy, he blends hands-on systems engineering with product and team leadership. He co-founded NavAbility, scaling an MIT-born robotics mapping research project into a commercial offering for construction, autonomous driving, and warehousing. His background spans embedded systems, control theory, and cloud-native software from roles at GE and the University of Chicago, complemented by an MBA from Booth and an MEng in control systems. Known for translating academic ideas into market-ready solutions, he also has a playful, people-first approach to engineering culture hinted at his lighthearted GitHub persona. Based in California, he thrives on prototyping—Figma to Fusion360—and shepherding ideas that can change industries into reality.
11 years of coding experience
14 years of employment as a software developer
Master of Business Administration, Master of Business Administration at The University of Chicago Booth School of BusinessUniversity of Johannesburg 
English, Afrikaans, German
Stackoverflow
1reputation
0reached
0answers
0questions
Github Skills (146)
solver10
abstraction10
mapping-tools10
slam-algorithms10
optimization10
robotics10
recycling10
imu10
camera10
localization10
belief-propagation10
julia10
database10
isam10
abstraction-layer10
Programming languages (9)
Github contributions (5)
GearsAD/GraffSDK.jl
Feb 2018 - Apr 2019
A Julia SDK for the SlamInDb/GraffSDK project
Contributions:10 releases, 245 commits, 75 PRs in 1 year 1 month
sdkjulia
GearsAD/zasteroids
Mar 2015 - Mar 2022
Contributions:10 commits, 8 pushes, 1 branch in 7 years
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