Hi, my name is Alex Tacescu, and I am a Lead Flight Software Engineer at Inversion Space. Throughout the 14+ years of experience working with robots and 5+ years working in the space industry, I have designed and built over 20 robots, launched countless rockets into space while at SpaceX (including 4+ crewed missions and NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test), built and launched a satellite into space with Inversion, written hundreds of thousands lines of code while working with companies like Inversion Space, SpaceX, Tesla, Amazon Robotics.

I received my Bachelors and Masters in Robotics Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI).

My Journey

For as long as I can remember, I’ve enjoyed taking things apart to discover how they work. When I was 8 years old, I saved up my money and pre-ordered the LEGO Mindstorm NXT 1.0, which sparked my passion for robotics. After joining my high school FIRST FRC Robotics team (FIRST FRC Team 2761), I became captivated by innovation and the engineering process for making a product. As the Engineering Team Leader of the FRC Team 2761, I really enjoyed designing, building, programming and testing robots.

Inspired by my grandfather’s suffering from Parkinson’s disease, I started Project Maverick, an omni-directional robotic mobility system for people with walking disabilities. Since then, I’ve built a fully functional prototype and worked on implementing additional features to optimize the driving capabilities of my system. This project has taken me from the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, where I got 2nd place in my category of Applied Mechanics, to The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon.

Academic Experience

As a freshman at WPI, I worked in the WPI Humanoid Robotics Lab, where we competed at the NASA Space Robotics Challenge, programming a humanoid robot designed to perform tasks on Mars.

Throughout my sophomore year, I completed my Inquiry Qualifying Project. My team and I developed an application for Poverty Stoplight, an organization that helps social workers create better-customized plans to help those in need to get out of poverty.

During my junior year at WPI, I started work on my Major Qualifying Project: SmallKat. It is a robotic quadruped that is designed to offer an inexpensive alternative to software development for researchers and developers of multipedal robots.

Personal Interests

In my spare time, I love to play sports and hang out with my friends. Among my favorite sports are tennis and ultimate frisbee, for which I played for my school’s teams. I also enjoy skiing, fishing, hiking, and camping with my family and friends.

Why This Website?

My motivation for this website is two-fold: share my knowledge, projects, and successes with everyone around the world while having a place to save my personal debugging techniques, show off some of my favorite projects, and share my passion for technology with the world! This website contains all sorts of topics, from 3D printing and mechanical engineering, to software / operating systems and artificial intelligence. I hope you find some of the information useful and entertaining!