Jerry Yao | About

Hello again!

My name is Jerry Yao. I'm a design engineer with five years of experience in designing both digital and physical products. I currently work as a Prototyping Design Engineer at the Ford Motor Company, designing I/O prototypes for autonomous vehicles.

Prior to joining Ford and Amazon Robotics, I was a researcher at the MIT Media Lab, where my research centered on designing human-machine interfaces. During my time at MIT, I also worked as a Product Design Engineer in a future mobility research group, designing the mechanical system as well as the interaction between humans and autonomous vehicles. Our team's research enabled the lab to secure an additional $300,000 in research fundings from five sponsor companies across the world.

I am very hands-on. I enjoy spending time in the machine shop and building functional prototypes (both digital & tangible) to convey my ideas with others. My biggest interest is bringing design insights into technology, building meaningful products for the users.

Find me on Email, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube (Yes, I love music and I record cover songs when I'm free 🎤🎸.)

Experience

Prototyping Design Engineer, Ford Motor Company

May 2021 – Present | Detroit MI

Accomplished two successful product launches and filed two design patents by designing user experience and prototypes for autonomous vehicles. Integrated digital design concepts into physical prototypes for presentations to senior leadership at Ford.

Experience designer, Amazon Robotics

November 2019 – May 2021 | North Reading MA

Designed and developed 3 websites and 10+ interactive eLearning courses for warehouse robotics products, resulting in a 25% increase in active users and 1000+ certified customers.

Researcher / Product Designer, MIT Media Lab

September 2017 – October 2019 | Cambridge MA

Successfully delivered a lightweight autonomous vehicle research project from concept to production. Led the efforts in UX design, industrial design, and developed over 10 human-machine interfaces (HMIs), resulting in a publication with 10+ citations.

Industrial design intern, MIT Media Lab

July – September 2015 & 2016 | Cambridge MA

Assisted with industrial design for the lab and the sponsor company on future mobility platform research. Developed a multifunctional car seat that was featured at the MIT Media Lab annual member’s event and brought to production by Denso Corporation in 2019.

Education

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

M.S. Media Arts and Sciences | 2017 – 2019

Selected courses: Design interactions (ROS), AR&VR prototyping, tangible interfaces (Python-based), etc.

National Taiwan University of Science and Technology

B.S. Industrial Design | 2012 – 2016

Selected courses: Product design, mechanical engineering, human factor engineering, industrial design, etc.

About me