Steve Rogers
Hello, welcome!
A note about me: I hope you see me as an experienced technologist and versatile inventor with a passion for creating and enabling intelligent machines to interact with our human world. I am educated and trained as a physicist, engineer, programmer, electronics designer, team builder and leader. I have been paid to design and/or work with robotics, aircraft systems, specialized audio/video servers, image recognition, precision sensors, artificial intelligence/inference engines, user interface/user experience design, RF communications systems and networking. I have over 55 issued U.S. patents and many more pending. I play basketball, cook, love my family and have fun in everything I do. Please continue below to find out much more …….
Vice President of Engineering (2/2020 to Present)
Snap-On Equipment, Conway, AR (Division of Snap-on, Inc)
Products: Automotive wheel alignment, collision repair, wheel balancing, tire changer, automotive lifts, brake lathe, refrigerant recovery, etc.
Responsible for global Research and Product Development with a strong multidisciplinary engineering team of Hardware, Software, Mechanical, Systems and Algorithm engineers across seven countries. Product development responsibility for Wheel Alignment (passenger vehicle and heavy-duty truck), Advanced Driver Assist Systems (ADAS) Calibrations, Collision Repair, Tire Tread Measurement, Wheel Balancing, Tire Changers and Test Lanes. Highly focused on maintaining an excellent connection with our primary customers; Automotive OEMs, garage owners and service technicians. Experienced leader in Value Analysis and Continuous Improvement as well as Agile and Concurrent Development processes. Introduced product innovations in user interface architecture, camera based measurement analytics (live and remote), cloud connectivity, server based data mining, management dashboards, mobile applications , “over-the-air” software/data updates as well as product implementations of ML/AI applications. .
Director of Engineering (1/11 to 2/20)
Snap-On Equipment, Conway, AR
Responsible for worldwide Research and Product Development of Snap-on’s Critical Measuring products including Wheel Alignment and Collision Repair product lines. Directed and coordinated a large diverse team of engineers in five countries. Key member of Division staff and quarterly business status review team.
Electronics and Research Engineering Manager (8/03 to 1/11)
Snap-On Equipment, Conway, AR
Directed staff of highly skilled hardware/firmware design engineers. Selected and directed the design of alignment, collision repair and tool storage products worldwide. Personally worked as lead electronics research and design engineer on all major projects. Advised Snap-on Group President on technology issues and assisted in evaluating companies for potential acquisition by Snap-on.
Vice President Product Development; (11/02 to 8/03)
InTheAirNet, Irvine, CA
Products: Custom in-flight entertainment, Airborne Satellite TV, mobile data communications and streaming media servers for commercial and business aircraft.
Directed a staff of highly innovative engineers. Overall project management of simultaneous multi-million dollar product design and development projects in the demanding aircraft industry. Customers included Airbus, Boeing, Delta Airlines, Panasonic, Thales, etc. Responsibilities also included sales and marketing responsibility for an airborne server product family, implementing new Engineering Department processes with the goal to achieve ISO/AS certification within one year and implementing common components, documents, and processes across multiple companies within corporate group.
Vice President Sales and Marketing; (8/01 to 11/02)
Audio International, Division of DeCrane Aircraft (Unitied Technologies) N. Little Rock AR
Products: Custom in-flight entertainment and cabin management system for private and business aircraft.
Directed Sales, Marketing, System Engineering, Product Management and Technical Publication departments with responsibility for $25M+ in revenue.
- Developed first ever Ethernet streaming entertainment system.
- Established sales plan by customer and by product line.
- Revamped advertising and marketing plans to target new sales plan.
- Established Product Council to prioritize Engineering resources.
- Managed System Engineering; established standard product offerings.
- Responsible for negotiating several multi-million dollar contracts.
- Utilized contract R&D groups to accelerate development of products.
- Established key high-level relationships with customers and suppliers.
Vice President of Engineering; (2/99 to 8/01)
Audio International, Division of DeCrane Aircraft (Unitied Technologies), N. Little Rock AR
Responsible for 50+ Electrical, Mechanical, Software Engineers and $7M+ budget. Products developed include:
- High-end audio/video equipment including on demand systems.
- Custom cabin management system with touch screen controls.
- Custom in-flight office LAN with Internet access.
- Innovative MPEG-2 Audio/Video distribution system based on TCP/IP.
- Established procedures leading to ISO-9000 certification.
- Key change agent in migrating to an E-business type business model.
- Established design reviews, cost accounting, design for manufacturing and more stringent design standards.
Chief Electronics Engineer & Sr. Staff Engineer; (1/94 to 2/99)
John Bean Company, Division of Snap-On Tools Inc. (Previously FMC), Conway, AR
Products: Computerized automotive suspension alignment and diagnostic systems, computerized tire balancing machines, and other non-electronic garage equipment.
Responsible for all electronic technical content of John Bean shop equipment and managed international team of Software Engineers for the Worldwide Snap-On UnderCar Group.
- Set design standards and methodologies of all Electrical Engineers.
- Established abstracted development methodologies for Software Eng.
- Developed Snap-On Integration Standards for shop connectivity.
- High profile technical contact for international customer accounts.
- Patented new Web based software technologies and techniques.
- Key member of corporate E-business team. Named to Information Week's first-ever E-Business 100 as an innovative leader
Sr. Project Engineer (5/86 to 1/94)
John Bean Company, Conway, AR
Senior Design Engineer- Computer Aid Manufacturing, (6/81 to 5/86)
Motorola, Fort Worth, TX
Bachelor of Science; Major-Physics, Minors-Math & Computer Science. Masters of Science; Applied Mathematics (In process)
Resume (PDF)
U.S. Patent # Patent Title
1. 5,054,918 Light System for Measurement of Orientation and Physical Features of a Workpiece
2. 5,103,595 Apparatus and Method for Reducing Vibration Characteristics in a Wheel Rim and Tire Assembly
3. 5,109,715 Location Designator for Wheel Service Machines
4. 5,201,224 Apparatus and Method for Sensing Unbalance Force and Location through Frequency Modulation
5. 5,208,646 Wheel Alignment System
6. 5,220,399 Wide Angle Wheel Alignment System
7. 5,307,279 Self Diagnostic Wheel Balancer
8. 5,385,045 Tire Changing and Balancing Machine
9. 5,592,383 Wheel Aligner Cordless Communications Unit
10. 5,602,733 Automotive Service Equipment Expert System
11. 5,734,569 Computer interface board for electronic automotive vehicle service equipment
12. 5,999,867 Computer interface board for electronic automotive vehicle service equipment
13. 6,085,428 Hands free automotive service system
14. 6,282,469 Computerized automotive service equipment using multipoint serial link data transmission protocols
15. 6,285,932 Computerized automotive service system (Internet connected)
16. 6,405,111 System and method for distributed computer automotive service equipment
17. 6,560,516 Method for conducting vehicle diagnostic analyses using distributed structure
18. 6,564,128 System and method for distributed computer automotive service equipment
19. 6,826,532 Hands free automotive service system
20. 6,859,699 Network-based method and system for distributing data
21. 7,307,737 Three-dimensional (3D) measuring with multiple reference frames
22. 7,313,869 Vehicle wheel alignment system and methodology
23. 7,369,222 Wheel Aligner Measurement Module Attachment System
24. 7,458,165 Vehicle wheel alignment system and methodology
25. 7,581,324 Wheel Alignment System Using Smart MEMS
26. 7,684,026 Fault tolerant wheel alignment head and system
27. 7,703,213 Vehicle wheel alignment system and methodology
28. 7,855,783 Improved integrated Circuit Image Sensor for Wheel Alignment Systems
29. 7,917,259 Distributed Vehicle Service Method and System
30. 7,937,844 Vehicle wheel alignment system and methodology
31. 8,032,279 Wheel alignment head and system with advanced power management
32. 8,073,586 Wireless network and methodology for automotive service systems
33. 8,353,456 Image-based inventory control system
34. 8,452,484 Wireless network and methodology for automotive service
35. 8,539,684 Vehicle wheel alignment system and methodology
36. 8,693,286 Position measurement for collision repair systems
37. 8,904,654 Vehicle wheel alignment system and methodology
38. 9,122,999 Image-based inventory control system
39. 9,577,866 Distributed vehicle service method and system
40. 9,587,934 Vehicle wheel alignment system and methodology
41. 9,626,559 Target marking for secure logo validation process
42. D782524 Display panel or portion thereof with animated graphical user interface
43. D782525 Display panel or portion thereof with animated graphical user interface
44. D783044 Display panel or portion thereof with animated graphical user interface
45. D783669 Display panel or portion thereof with animated graphical user interface
46. 10,072,926 Wheel aligner with advances diagnostic and no-stop positioning
47. 10,284,777 Self-calibrating multi-camera alignment system
48. 10,347,006 Vehicle wheel alignment methods and systems
49. 10,371,509 Wheel Aligner with advanced diagnostics and no-stop positioning
50. 10,473,458 Self-Calibrating Wheel Aligner with improved portability
51. 10,508,907 Wheel Aligner with advanced diagnostics and no-stop positioning
52. 10,567,650 Control system for a self-calibrating multi-camera alignment system
53. 10,670,392 Wheel aligner with advanced diagnostics and no-stop positioning
54. 10,692,241 Vehicle wheel alignment methods and systems
55. 11,073,381 Self-calibrating wheel aligner with improved portablity
56. 11,408,732 Wheel aligner with advanced diagnostics and no-stop positioning
57. 11,698,250 Wheel aligner with improved accuracy and no-stop positioning, using drive direction calculations