Henry R. Drayton
Hardware & Integration Engineer
U.S. / AUS Dual Citizen
Imperial College London (MSc)
The Royal College of Art (MA)
Innovation Design Engineering 2026
My background spans energy infrastructure, large-scale installations, subsea robotics and production software, including several years as a software engineer at Slalom.
I hold a dual Master’s in Innovation Design Engineering from Imperial College London and the Royal College of Art, where my thesis focused on developing a remotely operated subsea robot for corrosion repair on offshore steel infrastructure.
I currently work as a Mechanical Engineer at Rivan, developing systems that produce synthetic methane from water and air.
Outside work, I’m usually surfing, sailing or in the workshop.
Skills
Prototyping & Systems
Rapid physical prototyping, electromechanical integration, hands-on hardware debug, rapid iteration, failure analysis, root-cause analysis
Electrical
Low-voltage circuits, sensor integration, motor control, cable assemblies, troubleshooting, signal processing
CAD & Documentation
OnShape, Fusion 360, SolidWorks, Blender, ZBrush, assembly procedures, Adobe Suite, Figma, FEA
Software
TypeScript, JavaScript, C++, Python, Git, React, database management, architecture, test automation
Fabrication
TIG & MIG welding, soldering, digital fabrication, material knowledge, mold making, casting, spraying, lathes, composites
Experience
- Prototyping and testing rotary kiln configurations for calcium-looping DAC system, including pressure seal design, fabrication, and thermal cycling at 900°C.
- Designing and building custom test rigs, electronics integration, and instrumentation for validating mechanical subsystems.
- Led technical delivery for installation at Kunst Haus Wien, Vienna
- Produced Blender models and technical animations
- Coordinated international suppliers and fabrication partners
- Managed QC, testing, logistics, and delivery schedules
- Supported integration of levitating mechatronic structure at Frankfurt Airport
- Designed load-rated rigging systems for 3-tonne hollowed boulders
- Applied maritime load-distribution principles to architectural installs
- Designed welding jigs and fabricated structural components for Blitzrakete
- Worked across design, fabrication, and production teams
- Developed and maintained production full-stack applications
- Wrote unit and integration tests
- Conducted peer code reviews
- Documented architecture and system changes
- Delivered client-facing systems in agile teams
Projects
Census
Ansarada
Cashrewards
RMIT
Shell
- Swathers, diggers, forklifts, bobcats
- Serviced and refit yachts — structural and mechanical systems
- Operated 18-tonne travelift
- Supervised 2–3 staff across 100+ vessel fleet
- Responded to marine emergencies
- Performed fabrication and on-site repairs
- Translated client briefs into engineered outcomes
- Designed animatronic systems for Coca-Cola TVCs
- Produced technical drawings and installation documentation
- Supported fabrication and site installation
Projects
Coca-Cola
Mecca Cosmetica
WARRRL
Barrisol
- Designed hardware for commercial drone platforms
- Developed drone skins for Surf Life Saving Australia, Sydney Trains, and Sutherland Shire Council
- Assisted development of peristaltic water-sampling system for DJI M600
Education
- Engineering Prize – Innovation Design Engineering
- Hult Prize Finalist - Selected from 18,000 entries
- WE Innovate Finalist - Selected from 170 teams
- Co-founded AI communication software startup for people with Broca's aphasia
- Imperial Robotics Society
- Mechatronics, mechanical engineering, signal processing
- Thesis: Underwater ROV for surface preparation and two-pack epoxy application on offshore wind turbine monopiles
- TIG & MIG welding, lathes, mills
- Digital fabrication & advanced materials
- Design engineering & systems prototyping
- Design research methodologies
- Languages: JavaScript, Ruby, HTML, CSS
- Front-End: React, Tailwind, Bootstrap
- Back-End: Ruby on Rails, PostgreSQL, Node.js
- Cloud: AWS
- Methodologies: Agile, Scrum, Kanban, Git
- Designed self-balancing inverted pendulum (Segway-type system)
- Closed-loop control with PID
- IMU integration & motor controllers
- MATLAB modelling & tuning
- SolidWorks, FEA, Generative Design, Fusion 360, Keyshot
- Design for manufacture
- Rapid prototyping & fabrication
Awards & Recognition
Engineering Prize
Innovation Design Engineering2026
Hult Prize – Finalist
Selected from 18,000 entries2026
WE Innovate – Finalist
Selected from 170 entries2025
Paris Design Week - Maison & Objet
Espace Commines2026
Royal Designers for Industry – Summer Residency
2025
ArtEvol Saatchi Gallery - Finalist
2025
Primitive Medium
Apple TV2024
Primitive Medium – Broadcast
SBS2024
AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
2022
International Wilderness Medical First Responder
2018
Social Impact
Humanity First Award
Slalom Build2024
Nominated from 10,000+ employees globally
OzHarvest – Global Food Drive
2022
Raised $10k for Slalom's annual Global Food Drive
Clean Up Australia
2022 – 2023
Led Slalom's corporate clean-up effort in Redfern Park
Planet Ark Environmental Foundation
2022 – 2023
Led Slalom's tree-planting program for Woollahra Council
What I’ve Read This Year
The Art of Doing Science and Engineering
Richard Hamming
The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail-but Some Don't
Nate Silver
Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World
David Epstein
Think Like a Rocket Scientist: Simple Strategies for Giant Leaps in Work and Life
Ozan Varol
Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years at Lockheed
Ben R. Rich, Leo Janos
Think Like a Rocket Scientist
Ozan Varol
What I Talk About When I Talk About Running
Haruki Murakami
Every Tool's a Hammer: Life Is What You Make It
Adam Savage
The World According to Colour: A Cultural History
James Fox
Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI
Yuval Noah Harari
Yuval Noah Harari
Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike
Phil Knight
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Robert M. Pirsig
Robert M. Pirsig
The Lean Startup
Eric Ries
Greenlights
Matthew McConaughey
Frankfurt Airport
Studio Julius von Bismarck
July - September 2025
Berlin
The First, the Last, Eternity - Studio Julius von Bismarck, Frankfurt Airport Terminal 3 (2025)
Assembled and tested three large-scale levitating torus-shaped kinetic sculptures destined for the terminal hall of Frankfurt Airport's new Terminal 3. Each torus features a continuously rotating aluminium disc surface engineered to slowly invert, turning inside out through an internal mechatronic drive system. Work involved mechanical assembly of the rotating surface components, functional testing of the drive mechanisms, and quality checking prior to shipment and final installation on site.
Assembled and tested three large-scale levitating torus-shaped kinetic sculptures destined for the terminal hall of Frankfurt Airport's new Terminal 3. Each torus features a continuously rotating aluminium disc surface engineered to slowly invert, turning inside out through an internal mechatronic drive system. Work involved mechanical assembly of the rotating surface components, functional testing of the drive mechanisms, and quality checking prior to shipment and final installation on site.
Imperial College London - Thesis Project
London
2026
PROTEUS is my Master's thesis project. An ROV-deployable intervention tool for corrosion detection, surface preparation and protective coating application on offshore steel structures including monopiles, pipelines and platform legs. Currently iterating on the first land-based proof of concept from lessons learned. The system targets a $12B offshore corrosion protection market where the primary repair method is still a diver with a grinder and a bucket of epoxy.
Technical: 5mm geared steel gantry test rig with corten steel pipe section at representative scale. Four independent motor axes: grinder positioning, grinder spin, painting drum, and corrosion detection traverse. Geared DC torque motors to drive ring rack with worm gear high-speed motor for grinding drum with abrasive flap disc. Custom airless surface-fed two-pack epoxy roller coating drum. Operator interface for controlling the robot. Swerve module wheels for omnidirectional traverse, suspension locking system for surface conformity on curved steel, and position mapping for automated treatment zone targeting.
Technical: 5mm geared steel gantry test rig with corten steel pipe section at representative scale. Four independent motor axes: grinder positioning, grinder spin, painting drum, and corrosion detection traverse. Geared DC torque motors to drive ring rack with worm gear high-speed motor for grinding drum with abrasive flap disc. Custom airless surface-fed two-pack epoxy roller coating drum. Operator interface for controlling the robot. Swerve module wheels for omnidirectional traverse, suspension locking system for surface conformity on curved steel, and position mapping for automated treatment zone targeting.
Chrysalis Machine
Personal
Sound Design: Tom Davies
2025
Electromechanical kinetic sculpture. Designed, fabricated, and integrated a motor-driven mechanism system that produces organic movement with PLA external shell and internal mechanisms. A silicone membrane inflates to resemble breathing through dual air pumps. Handled the full electrical and mechanical build from CAD through to finished piece.
Technical:
Crankshaft linkage for abdomen movement. Articulated tail with pulley mechanism. MOSFET-driven air pumps for silicone air sack inflation. Arduino motor control with A4988 motor controllers , coded with C++ with randomised organic movement loop. Torque motor selection and tuning. Nema 17 stepper tuning for sound design. Stainless steel laser cutting and TIG welding. 240V to 12V step-down power supply with earthing, PAT testing, and voltage regulation. Thermal management with fans and heatsinks. 2-pack epoxy paint and filler finish. Full electrical wiring and integration.
Technical:
Crankshaft linkage for abdomen movement. Articulated tail with pulley mechanism. MOSFET-driven air pumps for silicone air sack inflation. Arduino motor control with A4988 motor controllers , coded with C++ with randomised organic movement loop. Torque motor selection and tuning. Nema 17 stepper tuning for sound design. Stainless steel laser cutting and TIG welding. 240V to 12V step-down power supply with earthing, PAT testing, and voltage regulation. Thermal management with fans and heatsinks. 2-pack epoxy paint and filler finish. Full electrical wiring and integration.
Red Bull Soapbox Race
Personal
London
2026
2026
Working within constraints like an 80kg weight limit, brakes independent of steering, and padding wherever necessary, designing and building Benry took serious problem-solving and resilience. We had the cart loaded onto a truck just an hour after presenting our final Master's theses.
Picture: Ben & Henry getting hyped up in the studio.
Team: Henry Drayton, Ben Cooper, Jacob Adams, Duy Huynh
Lexi
Imperial College London
London
2025
2025
Lexi is a communication support app for adults living with aphasia, most commonly caused by stroke. One in three stroke survivors develops aphasia, they know exactly what they want to say, but speaking, writing, or texting becomes incredibly difficult. Many withdraw from conversation altogether, not because they have nothing to say, but because existing tools make interaction slow, effortful, or clinical.
Lexi takes a different approach. It listens to the conversation partner and surfaces a small set of contextual replies in real time, supporting more fluid, everyday exchanges. Early testing shows communication speed improvements from around 10 words per minute to 75.
Built with React, TypeScript, Python, and OpenAI, deployed on Vercel with a Tailwind interface.
The project has been shaped through ongoing co-design with people living with aphasia, stroke survivors, and speech and language therapists. Lexi was selected for the WE Innovate 2026 cohort at the Imperial Enterprise Lab and the Hult Prize 2026 Accelerator, chosen from over 18,000 entries.
Co-founded with Nefeli Vitoraki and Ioannis Papidakis.
Lexi takes a different approach. It listens to the conversation partner and surfaces a small set of contextual replies in real time, supporting more fluid, everyday exchanges. Early testing shows communication speed improvements from around 10 words per minute to 75.
Built with React, TypeScript, Python, and OpenAI, deployed on Vercel with a Tailwind interface.
The project has been shaped through ongoing co-design with people living with aphasia, stroke survivors, and speech and language therapists. Lexi was selected for the WE Innovate 2026 cohort at the Imperial Enterprise Lab and the Hult Prize 2026 Accelerator, chosen from over 18,000 entries.
Co-founded with Nefeli Vitoraki and Ioannis Papidakis.
Coca Cola - Barista Bros
BKI
Sydney
2020
Animatronic Catfish
Designed and built the animatronic catfish character for Coca-Cola South Pacific's Barista Bros national TVC campaign, produced through BMF.
The build involved full animatronic construction from the ground up: mould making for the catfish forms, embedding mechanical components within a cast silicone shell, and rigging radio-controlled servo systems to drive facial movement. Eye control was achieved through a repurposed bicycle brake mechanism, a practical, low-profile solution that gave the puppeteer precise, responsive control on set. A wet vacuum system was integrated to manage iced coffee ingestion during takes, and a dedicated cooling system was built into the suit to keep the puppeteer comfortable under set conditions. Finishing included airbrushing for realistic skin texture and colour.
The campaign ran across TV, cinema, online video, social, out-of-home, and in-store as part of a multi-million dollar media investment.
Designed and built the animatronic catfish character for Coca-Cola South Pacific's Barista Bros national TVC campaign, produced through BMF.
The build involved full animatronic construction from the ground up: mould making for the catfish forms, embedding mechanical components within a cast silicone shell, and rigging radio-controlled servo systems to drive facial movement. Eye control was achieved through a repurposed bicycle brake mechanism, a practical, low-profile solution that gave the puppeteer precise, responsive control on set. A wet vacuum system was integrated to manage iced coffee ingestion during takes, and a dedicated cooling system was built into the suit to keep the puppeteer comfortable under set conditions. Finishing included airbrushing for realistic skin texture and colour.
The campaign ran across TV, cinema, online video, social, out-of-home, and in-store as part of a multi-million dollar media investment.