Addison Hammer
Executive Summary
Hands-on technical leader and systems architect with 13+ years specializing in hyperscale datacenter robotics, manufacturing automation and machine vision, and distributed edge fleet infrastructure. Former Google Senior Staff / Area Lead with 20+ years total engineering experience spanning physical AI, robotic manipulation, datacenter thermal and mechanical constraints, trustless machine-vision verification, and zero-trust firmware deployments. Track record directing $20M+ annual CapEx/OpEx engineering programs, leading 35+ person multi-disciplinary engineering organizations, advising robotics ventures, and deploying autonomous systems across live global datacenter footprints.
Core Competencies & Technical Arsenal
Datacenter Facilities, Operations & Robotics
Physical AI & Autonomous Robotics
Edge & Embedded Systems
Hands-On Leadership & Fleet Systems
Professional Experience
- Advise datacenter operators, robotics startups, and venture funds on physical AI architecture, high-density AI cluster servicing constraints, edge compute integration (NVIDIA Jetson, ROS 2), and 0-to-1 engineering roadmaps.
- Design and prototype production-grade edge hardware/software MVPs, reducing client development cycles by 40%.
- Perform comprehensive technical due diligence, codebase evaluations, and architectural feasibility audits for seed and Series A investment syndicates.
- Defined the multi-year technical roadmap for global datacenter robotics, directing $20M+ annual CapEx/OpEx and leading a 35+ person cross-functional organization of software and robotics hardware engineers.
- Represented Google within the Open Compute Project (OCP) Datacenter Facilities working group; led 'Design for Robotics' technical sessions in collaboration with Meta and Microsoft.
- Directed Google's Robotics Startup Outreach & Partnership Program; sourced emerging hardware/software ventures, managed strategic vendor allocations, and negotiated production pilots inside live datacenters.
- Architected and deployed an enterprise fleet management and telemetry platform (Golang, Python, GCP, Pub/Sub, Kubernetes) orchestrating 700+ autonomous edge devices globally with zero-trust OTA deployment pipelines.
- Patented and deployed a trustless machine-vision verification system achieving 99.999% reliability, enforcing automated data-handling compliance and generating auditable logs across 27% of Google's global enterprise media operations.
- Architected the software integration and fleet management system for Google's robotic hard disk lifecycle automation program.
- Instructed and mentored 75+ engineers across the global organization on scalable software standards via 1,400+ technical code reviews.
- Pioneered the initial datacenter automation roadmap, directing early cross-functional engineering teams in deploying automated disk erasure and physical hardware servicing platforms across global facilities.
- Eliminated high-risk manual procedures with auditable automated workflows, achieving multi-million-dollar labor and compliance savings.
Venture & Advisory Leadership
- Built the 0-to-1 technology architecture for an AI-driven venture due diligence platform; delivered investor pitches and participated in capital syndication rounds.
- Architected automated LLM data-extraction pipelines processing 500+ monthly startup evaluations, compressing diligence workflows by 65%.
- Directed a distributed team of 6 engineers across backend infrastructure, cloud APIs, and security compliance.
- Directed technical architecture for a smart marine IoT platform; supported founders in investor presentations, fundraising strategy, and technical due diligence defense.
- Supervised embedded C/C++ firmware, sensor fusion pipelines, and mobile edge interfaces, successfully transitioning hardware from prototype to production deployment.
- Advised core founders on technical risk mitigation, roadmap prioritization, and pilot deployments.
- Evaluate early-stage deep-tech, robotics, and SaaS startup investment pitches, advising syndicate members on technical feasibility, engineering risk, and IP defensibility.
Founding & Early Career Experience
- Aegisound, LLC | Head of Engineering (Employee #2) (2006 – 2011) — Bootstrapped engineering operations for an early-stage defense hardware startup; architected automated acoustic test cells, implemented ERP infrastructure, and built quality systems compliant with SBIR and U.S. Air Force contract mandates.
- Robert Bosch GmbH | Automation / Maintenance Engineer (2012 – 2013) — Managed cycle uptime and industrial robotics across 100+ automated assembly stations.
- Quadrant EPP | Manufacturing Engineering Manager (2011 – 2012) — Managed plant-wide automation and manufacturing engineering.
Granted Patents
Trustless Machine-Vision Automated Compliance and Media Verification Systems
Invented high-reliability optical verification architecture providing cryptographic audit trails and automated data-handling compliance for mission-critical hyperscale infrastructure.
Autonomous Robotic Systems and Methods for Datacenter Media Servicing and Lifecycle Operations
Invented robotic end-effectors, precision kinematics, and autonomous handling systems for automated server media servicing across global datacenter footprints.
Education & Academic Credentials
Johns Hopkins University
Focus: Robotics & Control Systems
Virginia Tech
Minor: Business Management (30+ Additional Credits)
Active Work & Technical Demos
Autonomous Hard Drive Servicing & Fleet Management
Autonomous robotic platform replacing failed datacenter hard drives directly from floor-staged kits. Architected the software and telemetry platform orchestrating the global robot fleet, including cryptographic media verification and automated data-handling compliance.
Autonomous Edge Vision & Spatial SLAM Pipeline
Low-latency edge inference runtime executing spatial SLAM, real-time vision-language models, and sub-50ms obstacle pose estimation for ruggedized autonomous mobile manipulators.