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Liam Reid

Liam Reid

I build things, and I fix the ones that break.

I build robots, fix things other people have given up on, and talk my way into rooms where interesting work is happening.

The whole run of it In San Diego. Open to part-time robotics and engineering work alongside college.
Liam Reid with the battlebot Vanilla Scented at BattleBots: Training Grounds
BattleBots Proving Ground · Las Vegas, 2025

Everything, in order

  1. Now

    Refurbishing a 1970s pinball machine

    Robotics & Making

    Electromechanical, not solid state — which means the logic is relays, stepper units and a lot of continuity testing. Rebuilding it as it was.

  2. 2011–now

    Docent at A Ship in the Woods

    People & Work

    A nonprofit cultural incubator for art, music and science in North County San Diego. I have been showing people around since I was five, and still help out.

  3. 2026

    Open Sauce, San Francisco — third year

    People & Work

    The big STEM/maker fair. Went 2023, 2024 and 2026; spend most of it talking to builders about how they actually made the thing.

  4. 2025

    BattleBots: Training Grounds — Las Vegas

    Robotics & Making

    Took a robot we built for fun to a real competition. Won our first fight, then blew a motor controller and rebuilt it between matches.

  5. 2025

    2E Camp — 1517 Fund, Hidden Villa

    People & Work

    A small residential camp in the Bay Area for teenage builders, run by the 1517 Fund — applied and was selected. Visits to early-stage science and hardware companies, and workshops the campers themselves teach.

  6. 2024

    Night launch — cerebral organoids to the ISS

    Science & Ideas

    Watched a night-time rocket launch carrying brain organoids up to the International Space Station.

  7. 2024

    Designer Con, Las Vegas

    People & Work

    Fourth year working the booth for San Diego artist Dave "PERSUE" Ross. Setup, teardown, crowd, sales.

  8. 2024

    UCSD Extension — Pre-College Engineering Program

    Science & Ideas

    A summer of university-level engineering coursework.

  9. 2024

    Built a theater-scale surround system for the school engineering lab

    Robotics & Making

    Self-taught sound engineering. Specced, wired, tuned and installed it. It is still in there.

  10. 2022

    The Young Entrepreneur (TYE) — San Diego

    People & Work

    Three-month entrepreneurship program. Took 3rd place with my own invention and business plan.

  11. 2021–24

    Designer Con, Anaheim

    People & Work

    Volunteered and worked conventions with PERSUE, the world-renowned San Diego artist — 2021, 2022, 2023.

  12. 2018

    Put Roger Penrose into VR

    Science & Ideas

    Flew to London and Oxford, then ran the VR setup that placed Sir Roger Penrose into a virtual space during a live event in San Francisco.

  13. Ongoing

    Science of Consciousness conference, Tucson

    Science & Ideas

    Been going since I was young. Volunteered, sat in on neuroscience and philosophy lectures, and interviewed Dr. V.S. Ramachandran.

  14. Ongoing

    Ran my high school’s engineering lab

    People & Work

    Machine upkeep, tooling, inventory and shop safety — the equipment working and accounted for whenever someone needed it.

  15. Middle school

    FIRST LEGO League — LegoLand San Diego

    Robotics & Making

    Our team was the only one in the school’s history to advance to the next stage of competition.

A few of them

Longer write-ups are coming. In the meantime, the pictures.

Liam Reid with Sir Roger Penrose
Oxford, 2018. Helped set up and operate the VR rig for a live event in San Francisco.
Liam Reid at A Ship in the Woods
A Ship in the Woods, where I have been docenting since I was a kid.
The BattleBots arena in Las Vegas
The arena at BattleBots: Training Grounds, Las Vegas, January 2025.
FIRST LEGO League competition table
The FIRST LEGO League table. Our team was the only one our school ever got past round one.
Liam Reid playing a pinball machine
Any machine I can find.
Liam Reid with Tony Hawk
Tony Hawk. Nothing to do with work — I just got lucky that day.
Liam Reid with Steve-O
Steve-O. Same story.

Outside the workshop

The other half of it — the things nobody is paying me for.

Pinball
Restoring one and playing every other one I can find. Electromechanical machines are the good ones — you can hear the logic working.
Guitar
Self-taught, same as the sound engineering, and enjoying every minute of it.
Videography
Shooting and cutting video. Useful for documenting builds, and an excuse to pay attention to how things look.
Live music
Out at shows whenever there is one worth going to. Half the reason the surround system exists.