Henry R. Drayton


Hardware & Integration Engineer
U.S. / AUS Dual Citizen

Rivan Industries - Mechanical Engineer

Imperial College London (MSc)
The Royal College of Art (MA)
Innovation Design Engineering 2026
LinkedIn, Email, Sculpture, CV

Experience
  • Developing hardware for Rivan’s calcium-looping direct air capture system across mechanical design, electronics and system integration.
  • Taking designs from CAD to the manufacturing floor through fabrication, assembly, instrumentation and rapid iteration.              
  • Designing test rigs and DoEs to characterise performance, validate hardware and inform system scale-up.
  • 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
  • Grade: Distinction
  • 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
Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX Eric Berger
The Art of Doing Science and Engineering Richard Hamming
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies Jared Diamond
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
Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike Phil Knight
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
 Robert M. Pirsig
The Lean Startup Eric Ries
Greenlights Matthew McConaughey
© Henry Drayton 2026Top