Ricardo
Alonzo
Ugalde
De México a Montebello: I build hardware, and I serve my city.
I am an electrical and firmware engineer with ten years of taking hardware from schematic to production in aerospace, robotics, and ag tech. Three companies I have engineered for have been acquired. I also serve on the Montebello City Council for District 5, where I bring the same approach to streets, parks, and public safety.
Engineering work
Aircraft Power System
Lead engineer for the board that distributes, protects, and monitors power across a next-generation VTOL drone. I own the schematics, PCB layout, firmware, and integration.
- Brought the first board to life and fixed the clock, USB, and firmware faults that kept it from flying.
- Proved it flight-ready under full load.
Flight Battery Program
Took the fleet from guessing about its batteries to running on measured limits.
- Tested every flight pack and set the landing-voltage rule pilots now follow.
- Ran the cell selection that cut voltage sag 35% and added flight energy.
- Caught a charger overcharging packs and fixed it at the charger and in firmware.
- Run the vendor battery and charger program through UN 38.3 certification.
Aircraft Integration & Test
Set up how the aircraft's electronics talk to each other and how we prove it works before it flies.
- Defined the CAN-based avionics architecture and the interface document the whole program builds to.
- Wrote the system test plan and an 18-test campaign for the assembled aircraft.
- Run EMI/EMC compliance testing and moved production to automated pass/fail test.
Ground Station Controller
Led the original design of the handheld controller operators use to fly the company's flagship drone, and kept improving it in production.
- Debugged high-speed video and USB links.
- Used flight log data to solve a fleet-wide endurance loss.
Root Zone Monitoring System
Led the launch from prototype to deployed product with a team of engineers and chemists.
- Designed a nutrient dosing system that senses the root zone and adjusts automatically.
Robotic Gripper Electronics
Lead electrical engineer at Perception Robotics through its acquisition by OnRobot.
- Built motor and encoder electronics into grippers sold for Kawasaki, Fanuc, and Universal Robots arms.
- Rebuilt manufacturing and repair processes after the acquisition.
A city council site built on the record
For my 2026 District 5 race I designed, coded, and deployed the whole campaign site myself. Most campaign sites say what a candidate would like to do. I wanted one that shows what was actually done, in a form a resident can check on a phone at the door.
- Record Map: every council vote tied to a place, pinned on a street map
- Every vote: all 461 votes from the official minutes, searchable
- City Hall, live: agendas and packets pulled from the city's portal on load
- The Cluster: resident requests drawn as a star field
- Live sky: the real sky and ISS over Montebello, like this page
- Bilingual: English and Spanish on every page
| Week | Pageviews | Visitors |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2 to 9 | 2,701 | 1,493 |
| Sep 7 to 14 | 1,726 | 1,077 |
| Oct 3 to 10 | 1,723 | 968 |
58% of visits came from people typing the address, scanning a QR code, or following up after a door conversation, about three times all social media combined.
Hand-written HTML, CSS, and JavaScript with no framework or build step. Every page is one file, loads fast on old phones, and every number traces to a public record.
Montebello City Council
Councilmember
Six people applied for the open District 5 seat in January 2025, and the council appointed an engineer. I am one of five votes on the city's contracts, budget, and operations.
I work across every level of government for the city, including State Senators María Elena Durazo and Bob Archuleta, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Department of Transportation, and the San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments.
Results
- Opened a Police & Community Resource Center on the south side.
- Moved the votes that built the new Bluff Road fence, from Sycamore to past Washington.
- Got more south-side streets repaved.
- Brought park rangers back to south-side parks.
- Remodeled park restrooms.
- Started the first South Montebello Tree Lighting.
Let's talk
I am open to founding and early engineering roles, and to contract work through Electric Universe on power systems, hardware bring-up, test, and compliance.
The sky behind this page is the real sky over Montebello right now: same stars, same moon, and the ISS when it passes. It turns to day when the sun is up. I'm an aerospace engineer. I couldn't help it.