About

A Distinguished Career Spanning Three Continents

My professional journey commenced at Sun City, South Africa, where I was commissioned to design and fabricate the mechanical structure for a 40-metre earthquake simulator bridge. In 1991 I had developed a platform capable of supporting a two-ton load on a thin film of compressed air, featured in a two-page centre spread in Personality Magazine. Mr. Sol Kerzner then engaged me to re-engineer the Bridge of Time at the Lost City, transforming it from a static structure into one that simulates an earthquake. The result was the largest hovercraft in the southern hemisphere: a 260-ton reinforced concrete platform driven by four custom-designed "Wobulators", which has now operated on a frictionless air base for thirty-three years and remains fully operational today.

From Durban, South Africa and England  to Cape Cod

I began my career as a pupil draughtsman at the Natal Drawing Office in Durban, then became assistant to the Principal Architect at Daniel Smit and Partners, working on drawings for the La Mercy Airport project. In 1975 I was conscripted into the South African Defence Force as a Sapper, trained in bridge construction, structural engineering, explosives and landmine disposal. Since then I have worked hands-on in nuclear energy, robotics, engineering design, aircraft engine assembly and the transport of uranium enrichment equipment at Pelindaba and Sellafield in the UK. I have consulted on dexterous robotic hands for laboratories and universities in the United States and Denmark. Through it all, computer engineering has been my core: deploying systems for banking, industry, automotive and fabrication clients, and today for the homes and businesses of Cape Cod. I have seen things that put a twinkle in the eye and cause the soul to wail in grief. I have lived a fantastic life. I also write as Ricardo Merlin Robertson. Visit my author page, My Friend Sebastian, and The Author's Ledger to read about my books, Confronting Dark and The Shield & the Monolith.follow the links.