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Qua’ron Pierce found his calling the moment his father first brought home his tools from his job as an electrician. Pierce’s father went back to school to learn the trade, and Pierce was fascinated by the various gadgets his father used.
Now, Pierce is taking his first steps toward a career in electrical engineering by working several days a week at Edge AI Solutions in Homestead, where he and Steel Valley classmate Gannon Haddad work on the company’s robots.
“It’s making me want to explore engineering even more,” Pierce said. “That’s something that I really enjoy doing and all the stuff they have us doing is actually pretty exciting.”
The opportunity grew organically out of Edge AI’s search for some extra help, said CEO Brandon Ingram. The company formed in 2020 and sits in a non-descript building near the corner of East 8th Avenue and Amity Street. Ingram said the company has developed tools like a sensor that helps prevent falls off aerial lifts, but is primarily focused on a portable, affordable robotic pipe inspector.
Ingram has been heavily involved in Pittsburgh’s technology industry for the last 20 years, from his start at RedZone Robotics as a 17-year-old to his later work with Uber and Argo AI. It was his work with RedZone, which had locations in the Waterfront and later in West Homestead, that introduced Ingram to the Homestead area. He bought property and a home in the borough, sat on the West Homestead Planning Commission for nearly a decade, and developed a fondness for the area.
When it came time to bring in some additional entry level help, Ingram and Edge decided to turn to Steel Valley. Ingram reached out to Tim Eads, a friend and the chief of the Homestead Volunteer Fire Department, who connected him with Steel Valley High School robotics teacher Albert Lesutis and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Coordinator Olando Dulin.
“The idea was that since they had a robotics classic and a robotics program, it’d be great if we had two interested students who would want to get the experience out of it,” Ingram said.
Pierce and Haddad began working at Edge AI just before Christmas. Pierce said he’s usually there from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday, but that they have flexibility to their schedules. Ingram noted that he’s seen both Pierce and Haddad come in on weekends to gain more experience. They’re paid $10 per hour and they’re directly involved in the company’s daily work.
“It really varies every day,” Pierce said. “When we first started, we were taking apart robots that they had built, figuring out and understanding what their robots do, how they work and all of that.”
They’ve also done some programming, coding, quality testing, and building. Ingram said Pierce has gravitated toward the electrical engineering side while Haddad has taken to the mechanical engineering tasks. Pierce, who will attend Saint Vincent College in the fall, said the work has reinforced his future plans.
“When you go to college, you usually don’t really know what you want to do – you have an idea of what you want to do, but no one really knows,” he said. “Having the opportunity to experience what you’re planning on doing is a big help in understanding what your future goals are. Especially for me, I can say that I’ve been able to do some of that work before I even got my degree.”
For Ingram and Edge AI, working with the two students has essentially been a pilot program that they’d love to develop more. Ingram has offered to give a tour to the entire robotics class, and while no plans have been firmly developed for the future, he’d like to continue the relationship to have a couple of high school students work with the company to get experience. It’s his way of paying it forward from getting an opportunity when he was a teenager, as well as addressing what he sees as a critical need for trade skills, now and in the future.
“I’m very interested to see what we can do in the future with Steel Valley,” Ingram said. “This was sort of an indirect way to show the community that we’re here and put a flag down in the ground to show we’re down for the cause to support local students.”
Pierce is grateful for the opportunity Edge AI has provided and believes it will give him a stronger foundation when he heads off to college in the fall.
“I’m just blessed to be able to have the opportunity to experience the workflow before I even have to go to college,” he said. “I can get experience, get taught by actual professionals who do this job for a living, that actually built the company up from the ground level.”
