William Klassen joined Schilling Robotics in 1989 as a mechanical engineer, and has held a variety of engineering positions in our company. He was promoted to chief technologist in 1997, and now oversees the overall design and implementation of technical solutions for our manipulators, ROVs, and subsea control systems. He designs products that emphasize simplicity without sacrificing performance, and his engineering products have been used in terrestrial, subsea, and aerospace applications.

Klassen brought to Schilling more than seven years of experience in mechanical engineering, specializing in hydraulic design, structural analysis, electrical component design, and electrical packaging. This included experience as a mechanical engineer at the Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards Air Force Base, where he designed temporary modifications of flight test aircraft for test equipment installation, and packaged a data acquisition system for cruise missile flight testing.

Klassen earned his Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from California State University, Chico. He currently holds patents for a hydraulic actuator with a sealing assembly, a submersible electrical cable/connector assembly, an electric submersible thruster, and a submersible pressure container with a layered seal assembly.