About The Inventor – Randal L. Hoyt

My name is Randal L. Hoyt (Randy). I grew up on a family farm during the 1960’s & 70’s. I am the eldest and only son of Glenroy (deceased) and Anita Hoyt. I have 3 younger sisters, with my youngest sister born severely disabled. My parents took care of her for 35 years in-home and she was moved to an Independent Supervised Living Home in 2003 due to my parent’s age and health.

I grew up doing the typical farm chores until the age of 9, when my parents broke away from farming with my father’s brothers and father. My father could build and repair almost anything, so I began to take on more responsibilities at 9 years old with my father, as did my 2 healthy sisters with my mother. At 9, I started driving a tractor and handing tools to my father as he repaired farm equipment.

I have always been a complex thinker and multi-tasker, so I watched diligently how tractors and implements were repaired. As I got old, my responsibilities increased, and my father mentored me on how to repair equipment also. At the age of 17, I even rebuilt a 1969 Camaro SS into a street racing car.

I graduated high school as valedictorian of 43 students in 1977 and went to the University of Missouri – Rolla (UMR) majoring in mechanical engineering. I was a resident assistant of a dorm and entered the Co-op student program at the John Deere Harvester Works (JDHW) in 1979, alternating semesters working at JDHW and UMR, to help pay for college costs.

I graduated magna cum laude from UMR in 1981 with a BS in Mechanical Engineering and went to work fulltime at JDHW in 1982.

I was married and have 2 married adult children who still live in the Quad-City area in Moline, IL and Bettendorf, IA with a 10-year-old grandson and another grandbaby on the way.

At JDHW, I installed and programmed the 1st production ready “Concave Robot” with hydraulic tooling which was featured in the 1984 Deere & Co. annual report. Throughout the next 21 years at JDHW I worked in robotic programming and installation, bought and built millions of dollars of robotic and manufacturing weld tooling, design for manufacturing working with product designers, supervision of new department installations, departmental supervision, and many other areas as needed.

After 25+ years at JDHW, I moved to the Waterloo Tractor Factory working as an engineer and supervisor for a new product introduction, and in 2006 transferred to the John Deere Ottumwa Works as a departmental supervisor until 2007 when severe hip and back issues developed which resulted in my having to retire disabled in 2009 after 30 years with John Deere.

From 2007 to 2014, I was practically bed-ridden due to misdiagnosis of my spinal and hip issues, resulting in multiple surgeries on my hips and spine. Finally, a good spinal orthopedic and great physical therapist was able to help me regain my ability to walk. To this day, I still suffer with tremendous spinal pain due to severe spinal deterioration and arthritis.