Computer Engineering · AI / ML

RISHI
VEMULAPALLI

Engineer. Builder. Developer.
Computer Engineering @ UIUC - building at the intersection of hardware, software, and machine intelligence.

View Work ↓ GitHub ↗

01

ABOUT

I'm a Computer Engineering major with a Data Science minor (AI/ML focus) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, graduating May 2027.

My work lives at the intersection of algorithms and hardware - from training neural networks to writing firmware for competition robots. I care about the full stack: the model, the system it runs on, and the physical world it touches.

Currently seeking internship opportunities in ML engineering, robotics, or systems software.

LOCATION Urbana-Champaign, IL
GRADUATION May 2027
STATUS Open to internships

Technical Skills

Python C++ Java PyTorch YOLOv8 ONNX TensorFlow OpenCV scikit-learn ROS Kalman Filter Embedded C Arduino Linux Git SQL NumPy Pandas Matplotlib ImGui libcurl

02

WORK

Featured

3D Print AI Fail Detector

Real-time failure detection combining YOLOv8 computer vision with a 1D CNN on accelerometer data. Runs on-device via ONNX runtime - 40% reduction in false positives over baseline heuristics.

YOLOv8 ONNX 1D CNN Accelerometer Python

BiLSTM COVID Tweet Classifier

PyTorch BiLSTM (851k params) classifying COVID-19 tweets. 76.8% accuracy on held-out test set with custom tokenization pipeline.

PyTorch BiLSTM NLP

F1 ML Pit Stop Analysis

Regression models over 21k+ race rows predicting lap-time delta from pit strategy variables. R²=0.32, statistical significance testing via bootstrapped CIs.

Python scikit-learn Pandas Statistics

VEX Autonomous Navigation Stack

Full C++ navigation stack: Kalman filter odometry, and Pure Pursuit path tracking. Qualified for the 2024, 2025, and 2026 VEXU World Championship.

C++ Kalman Filter Pure Pursuit Robotics

ML Fitness Tracker

Sensor fusion pipeline merging accelerometer and gyroscope streams. Real-time activity recognition using ensemble Python ML models.

Python Sensor Fusion ML Embedded

Stock Market Tracker

C++ desktop app with libcurl live data feeds and a custom ImGui candlestick chart renderer. Sub-second refresh with memory-mapped ring buffer.

C++ libcurl ImGui Systems

ESP32 Racing Dashboard

Sim racing DDU on an ESP32 WROOM + ILI9488 480×320 SPI display. Parses live SimHub telemetry at 30 Hz — rendering RPM bar, lap times, tyre temps, delta, and driver aids bare-metal in C++.

C++ ESP32 Embedded TFT_eSPI SimHub PlatformIO

03

EXPERIENCE

AUG 2025
PRESENT

Shop Attendant

The Shop · Siebel Center for Design, UIUC

Supporting fabrication and prototyping at UIUC's design and innovation hub. Assisting students and researchers with tools, equipment, and rapid-prototyping workflows.

AUG 2023
PRESENT

Programming Lead & Full-Stack Developer

Illini VEX Robotics · UIUC

Leading the software team for UIUC's competitive VEX robotics club. Architected the autonomous navigation stack (Kalman filter, Pure Pursuit) that qualified for the 2024 VEXU World Championship.

SEP 2018
PRESENT

Co-Founder, Lead Programmer & Mentor

RoboHawks Robotics Club · Jericho, NY

Co-founded and scaled a competitive robotics program from zero. Mentored students across multiple seasons in embedded programming, autonomous systems, and competition strategy.

JUN 2022
JUN 2023

Mentor

Jericho VEX Robotics Club · Jericho, NY

Previously led the team as Captain and primary programmer. Designed control software and autonomous routines. Mentored members on Java and robot kinematics.

04

CONTACT

LET'S
WORK
TOGETHER.

Open to internship opportunities in ML engineering, robotics, or systems software. Always happy to talk about interesting problems.

Open to opportunities · Summer / Fall 2026