About

Welcome to my GitHub Pages! My name is Rishi Vemulapalli, a sophomore at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. I am pursuing a B.S. in Computer Engineering and a Data Science Minor with a focus in Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Robotics. I co-founded a FIRST Tech Challenge team and a non-profit organization to promote STEM education among young learners. Currently, as a Programming Lead for Illini VEX Robotics, I lead the team to develop cutting-edge autonomous navigation algorithms. I am highly passionate about AI and ML, and I am actively seeking research and internship opportunities to further advance my skills and knowledge in these fields.

📚 Education

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Grainger College of Engineering

Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering

Concentrations: Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, and Cybernetics
Relevant Coursework: Analog Signal Processing, Data Structures & Algorithms, Game Development, Discrete Structures, Computer Systems & Programming, Intro to Electronics, Intro to Computing.
Prospective Coursework: Database Systems, Introduction to Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Computer Systems Engineering, Control Systems, Machine Learning, Robot Dynamics and Control, Applied Machine Learning.

💼 Experience

Illini VEX Robotics

Programming Team Lead (Aug 2023 – Present)

Designed and implemented robot localization and path planning algorithms for highly reliable autonomous navigation.
Drove a 20% increase in total process efficiency through parallel processing and organizational coding enhancements.
Competed at 2024 VEXU World Championship by qualification in Skills ranking, surpassing the top 30% globally.

Full-Stack Developer (Aug 2024 – Present)

Developing a responsive, professional website to increase team visibility and attract corporate sponsorships.
Implementing intuitive front-end features for smooth navigation, accessibility, and cross-device compatibility.
Optimizing scalable back-end infrastructure for efficient content management, enabling seamless data integration.

🚀 Current Projects

Stock Market Tracker

Software Developer (Dec 2024 – Present)

Built tracker system using libcurl for web scraping, CSV parsing, and SSL integration to securely retrieve internet data.
Developed an intuitive GUI, allowing users to select stocks, set date ranges, and view custom candlestick charts.
Enhanced reliability by utilizing Docker for consistent development and extending GUI for data visualization.

ML Fitness Tracker

Software Developer (Aug 2024 – Present)

Developing real-time activity recognition through processing and visualizing sensor data with Python and Matplotlib.
Implementing machine learning models to predict user activities and accurately track exercise repetitions.
Enhancing software accuracy by detecting outliers, applying signal filtering, and utilizing dimensionality reduction.

Jarvis AI Assistant

Software Developer (Dec 2023 – Dec 2024)

Developing efficient architecture to ensure system scalability and adaptability with emerging GPT advancements.
Engineering a responsive system for natural voice interactions with lifelike responses via GPT API and Google TTS.
Enabling internet access for up-to-date information retrieval through DuckDuckGo API for relevant user queries.

🌱 Leadership and Community Involvement

RoboHawks Robotics Club Inc.

Co-Founder, Captain, Lead Programmer, Mentor (Sep 2018 – Present)

Co-founded non-profit and FIRST Tech Challenge team, driving community engagement in STEM education.
Led all aspects of robot design, including mechanical, electrical, and programming, ensuring sustained success.
Leveraged TensorFlow for computer vision and object recognition, enhancing robot autonomy and performance.

Jericho VEX Robotics Club

Captain, Lead Programmer (June 2022 – June 2023)

Competed at the 2023 VEX Robotics World Championship, demonstrating technical expertise and strategic leadership.
Integrated advanced control systems, including PID controllers, Odometry localization, and Pure Pursuit path planning.
Led team to success with effective project planning, task delegation, team coordination, and fostering collaboration.

🛠 Skills

Languages: Java, Python, C/C++, C#, HTML/CSS, JavaScript, Swift
Frameworks & Libraries: OpenCV, TensorFlow, PyTorch
Tools: Visual Studio Code, Android Studio, Eclipse, Jupyter Notebooks, Git/Github, Ubuntu/Linux, MATLAB, Unreal Engine, Unity Engine, Autodesk Fusion 360.