Abhiram Rachamadugu

Abhiram Rachamadugu

Mechanical Engineering

Sponsorship not required — green card in process

abhiramra@gmail.com · +91 88008 26446 · +1 217 888 0449 · linkedin.com/in/rachabhi/ · github.com/abhiramra

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Education

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Aug 2023 – May 2027 (expected)
B.S. Mechanical Engineering
Urbana-Champaign, IL
GPA 3.36 / 4.00  ·  Technical GPA 3.45 / 4.00
Mallya Aditi International School
Jun 2019 – May 2023
AICE Diploma
Bengaluru, India
GPA 4.00 / 4.00

Engineering experience

Technical Founder
Jan 2025 – Present
Taiyo Aerospace Pvt Ltd
Bengaluru, India
  • Founded a startup to engineer autonomous turbine-powered UAVs for civilian search-and-rescue and emergency response.
  • Lead the end-to-end design and fabrication of a fixed-wing platform, managing the integration of micro turbojet propulsion systems.
Vice President & Fixed-Wing Lead
Jan 2024 – Present
Illini Autonomous Vehicles
Urbana-Champaign, IL
  • Founded UIUC's sole autonomous drone engineering team, directing all fixed-wing R&D initiatives.
  • Designed and fabricated a custom carbon-fiber monocoque fuselage, maximizing the payload-to-weight ratio for a large-scale UAV.
  • Developed a highly stable, tailless flying wing glider, successfully implementing self-stabilizing airfoils to optimize passive flight control.
Independent Consultant
May 2026 – Present
Aarti for Girls, Terra Viridis Consultants LLP
Hyderabad, India
  • Optimized internal operations by introducing AI-assisted workflows, leadership frameworks, and student metric tracking.
  • Migrated aartiforgirls.org from a slow JavaScript build to a fast, static Jekyll site, executing a full content redesign.
  • Developed a Python & LLM-powered classification pipeline to extract and process 10,000+ files into Excel for LEED/GRIHA certifications.
  • Created a dynamic water-balance calculator to resolve complex, multi-hundred flow networks from draw.io schematics.
New Product Initiatives Intern
Sep 2024 – Apr 2025
Ati Motors Pvt Ltd
Bengaluru, India
  • Led development of a new light-duty autonomous mobile robot (AMR) for education and warehousing customers.
  • Wrote the autonomy codebase in ROS 2 and deployed it across three units.
  • Deployed and maintained two AMRs in the field, covering the full product lifecycle through after-sales support.
  • Trained a successor and documented technical workflows before handing the project over.
Engineering Intern
May 2024 – Jul 2024
ABB India
Bengaluru, India
  • Designed several automotive assembly lines.
  • Programmed robot routines for spot-welding car bodies.
  • Maintained a large array of industrial robots on the factory floor.
Engineering Intern
Jul 2022 – Aug 2022
Machani Robotics
Bengaluru, India
  • Upgraded the 3D print farm to run engineering materials including polycarbonate and nylon.
  • Operated a 5-axis CNC mill to machine aluminium robot parts.
Research Associate
Aug 2021 – Mar 2023
VeraTatva Engineering Consultants LLP
Bengaluru, India
  • Designed a low-cost solar–biomass hybrid vegetable dryer using CFD and thermodynamic simulation.
  • Deployed 30+ units to marginal farmers in Kadapa, India with the NGO Aarti for Girls.
  • Opened a sales channel for those farmers through a partnership with Amano Foods India, a sauce and soup manufacturer.

Personal projects

Low-Cost 3D Printed Bionic Arm
Apr 2021 – Jan 2022
Bengaluru, India
  • Built several iterations of a 3D printed bionic arm at a unit cost under $200.
  • Used print-in-place (PIP) design for a fast-printing, material-efficient gauntlet requiring no assembly.
  • Trained a compact machine learning model for voice control and exposed it through an API on the arm.
Pneumatic Exoskeleton
Jul 2020
Kadapa, India
  • Built an exoskeleton from metal tubing and pneumatic cylinders capable of lifting 80 kg (180 lb).
  • Controlled actuation with an Arduino driving solenoid valves.

Leadership & community work

Initiative Lead
Aug 2020 – Present
Children for Children
Kadapa, India
  • Raised $120,000 for COVID-19 relief in Kadapa, India, and distributed food packets to 1,000 families during the second wave.
  • Launched a separate scholarship programme in 2021, awarding $150,000 to date to 1,090 children orphaned by the pandemic.
  • Continue to run the scholarship programme, managing fundraising, selection and disbursement.

Technical skills

Programming — Python (Advanced), C (Advanced), Java (Intermediate), C# (Intermediate), SQL (Intermediate)

Robotics & Autonomy — ROS 2, ABB RobotStudio, Arduino, embedded control

CAD — Fusion 360 (Advanced), SolidWorks (Advanced), CATIA (Advanced), Rhinoceros (Intermediate)

Simulation — CFD, thermodynamic modelling, DesignBuilder (Advanced), Grasshopper (Intermediate)

Fabrication — Metalwork (Advanced), thermoplastics & FDM (Advanced), woodwork (Advanced), carbon fiber layup, 5-axis CNC

Media — DaVinci Resolve (Advanced), Premiere Pro (Advanced), Final Cut Pro (Advanced), direction (Intermediate)

Publications

  • Article in the World Sustainable Energy Days (WSED) conference journal.
  • Article in Shashwat, published by GRIHA, India's building certification board.
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