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Ian Wilhite

Robotics & Controls Engineer

πŸ“ Fort Worth, TX

Robotics & Controls engineering student focused on autonomous UAV/AUV platforms, kinodynamic control, and perception pipelines. Building resilient field-ready robots and simulation stacks that ship.

$ ./deploy_uav_stack.sh
πŸ›°οΈ PX4 + ROS2 nodes launched...
πŸ“‘ Sensors streaming: imu | cam | lidar
πŸ€– Awaiting next mission packet...
πŸ—ƒ Source Code
β—Ž About

Robotics & Controls engineering student (Texas A&M, May 2026) focused on autonomous UAV/AUV systems, kinodynamic control, and perception pipelines. Experienced with ROS2, PX4, C++, SITL/HITL, and field deployment; FAA Part 107 pilot and CSWA.

Work Experience
Undergraduate Researcher β€” AARRG (TAMU CS) Aug 2025 – Present

Developing simulator + kinodynamic hybrid controller for AQUA2 AUV; PINN fitting of hydrodynamic parameters; authoring URS thesis.

Project Lead β€” DRON UAV Swarm (TURTLE) Jan 2024 – Present

Leading 16 engineers building sub-$2k disaster-response swarm with PX4, Raspberry Pi, OpenCV visualization, and Unity mapping.

Aerial Autonomy Intern β€” Army Research Lab Jun 2025 – Aug 2025

Deployed ROS2/PX4 autonomy stacks for wire perching; HITL/SITL V&V; optical-flow signal processing; built and piloted test UAVs.

Project Manager β€” NASA L’SPACE MCA (PHOENIX) May 2025 – Aug 2025

Directed 22-person team to PDR for Mars ice-detection rover; owned TRL/risk matrices and 500+ pages of technical documentation.

Education
B.S. Interdisciplinary Engineering (Robotics & Controls) Texas A&M β€” May 2026

Minors: Control of Mechanical Systems, Math

Coursework: Autonomous Aerospace Systems, Aerial Autonomy, Controls, Sensors, Geometric Modeling, DSA/OOP.

Certifications

FAA Part 107 sUAS Pilot

Certified SolidWorks Associate (CSWA)

Licensed Ham Operator (General)

Workspaces
TURTLE Robotics Lab β€” HEB 023 DRON Project Lead

DRON Project Lead, Internal Vice President

ASME Office β€” JCAIN 217 President

Program planning, merchandise sales, organization administration.