Portfolio

Salt Lake City, Utah
Email: pordipatrik@gmail.com
Phone: +1 (240) 714-0679 | +36 (30) 643-6565
LinkedIn | GitHub | YouTube

About Me

I am a Robotics and UAV engineer from Hungary, who is passionate about autonomous systems, computer vision, stochastic control and embedded development, lately I am getting involved with physical AI.
Currently, during my Fulbright scholarship I work at ARK Electronics in Salt Lake City, where I develop ROS2 tutorials, PX4 flight modes, and embedded drivers for UAV systems, moreover I focus on hardware and software integration with the Jetson and Pi platform.

My background combines robotics research, engineering, and teaching—ranging from drone swarms and CNC cyber-physical systems to guiding students in ROS2 programming.

Outside of engineering, I enjoy traveling, hiking, snowboarding, climbing and photography.

Work Experience

Robotics & Drone Engineer – ARK Electronics, USA (Jun 2024 – Present)

Delivered ROS2 tutorials on custom PX4 flight modes & Computer Vision applications, presented and held a workshop at ROSCon 2024 and 2025, respectively.
Engineered GPS/IMU drivers, integrated PX4 on NVIDIA Jetson and Raspberry Pi platforms, and implemented encrypted logging for secure flight data.
Performed systematic flight testing, contributed to drone design and diagnostics, and provided mentorship and technical guidance to interns.
Brought extensive hardware expertise, including soldering, board-level troubleshooting, and seamless integration of third-party modules across embedded and autonomous systems.

Teaching Assistant – Robot Programming – University of Maryland, USA (Aug 2023 – Jun 2024)

Assisted professors with class material preparation, assignments, projects, and grading for both undergraduate and graduate students.
Led Python/C++ ROS2 labs, teaching basic and advanced ROS concepts using both simulation and real TurtleBots.
Organized and guided a TurtleBot maze competition for both graduate and undergraduate students.

UAV Engineer – Aviant AS, Norway (Jun 2023 – Aug 2023)

Conducted big data analytics on flight logs to identify shortcomings and to improve delivery accuracy.
Implemented and tested RTK GPS configurations on the drones.
Developed a vision-based system for winch deliveries to increase safety and delivery accuracy.

Electrical Engineer – Evosoft (Siemens), Hungary (Jul 2020 – Aug 2021)

Designed a CNC cyber-physical system with OPC UA.
Developed test environments and programmed Siemens PLC drive systems.

Education

M.Eng. Robotics – University of Maryland, USA (2024) – GPA: 3.89/4.0
- Focus: Autonomous Robotics
- Projects: Stochastic control of drones, Decentralized drone swarms, Ball catching with autonomous drone using Vicon and EKF, 3D vision and SLAM.
M.Sc. Mechatronics Engineering – Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Hungary (2023) – GPA: 4.51/5.0
- Thesis: RMS & Industry 4.0 integration in CNC manufacturing
B.Sc. Mechatronics Engineering – Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Hungary (2023) – GPA: 4.48/5.0
- Thesis: CNC lathe digital twin simulation with Siemens tools
Exchange Studies: Arctic University of Norway(2022), KIT Germany(2020), UTS Australia(2022, online)

Skills

Programming: C, C++, Python, MATLAB, PLC
Frameworks/Tools: ROS2, PX4, ArduPilot, Betaflight, Git, Linux CLI, OpenCV, PyTorch3D
Modeling/Simulation: Gazebo, SolidWorks, Simulink, Visual Components, Siemens Software
Expertise: Autonomous Systems, UAVs, Stochastic Control, Distributed Swarms, Digital Twins, Computer & 3D Vision, Machine Learning

Scholarships & Honors

Co-hosted Hands-On Aerial Robotics Using PX4 and ROS 2 Workshop – ROSCon 2025, Singapore (Oct 2025)
Organized and presented on the first ever PX4 ROS2 Workshop
Lightning Talk Speaker – ROSCon 2024, Odense, Denmark (Oct 2024)
Presented on using ROS 2 and PX4 for developing custom flight modes.
Winner of Travel Grant – IEEE Robotic Standardization Efforts (SPIRSE), IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (Mar 2024)
Supported participation in IEEE ICRA 2024 (Yokohama, Japan) to engage in robotics standardization initiatives.
Fulbright Scholar Award – Master’s Studies in the United States (2022-2024)
Rosztoczy Foundation Scholarship Program – Hungarian Scholarship for studies in the United States (2023)
Hungarian American Coalition Dr. Elemér and Éva Kiss Scholarship (2022, 2023)
Second Place – Hungarian National Round of the Conference of Student Research (2023)
Presented a paper on STEP file-based automatic production time estimation
First Place – Conference of Student Research at BME (2022)
Qualified for the National Student Research Conference with a paper on STEP file-based automatic production time estimation
Professional Scholarship – For Exceptional Members of the BME German Bilingual Class (2021)
BME Study & Sport Scholarship (2019)
Outstanding Achievements – Hungarian Handball Championships (2015-2020)
Third Place – Hungarian University-College National Handball Championship (2020)

Volunteering & Extracurricular Activities

PX4 ROS2 Maintainer – Dronecode Foundation, USA (Oct 2025 – Present)
- Developed material for ROSCon, Hands-On Aerial Robotics Using PX4 and ROS 2 Workshop.
- Working on maintaining and developing the ROS2 & PX4 integration.
Best Friends Animal Society – Volunteer (Salt Lake City, United States, 2024–Present)
IEEE RAS Working Group – IEEE P2817™ Verification of Autonomous Systems – Member (2024–Present)
- Contributing to standards of Verification of Autonomous Systems.
- Participated in working group conference at ICRA 2024 in Japan.
Competing Team Member – NIST First Responder UAS 3D Mapping Challenge (Maryland, United States, Sep 2023–Feb 2024 )
- Implementing 3D mapping solutions on drones as part of the Autonomous Micro Air Vehicle (AMAV) team at UMD.
Research Member – STEP File-Based Automatic Production Time Estimation, Department of Manufacturing Science and Engineering, BME (Budapest, Hungary, Jan 2020–Jun 2022)
- Developed a Python application using regular expressions (RegEx) to extract machining features from STEP files and estimate production-related metrics.
Research Member – Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems (Robotics Concentration), Department of Industrial Engineering, UiT (Narvik, Norway, Jan 2022–Jun 2023)
- Designed multiple RMS versions for oil industry scenarios using Python and Visual Components.
Engineering Project Team Member – BME Mechatronics Student Society (Budapest, Hungary, 2019–2022)
- Investigated hardware and software solutions for projects including a line-follower mini car, jumping robot, and closed-chain mechanism with inverse kinematics simulation.
- Provided consultations in programming, manufacturing, and robot modeling.