Nikhil Chinnalapatti Gopinath
Building the future of autonomous systems, one robot at a time
Manager of Automation Engineering at Walmart, specializing in computer vision, robotics, and AI-driven automation. Carnegie Mellon graduate with expertise in perception systems, robotic manipulation, and cutting-edge machine learning.
Experience
Leading innovation in robotics and automation across industry and research
- Led development of advanced robotic vision and automation systems delivering 98% perception accuracy and 5× performance improvement, enabling real-time autonomous warehouse operations
- Architected end-to-end robotics platforms integrating vision AI, AMRs, industrial robots, and controls systems to enable scalable deployment
- Delivered an industry-first robotic trailer door automation solution projected to generate $15M+ operational savings
- robotics automation programs from prototype to production-scale concepts, contributing to solutions with up to $1.9B long-term savings potential
- Developed computational design optimization of a Quadruped Robot with a Spine using Pybullet simulation on ROS
- Devised an end-to-end hierarchical Model Predictive controller for generating joint commands of the quadruped
- Worked on grant with Google DeepMind
- Designed, and simulated the process flow of a Final Assembly Line (FAL) of A320 in India to manufacture 50 aircraft in a month using Anylogic and Flexsim; Achieved a 20% increase in production compared to existing plant layouts.
- Created industrial robot program for autonomous defect identification and pickup of components in the Assembly line. Simulated the system on ROS.
- Built a Digital Twin of the FAL using Unity3D; Simulated the motion of a user-controllable avatar, created custom animations and process flow of the FAL of A320, increasing productivity by 20% using ROS.
- Developed the UI/UX for the Digital Twin to be used on a Computer, and Mobile Device, as a visual interface for Discrete Event Simulation and training tool for engineers.
Projects
Pushing the boundaries of computer vision, robotics, and machine learning
Visual-Word Sense Disambiguation
Created state-of-the-art Visual Word Sense Disambiguation using MetaClip model. Achieved Hit Rate of 0.7235 and MRR of 0.8280.
Automatic Speech Recognition
Generated 300 hours of synthetic data using Variational Inference. Achieved Levenshtein Distance of 23.38 and Loss of 0.14.
Deep Learning Portfolio
Comprehensive deep learning projects: Phoneme recognition (89.2%), Face Classification (89.9%), ASR (LD: 3.98), and TTS (LD: 9.99).
Construction Site Hazard Detection
Worker detection model using YoloV7 with 3D coordinate computation. Achieved mAP0.5 of 92% with 90% precision and 93% recall.
Quadruped with Spine Optimization
Computational design optimization using PyBullet with hierarchical Model Predictive Control for quadruped locomotion.
Mars Rover - Astra Robotics
Led mechanical subsystem development for Mars rover project, including chassis design, suspension, and robotic arm integration.
Multi-Vehicle Racing Line Optimization
Designed a trajectory-optimization controller for dual autonomous race cars, integrating advanced vehicle dynamics and collision avoidance to enable coordinated high-performance racing.
Autonomous Buggy Control
Engineered and deployed LQR/MPC control with EKF-SLAM for an autonomous buggy, achieving precise GPS-based trajectory tracking in simulation.
Nitinol Actuator for Satellite Solar Panel Deployment
Developed a miniature satellite prototype using Nitinol actuators for solar panel deployment, reducing power consumption by over 40% and validating structural performance through computational analysis.
Skills
A comprehensive toolkit for robotics, AI, and automation development
Programming Languages
AI & Machine Learning
Robotics & Simulation
Engineering & Design
Cloud & DevOps
Specializations
Patents & Publications
Contributing to the advancement of robotics, AI and automation technology
Education
Beyond Technical Work
Get in Touch
Open to opportunities in robotics, AI, and automation. Let's build the future together.