Rithvik Praveen Kumar

Purdue University

B.S. in Computer Science + Mathematics

Concentrations: Software Engineering, AI / ML

Mind-Controlled Robotic Arm — BCI / Hardware

• Drives a robotic arm from thought alone — a proof-of-concept brain-computer interface.
• Pairs a NeuroSky EEG headset with an Arduino microprocessor.
• Built as a foundation for future BCI work translating intent into sign-language gestures for differently-abled users.

NeuroSky · Arduino · C++ · Python · EEG

demo

BoilerFrame — AI / Vision

• Full-stack web app that pinpoints every appearance of a target person in a video.
• Ingests reference images and footage, then runs a facial-recognition pipeline.
• Built on the MERN stack with AWS Rekognition.

React · Express · MongoDB · AWS Rekognition · MERN

github

Predicting Citizen Happiness — ML Research

• Trained a Lasso model to correlate national spending with reported citizen happiness.
• Analyzed spending across military, education, and health.
• Built by a 4-person team during Columbia University's SHAPE program in NYC.

Python · Pandas · scikit-learn · Lasso · SHAPE

demo · github

QRIfy — Web App

• Web app that turns user text into a downloadable QR code.
• Python and Segno backend with a hand-rolled HTML/CSS/JS frontend.
• Built to practice the full deploy loop, hosted on an AWS EC2 instance.

Python · Segno · HTML · CSS · JavaScript · AWS EC2

github

Habitat for Humanity E-Commerce — Volunteer

• Built and rolled out an inventory-listing tool for Habitat for Humanity.
• Posts items to Facebook Marketplace and eBay from a single interface.
• Authored training materials and onboarded staff to the new workflow.

Google Apps Script · JavaScript · Automation

github

Left/Right Thought Prediction (EEG) — BCI

• Classifies left, right, and neutral thoughts from 16-channel EEG data captured with an OpenBCI headset.
• Pairs a stimulus-display program with TensorFlow models.
• Ongoing work focuses on dataset collection and classification accuracy.

Python · OpenBCI · BrainFlow · TensorFlow · Keras · EEG

github

Undergraduate Researcher, TinyML — Snowball Lab, Purdue University

Spring 2026 – Present · West Lafayette, IN

• Researching TinyML systems for edge inference under Prof. Qiuyue "Shirley" Xue.
• Optimizing and deploying small ML models onto low-power embedded hardware via Edge Impulse.
• Investigating novel low-power designs, including piezoelectric microphones that act as both sensors and energy sources for on-device models.
• Weighing model accuracy against hardware and energy constraints through implementation, experimentation, and literature review.

TinyML · Edge Impulse · Embedded ML · Python · C/C++ · Edge Inference

Software Developer — Hack The Future @ Purdue

Fall 2025 – Spring 2026 · West Lafayette, IN

• Built a full-stack, AI-powered RAG learning platform for a non-profit serving 500+ underserved learners studying personal finance.
• Wired the RAG pipeline, LLM workflow, and vector retrieval that grounds chatbot answers in actual lesson content.
• Added AI generation of quizzes and assignments, and shipped the core lesson-delivery UI and backend.
• Translated non-technical product requirements into technical specs, working with designers and stakeholders end-to-end.

React · Node.js · Express · MongoDB · Ollama · RAG · Vercel · Cloudflare

Investor Relations Chair — Code Ninjas

Jan 2025 – Aug 2025 · Northborough, MA

• Promoted role layered on top of Code Sensei duties.
• Analyzed company revenue, costs, and margins to surface historical trends and key financial insights.
• Delivered quarterly reports to colleagues and associates.
• Democratized investment knowledge across the organization by fielding policy questions and teaching peers how to read company analysis.

Financial Analysis · Reporting · Investor Education

Code Sensei — Code Ninjas

May 2023 – Aug 2025 · Northborough, MA

• Taught programming through game development to 40 students aged 5–12, covering JavaScript, C#, MakeCode, and 3D modeling/printing.
• Built personalized skill-development paths with parents and ran demos for prospective families.
• Organized hackathons and kept the learning environment positive, safe, and a little chaotic in the best way.

Teaching · JavaScript · C# · MakeCode · 3D Modeling · Mentorship