Avik De is a robotics-focused CTO and co-founder with 11 years of experience translating academic robotics research into fielded legged robots at Ghost Robotics. He holds a PhD in Robotics from the University of Pennsylvania and completed postdoctoral work at Harvard and UPenn, blending deep control theory and neuromechanics with practical system design. Avik contributes to prominent open-source projects like Bullet Physics, where he implemented and validated robot dynamics examples that bridge simulation and experimental comparison. He is driven by making robots move as capably and safely as animals to take on tasks humans shouldn’t have to do, and he brings hands-on expertise across C++, simulation, and embedded control stacks. Based in Philadelphia, he combines startup leadership with rigorous research habits to ship robust, trustworthy robotic systems.
11 years of coding experience
7 years of employment as a software developer
Johns Hopkins University
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Robotics, Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Robotics at University of Pennsylvania
Bullet Physics SDK: real-time collision detection and multi-physics simulation for VR, games, visual effects, robotics, machine learning etc.
Role in this project:
Full-stack Developer
Contributions:6 commits, 5 PRs, 20 comments in 16 days
Contributions summary:Avik primarily contributed to the "TwoJoint" example within the Bullet Physics SDK, adding and modifying code for a robot simulation. They implemented a C++ program to simulate the robot's dynamics, including joint control and state monitoring, and wrote a MATLAB script to compare simulation results. The contributions included code refactoring, fixing compilation issues, and adding licensing information.
Contributions:432 commits, 379 pushes, 2 branches in 3 years 5 months
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