Zakary Littlefield
Software Engineer II at Aurora
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States
Summary
👤
Senior🎓
Top SchoolZakary Littlefield is a Software Engineer II based in Pittsburgh with a decade of experience applying algorithmic research to real-world robotics and autonomy problems. He holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Rutgers and has translated academic motion-planning advances into production-focused systems through roles at Aurora and Uber. His work emphasizes practical, testable motion-planning methods and critical evaluations of existing approaches to make them more deployable in autonomous vehicles. Zakary blends deep theoretical grounding from NASA-funded research with hands-on engineering at scale, bridging the gap between research prototypes and operational autonomy stacks. Colleagues rely on him for rigorously designed algorithms that account for real-world constraints and for pushing research toward usable, safety-conscious implementations. He is known for bringing research curiosity into product engineering, improving both robustness and practicality in motion planning.
10 years of coding experience
4 years of employment as a software developer
Bachelor's Degree Computer Science, Bachelor's Degree Computer Science at University of Nevada, RenoDoctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) Computer Science, Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) Computer Science at Rutgers University
Github Skills (17)
robotics9
motion-planning9
planning9
betting8
ompl8
seed7
random-generation7
seeding7
collision5
collision-detection4
pathfinding3
machine-learning3
simulator2
simulation2
python1
Programming languages (5)
Github contributions (5)
zaktherobot/KH2FMRandoBot
Nov 2022 - Jul 2024
Contributions:14 pushes, 1 branch in 1 year 7 months
zlittlefield/KH2Randomizer
Jun 2021 - Aug 2021
Contributions:21 pushes, 9 branches in 2 months
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