Hey, I'm Ritvik!

I'm studying EE with potential minors in Engineering Entrepreneurship, Math, and South Asian Studies. I hope to build impactful, innovative, and equitable medical device technologies.

I like creating projects and doing work that have applications in my everyday life, use a little creativity, and teach me new skills.

If you're looking into embedded, robotics, medtech, or systems work, my projects are where I show what I can do. If you're just browsing, hope you enjoy some of the things I've created.

Let's connect: rellen26@seas.upenn.edu
Ritvik Ellendula

Ritvik Ellendula

Building stuff I find cool.

Move your cursor to play with the desk

Recent work

Projects I'm especially proud of

All projects
SystemsFeatured
P01
Systems·Spring 2026

C Compiler

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OCaml compiler pipeline from C source to x86-64 assembly.

Motivation: As I gained a deeper interest in understanding lower level systems, I realized that I never understood the basis behind compilers, the actual foundation of programming. Thus, I researched what I could about compilers, and I stumbled upon Nora Sandler's book on writing compilers. Here, I learnt the principles behind developing a compiler starting with a real lexer -> parser -> IR -> codegen pipeline where I could inspect every stage. One cool thing is that the book didn't spoonfeed me the code; rather, it gave the foundations, which I had to apply to the best of my ability.

Challenge: Memory-to-memory instructions in x86 required explicit scratch-register fixups.

OCamlRecursive DescentTACKY IRx86-64Make
IteratingActively expanding language features
GitHubEngineering breakdown
Machine LearningFeatured
P02
ML Systems·Spring 2026

MiniTorch-OCaml

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Reverse-mode autodiff engine with custom computation graphs.

Motivation: I wanted to understand backprop beyond framework APIs, so I implemented graph nodes, reverse traversal, and gradient checks in OCaml.

Challenge: Gradient bugs were subtle and rarely obvious from forward outputs.

OCamlAutodiffComputation GraphsGradient Checking
IteratingExtending toward richer tensor operations
GitHubEngineering breakdown
EmbeddedFeatured
P03
Robotics·Spring 2026

BloomBot IoT

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IoT robotic flower with servos, sensors, LCD, and remote control.

Motivation: This project came from wanting something expressive and physical, not just another board demo. I integrated Blynk controls, servo choreography, sensor feedback, and display output into one system.

Challenge: Power rails had to be stabilized to avoid brownouts during concurrent servo loads.

Arduino UNO R4 WiFiBlynkWiFiS3ServosUltrasonicI2C LCD
ShippedShipped demo + iterating on next hardware revision
GitHubDevpostEngineering breakdown
Lightsaber Build media 1
HardwareFeatured
P04
Hardware·Spring 2026

Lightsaber Build

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CAD + circuitry + soldering to ship a handheld lightsaber build.

Motivation: I used this as a hands-on integration project: sketching, CAD, soldering, wiring, and iteration until the final object felt robust in-hand and not like a fragile prototype.

Challenge: Wire management inside the hilt was harder than schematic planning.

Fusion 360LED StripSoldering3D PrintingCircuit Design
ShippedShipped physical build

Also worth a look

More builds

Apps, tools, and experiments that still taught me a lot.

Full-Stack
P05
Full-Stack·2026

SnapFuel

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Photo-first calorie logging with AI estimation and human confirmation.

Motivation: I built SnapFuel to reduce food logging friction while keeping the user in control. The core idea is: AI suggests, user confirms, dashboard reflects confirmed values.

Challenge: Model confidence needed transparent communication, not fake precision.

Next.jsTypeScriptSupabaseOpenAI VisionVercel
IteratingMVP shipped, improving reliability and integrations
GitHubEngineering breakdown
Machine Learning
P06
ML + Tools·2026

LabReach AI

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Research outreach copilot: scrape, summarize, draft, review, then send.

Motivation: LabReach started as a script to reduce repetitive outreach prep. I kept a human-review checkpoint as a hard requirement so automation helps without blindly sending.

Challenge: JS-heavy faculty pages broke simple scraping logic.

PythonOllamaBeautifulSoupPlaywrightSQLite
IteratingCLI pipeline working, expanding campaign tooling
GitHubEngineering breakdown
Video
Full-Stack
P07
Signal + Web·2025-2026

Count Coach

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Dance practice tool with waveform selection and BPM analysis.

Motivation: Built from a dance practice pain point: finding the right section and tempo quickly. The app combines waveform interactions with server-side tempo analysis.

Challenge: Syncing waveform selection with backend analysis boundaries.

Next.jsWaveSurferLibrosaPythonVercel
ShippedShipped and used as a personal practice tool
GitHubLiveEngineering breakdown
Video
Embedded
P08
Embedded·2026

Arduino TFT Tetris

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Bare-metal handheld Tetris on Arduino Nano + ST7735 display.

Motivation: I built this to practice embedded game loops and real hardware debugging. Everything runs on-device: rendering, input handling, collision checks, scoring, and sound cues.

Challenge: Intermittent display issues required solder-level debugging.

Arduino NanoC++ST7735SPIAdafruit GFX
ShippedPlayable prototype complete
GitHubEngineering breakdown
Video
Machine Learning
P09
CV + ML·2026

Bhangra Coach

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Computer vision dance coach with pose comparison feedback.

Motivation: This project explores whether movement feedback can feel useful instead of robotic. The pipeline compares user dance clips against references and surfaces actionable differences.

Challenge: Movement alignment is hard when tempo differs between performers.

Next.jsFastAPIMediaPipeSupabaseComputer Vision
In progressActively iterating on feedback quality
GitHubLiveEngineering breakdown
Video
Full-Stack
P10
Product·2026

Penn Plates

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Campus dining social app built through Penn SPARK.

Motivation: A real product-focused build with practical constraints, team collaboration, and user-oriented iteration. The goal was connecting students around dining in a way that felt lightweight and usable.

Challenge: Balancing feature ambition with limited project timeline.

Next.jsSupabaseReact
ShippedDemo-ready build completed
View full project archive

What I'm usually thinking about

How can I create things that can provide utility to life? Whether its practical application or just fun usage.

Medical devicesEmbedded & roboticsSystems & compilersMachine learningDance & music