Debendra Prasad Sahoo

From Physics to Robotics to Business: A Systems Thinker's Journey

A chronological journey through physics, robotics, AI research, and strategic leadership, tracing how each chapter builds on the last.

2019

SCAAA Astronomy: 6-year journey in astronomy outreach begins

2022

B.Sc. Physics @ OUTR: Foundations in classical & quantum mechanics

2023

Best Delegate @ NITR IMUN: EU representative at G20 Summit

2023

e-Yantra IIT Bombay: ROS2 hologlyph bots, pre-final stage

2023

Flipkart Grid 5.0: ROS + YOLO vision stack

2024

AI/ROS Intern @ SakRobotix: Edge AI, wake-word detection

2024

ISRO IRoC-U: Top 50/1400, autonomous rover with MoveIt2

2024

Robotics Lead @ OUTR: Drones, ROS2, securing ₹3L funding

2024

AI Intern @ IIT Delhi: Climate modelling, HPC pipelines, 18% boost

2024

Technical Lead, Aerospace Club: 200%+ membership growth

2025

MBA (DS & AI) @ IIT Mandi: Bridging engineering & business strategy

2025

Team Deimos, IIT Mandi: Corporate Relations Lead, Mars Rover

Detailed Experience

Deep dives into each role and its impact.

Artificial Intelligence Intern

DST CoE in Climate Modelling, IIT Delhi

May 2024 – Jan 2025

~18% improvement over baselines in climate prediction

  • Implemented regression-based ensemble model for climate prediction, achieving ~18% improvement over baselines.
  • Managed data preprocessing, feature engineering, and developed HPC pipelines; optimized for large datasets.
  • Lead author on research paper on AI in climate science (in progress).
  • Supported technical content and organization for Climate Change Conclave at IIT Delhi.
PythonPyTorchHPCEnsemble ModelsClimate Science

AI / ROS Intern

SakRobotix Lab Pvt. Ltd.

Jan 2024 – Feb 2024

Improved wake-word detection via CNN Mel-spectrogram matching

  • Designed CNNs for Mel-spectrogram matching to improve wake-word detection.
  • Benchmarked multiple pretrained audio models for voice recognition.
  • Worked on lightweight model deployments for edge inference.
ROSCNNEdge AIAudio MLPython

Leadership & Strategy

Management & Corporate Relations Lead

Team Deimos (Mars Rover), IIT Mandi

Technical Program Management & Strategic Partnerships

Securing strategic partnerships with global brands like Creality, WOL3D

  • Managed cross-functional engineering timelines via WBS and Gantt charts; optimized workflows across GitHub and Notion.
  • Spearheaded corporate outreach securing partnerships with Creality, WOL3D, and multiple others in pipeline.
  • Managed financial planning and master budget tables for international University Rover Challenge (URC) submission.

Technical Lead, Aerospace Club, OUTR

OUTR Aerospace Club

Large Scale Cross-Functional Team Management

Increased membership by 200%+ through cross-functional recruitment

  • Led drone and RC plane projects; increased membership by 200%+ and coordinated cross-functional recruitment.
  • Revived astronomy wing; organized sky-observation events; led autonomy and real-time data-analysis robotics initiatives.

Project Lead, Robotics & Autonomous Systems Initiative

OUTR Robotics Initiative

End-to-End Product & Business Development

Generated ₹4L revenue + ₹3L university funding + ₹5L incubation grant

  • Directed product lifecycle for autonomous drones and 3D-printed components, securing INR 3,00,000 in university funding for ISRO IRoC-U.
  • Delivered solutions to research clients generating INR 4,00,000 in cash revenue.
  • Scaled project to qualify for ₹5L institutional incubation grant by demonstrating operational efficiency and market viability.

Selected Projects

FinTech Risk Modeling

Mitigate default risks and optimize data-driven lending decisions

Engineered a predictive credit risk evaluation model for a Japanese small finance bank to mitigate default risks and optimize data-driven lending decisions.

Scikit-learnPandasFinancial AnalyticsPython

Automated Content Creation AI Agent

Fully automate multimedia content generation at scale

Architected a multi-agent system deployed on Azure (OpenAI/DALL-E) to fully automate and scale multimedia content generation for LinkedIn and Twitter.

AzureOpenAIDALL-EMulti-Agent Systems

Agri-Tech Predictive Analytics

Forecast crop water requirements and optimize resource allocation

Developed a machine learning model (RandomForest) for the Smart India Hackathon to forecast crop water requirements and optimize resource allocation.

RandomForestMLAgriculturePython

Applied GenAI in Healthcare

Improve targeted information retrieval in medical applications

Fine-tuned LLaMA 2 architectures for domain-specific medical applications to improve targeted information retrieval.

LLaMA 2Fine-tuningNLPHealthcare

Autonomous UAV Vision Systems

Real-time computer vision for live-feed monitoring

Directed the build and testing of multiple drone platforms, integrating real-time computer vision (object detection) for live-feed monitoring.

OpenCVObject DetectionDronesPython

Algorithmic Optimization

Complex decision-making in simulated environments

Implemented reinforcement learning models utilizing OpenAI Gymnasium for complex decision-making environments.

Reinforcement LearningOpenAI GymPython

ISRO Rover Challenge (IRoC-U 2024)

Top 50 out of 1400+ teams

Built autonomous rover using ROS2 + MoveIt2 for ISRO's national rover challenge.

ROS2MoveIt2Autonomous SystemsC++

e-Yantra IIT Bombay 2023–24

Reached pre-final hardware stage

Developed ROS2 hologlyph bots for IIT Bombay's national robotics competition.

ROS2Computer VisionEmbedded Systems

Flipkart Grid 5.0

National-level participation

Engineered ROS + YOLO vision stack for robotic arm payload handling.

ROSYOLOComputer VisionRobotic Arm

Skills & Toolkit

languages

PythonSQLC++C

frameworks

Scikit-learnPandasNumPyTensorFlowPyTorchOpenCV

tools

GitROSGCPPower BIn8nNotionExcelAPIs

domains

Machine LearningNLPComputer VisionHigh-Performance ComputingBusiness AnalyticsFinance

professional

Cross-functional LeadershipStrategic PartnershipsResearch WritingProduct/Project Management

Recognition

🏆

Best Delegate at NITR IMUN 2023 (Represented EU at G20 Summit): 1st prize.

🏆

Top ranks in robotics challenges (IRoC-U 47/1400 teams, Round 2 Stage 6 e-Yantra).

🏆

6-year member of SCAAA: promoted astronomy awareness and managed telescopes for public outreach.