Amitesh Senthilkumar

Multidisciplinary student exploring the intersections of engineering, AI, and community engagement. From research in computational chemistry to leading an award-winning robotics team, I combine technical skills with leadership and outreach to address real-world challenges. Creator of TrashTalker, an AI app that classifies plastics, and extends it into a prototype that recycles FTC robotics hardware to automatically sort waste into bins—demonstrating how machine learning and mechanical design can work together for sustainability.

• FIRST Tech Challenge Team 22105, Runtime Terror | 2020 – Present
• Vice Captain, Software Lead, Think Lead | [Tech Portfolio]
• Software: Built advanced control systems (PID tuning, IK, odometry, OpenCV vision).
• CAD & Mechanical: Designed 6-DOF arms, swerve modules, PTO linear slides.
• Outreach:
• Mentored 4 FTC teams globally; Jamaican Team 16075 + Kentucky Team 21239 advanced to Worlds.
• Partnered with Community Housing Works for STEM workshops in San Diego.
• Supporting Afghan Youth Connect by shipping FTC kits + teaching robotics curriculum to Jalalabad students.
• Speech & Debate (Mentor & Vice President) | 2022 – Present
• Competed in 5+ major tournaments: 2nd place Public Forum (75+ students), Rotary Speech District finalist.
• Mentored underclassmen in Public Forum, Impromptu, and Congressional Debate.
• Clean Campus Crew (Founder & President) | 2025 – 26
• Launched plastic film recycling initiative in partnership with NexTrex.
• Installed dedicated receptacles and engaged schoolwide participation.
• Implemented an app TrashTalker to help students identify the non-recyclable plastic films. Created a new dataset and trained a multimodal model on the dataset using Roboflow which can classify acceptable (mainly focused on NextTrex requirements) plastic films.
• AI Club (Co-President) | 2023 – Present
• Designed + taught lessons on regression, NLP, and neural nets using real datasets.
• Built TrashTalker, an ML app integrated into recycling initiatives.
• Leadership Councils
• Principal’s Student Leadership Council (MCHS) | 2024 – Present
• Advocated for campus safety, healthier meals, bathroom hygiene.
• Created schoolwide recycling initiative for plastic film.
• Superintendent’s Student Advisory Council (Poway USD) | 2024 – Present
• Sole junior representative.
• Guided district policy on AI adoption in schools.

• Public Forum: 2nd place, SD Imperial Valley League (2024).
• Impromptu: 2× regional finalist (2022–23).
• Congressional Debate: Finalist (2022).
• Rotary Speech Contest: 2nd & 3rd place (2023–24); $400+ awards.