Mechanical Engineer · Robotics · Artificial Intelligence

Hi, I'm Ayberk Erdal.

I hold a Mechanical Engineering degree from Koç University. In high school I founded a robotics team and took it to the world championship, and filed a patent application for a system that locates people trapped under rubble. Today I apply the same engineering mindset to AI-assisted production and design.

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Awards & honours
12+
Patent application
1
Years in robotics
8+
Countries competed in
2
01

About

My engineering path started with robotics. In 2015, while still in high school, I founded Adroit Androids #6025. We competed in four regional FIRST Robotics Competition tournaments across the United States and at the world championship. I started the team as founder and captain, then stayed on as a mentor in the years that followed.

While studying Mechanical Engineering at Koç University, I focused on connecting theory to real production. I interned at Baykar in project management and systems engineering. I also filed a patent application for a transceiver mechanism that uses ultrasonic sound waves to locate people trapped under rubble after an earthquake.

In recent years my focus has shifted to artificial intelligence. Building on my own research, I develop AI-powered products — locally running APIs and SaaS applications. I carry the systems discipline I learned in engineering over to software: end to end, from concept to deployment.

Languages

  • TurkishNative
  • EnglishFluent
  • GermanIntermediate
  • ItalianBeginner
02

Experience & Education

  1. June 2021 — August 2021

    Project Management & Systems Engineering Intern · Baykar Makina Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş.

    Worked on project management and systems engineering processes in the defence industry. Gained hands-on experience in requirements management, system integration and coordination across multidisciplinary teams.

    • Systems Engineering
    • Project Management
    • Defence Industry
  2. 2015 — 2019

    Founder, Captain & Mentor · Adroit Androids #6025

    Founded the team from scratch and served as its first captain, then mentored new members for four more years. We handled the entire cycle — robot design, manufacturing, sponsor relations and competition strategy — and competed in four US regionals and four world championships.

    • Robot Design
    • Team Leadership
    • CAD
    • Mentoring
  3. June 2017 — July 2017

    Manufacturing & Quality Control Intern · Robotus Mühendislik San. ve Dış Tic. Ltd. Şti.

    Worked on the manufacturing and quality control of the company's electrical circuit products, learning production line operations and electronic assembly standards first-hand.

    • Electronics Manufacturing
    • Quality Control
  4. 2016 — 2018

    Volunteer · FIRST Robotics & FLL Events

    Volunteered at the FIRST Robotics Competition, the FIRST Lego League National Championship, Turkish Robotics OffSeason and the Bahçeşehir College Science & Robotics Festival.

    • Volunteering
    • Event Organisation
03

Projects

Senior Design Project · 2022

Ball-Robo — Autonomous Tennis Ball Collector

Our senior design project at Koç University: a robot that clears a tennis court of scattered balls on its own. It locates a ball with its camera, drives to it, and feeds it into a basket through a twin-cylinder intake. When the Raspberry Pi couldn't keep up with the deep-learning model, we switched to HSV colour detection to kill the lag; and after resonance snapped the motor mount, we ran modal analysis and kept the motor below its natural frequency.

  • SolidWorks
  • Raspberry Pi
  • OpenCV
  • Python
  • Control Systems
  • Manufacturing
Patent Application

Rubble Victim Detection System

A transceiver mechanism that uses ultrasonic sound waves to locate people trapped under rubble after an earthquake. Filed with the Turkish Patent Office — application no. 2017/11694.

  • Ultrasonic Sensing
  • Mechanism Design
  • Search & Rescue
2015 — 2019

Adroit Androids #6025

The FIRST Robotics Competition team I founded from scratch. Every season we designed and built a competition robot within six weeks. In its rookie year the team won the Rookie All-Star Award, earning direct advancement to the world championship.

  • Robot Design
  • CAD
  • Manufacturing
  • Team Leadership
Current

Locally Running AI Services

AI APIs and production tools I build from my own research, running locally. Image and video generation happens within a controlled workflow, without depending on cloud services.

  • Artificial Intelligence
  • API Development
  • Python
  • Automation
In progress

Animated Short Film Project

A short animated film supported by generative AI tools. I combine character design, scene composition, voice work and editing into a single production workflow.

  • Generative Video
  • Character Design
  • Editing
  • Audio
This site

ayberkerdal.com

The site you are reading — my own work end to end, from design to launch. Bilingual, with automatic language selection based on visitor location, and an interface written from scratch without any off-the-shelf theme.

  • Product Design
  • Frontend
  • Multilingual
  • Performance
2017

Robotics Instruction & Mentoring

Taught in an education programme introducing children to robotics, and mentored FLL teams as they designed and built their first robots.

  • Teaching
  • Mentoring
  • FLL
04

Skills

Design & CAD

  • SolidWorks
  • Siemens NX
  • Rhino
  • Ansys
  • 3D Modelling
  • Technical Drawing

AI & Generative Media

  • ComfyUI
  • Stable Diffusion
  • LTX-Video
  • Prompt Engineering
  • Model Deployment
  • FFmpeg

Software & Embedded

  • Python
  • MATLAB
  • Arduino / C++
  • Raspberry Pi
  • OpenCV
  • Control Systems
  • Java
  • JavaScript

Backend & Infrastructure

  • Linux
  • API Development
  • Server Management
  • Security
  • Automation

Design & Media

  • Photoshop
  • Illustrator
  • CorelDRAW
  • Premiere Pro
  • Photography
  • Short Film

Engineering & Management

  • Systems Engineering
  • Project Management
  • Team Leadership
  • Mentoring
  • MS Office
05

Awards & Achievements

  • Engineering Inspiration Award

    FRC Bayou Regional, USA · 2019

  • Regional Winner & Chairman's Award

    FRC Iowa Regional, USA · 2018

  • Judges Award

    FRC World Championship · 2018

  • Tepe Savunma Hackathon — 1st Place

    Tepe Savunma · 2018

  • Engineering Inspiration Award

    FRC San Diego Regional, USA · 2017

  • Rookie All-Star Award

    FRC Alamo Regional, USA · 2016

  • Rookie Inspiration Award

    FRC World Championship · 2016

  • FLL Istanbul Regional Championship

    First Lego League · 2015

  • FLL Turkey Championship & World Festival Medal

    First Lego League · 2014

Reference

Prof. Dr. İsmail Lazoğlu Professor of Mechanical Engineering · Koç University ilazoglu@ku.edu.tr
06

Contact

Got an idea, or want to work together?

ayberk@ayberkerdal.com

I usually reply within 24 hours.

LinkedIn /in/ayberkerdal
Location Istanbul, Türkiye · Open to remote work