ACTIVE_SYSTEMS LAT 11.0168° N // LON 76.9558° E · TAMIL NADU, INDIA

HOWARD NIKHIL

Entrepreneur · Engineer · Technology Builder

I build ideas into real products — from code to hardware, from CAD to fabrication.

Electronics & Communication Engineering — PSG iTech.
Bridging embedded silicon, dynamic legged robotics, physical AI, and aerospace systems.

Explore Selected Work
SYS_REF: HN-01 // TAMIL NADU [CORE_ARCHITECT]
Howard Nikhil, Technology Builder and Engineer
Education PSG iTech Electronics & Comm. Engineering
Engineering Venture HowNik Technologies Founder & CEO
AI Product Lab Xtract AI Labs Co-Founder & CTO
Robotics Lab QuadroX Robotics Legged Robotics & Physical AI
Engineering Scope Full-Lifecycle Builder Idea → Code → Silicon → Fabricate

I Build Across the Stack — Literally.

Most projects stall at handoffs between software, circuit design, and mechanical packaging. I eliminate those boundaries.

I work at the active intersection of electronics, robotics, artificial intelligence, and physical product engineering. Rather than remaining isolated within a single domain, my work moves fluidly across every physical and digital layer — from early mathematical architecture and schematic capture to embedded firmware, distributed middleware, AI inference, and CNC/additive fabrication.

I am drawn to systems where hardware and software cannot exist independently. Whether that means engineering an autonomous 4-legged robot that balances against perturbation, developing sub-decimeter indoor localization anchors, creating an open-source robotics runtime, or packaging CubeSat avionics inside a strict 100mm form factor — I build working systems.

Through founding HowNik Technologies and steering technical vision at Xtract AI Labs, I have learned that true engineering credibility comes from one thing: the discipline to break down complex, multi-disciplinary problems and build working machines.

Hardware-Software Synergy

Firmware designed with direct awareness of PCB trace parasitics, silicon register limits, and real-time execution bounds.

Parametric CAD & Prototyping

Mechanical assemblies modeled in Autodesk Fusion 360, tuned for FEA stress, kinematic ranges, and rapid additive prototyping.

First-Principles Problem Solving

No bloated dependencies or superficial wrappers. When standard tools fail or don't fit, I architect custom middleware and protocols.

From Idea to Working System

I don't just write code. I build complete physical and digital systems through a disciplined eight-stage engineering lifecycle.

01
Origin

IDEA

Problem discovery, technical feasibility evaluation, and physical constraints analysis.

First Principles Feasibility
02
Design

ARCHITECTURE

System block diagrams, power budgets, communication bus choices, and sensor allocation.

Bus Topology Link Budgets
03
Mechanical

CAD / DESIGN

Parametric 3D solid modeling, mechanical linkages, tolerances, and thermal clearance.

Fusion 360 FEA / Kinematics
04
Hardware

ELECTRONICS

Schematic capture, high-speed PCB layout, impedance matching, power regulators, and assembly.

KiCad SMD Routing
05
Silicon

FIRMWARE

Deterministic bare-metal and RTOS control routines for microcontrollers and transceivers.

C / C++ FreeRTOS SPI/I2C/CAN
06
Intelligence

SOFTWARE / AI

Distributed middleware, model inference, computer vision pipelines, and autonomy nodes.

Python NeuronRT PyTorch
07
Bench

PROTOTYPE

Physical fabrication, 3D printing, circuit assembly, oscilloscope debugging, and bench validation.

Additive Fab Logic Analyzers
08
System

PRODUCT

Field deployment, calibration, ruggedization, and documentation for real-world application.

Validation Deployment

Experience

Building companies, products, systems and teams. Focus on venture execution and technical depth.

Primary Technology Ventures & Engineering Labs
Flagship Venture Jun 2025 — Present

Founder & CEO

HowNik Technologies

My personal technology company and engineering venture. A focused laboratory where I build and experiment with advanced physical and digital systems.

  • Engineering modular CubeSat telemetry and payload communication prototypes.
  • Architecting custom Agentic AI workflows and embedded robotics middleware solutions.
  • Leading end-to-end product development spanning electronic schematics to physical fabrication.
Robotics CubeSat Agentic AI Embedded Hardware
Product & AI Jul 2025 — Present

Co-Founder & CTO

Xtract AI Labs

Directing the technical vision, AI architecture, and product development of FirstDayAI (firstdayai.in).

  • Formulating system architecture, backend scalability, and ML inference pipelines.
  • Integrating LLM orchestration with career coaching evaluation algorithms.
  • Leading cross-functional engineering sprints to turn user workflows into resilient software.
System Architecture LLMs FastAPI Product Engineering
Robotics Team / Lab Mar 2025 — Present

Founder & Robotics System Designer

QuadroX Robotics

Student-led robotics innovation team and personal robotics lab focused on dynamic legged locomotion, control theory, and physical AI systems.

  • Engineered 4-legged quadruped mechanical linkage and high-torque joint layouts in CAD.
  • Programmed embedded motor controllers with closed-loop IMU feedback for balance.
  • Conducted gait generation experiments and obstacle negotiation bench tests.
Legged Robotics Physical AI Actuator Control Fusion 360
Additional Engineering & Leadership Roles

Entrepreneurship Club President

Aug 2025 — Present
PSG Institute of Technology & Applied Research

Directing campus startup initiatives, organizing ideathons and workshops, and mentoring student founders on hardware and software productization.

Blockchain / Smart Contract Developer

Feb 2025 — Jul 2025
David Protocol & DeFi

Engineered decentralized finance smart contracts on Ethereum-compatible chains, specializing in staking mechanisms, lending protocols, and liquidity logic.

CAD & UI/UX Tutor

Jun 2024 — Aug 2024
G-Tec Education, Coimbatore

Instructed students in parametric 3D CAD modeling, Python, C++, Java, and modern interface design through practical, project-based engineering curricula.

President

Oct 2022 — Apr 2024
VDPC Student Innovation Club

Led student R&D squads, managed rapid prototyping resources, and mentored multidisciplinary engineering teams for state hackathons and design challenges.

Industrial Engineering Intern

Apr 2023 — Jun 2023
Golden Rock Workshop, Southern Railway

Direct hands-on immersion in railway electronics, electrical maintenance workflows, component diagnostics, and heavy industrial safety environments.

Selected Work

Systems I've designed, built, tested and experimented with. Real engineering evidence across wearables, robotics, RF systems, and AI.

QuadroX Autonomous Quadruped Robot 3D CAD Render Robotics Platform
Legged Robotics / Physical AI

QuadroX Robotics

Four-legged autonomous quadruped platform engineered for dynamic legged locomotion, balance recovery, and physical AI navigation experiments.

Awarded Design: Autodesk Fusion 360 Mega Challenge
C++ Kinematics Actuator Control Embedded RTOS Fusion 360
TAG [x, y, z] ANCHOR A ANCHOR B ANCHOR C
Patent Pending
Embedded Systems / Indoor Localization

UWB Real-Time Location System

Ultra-Wideband (UWB) precision 3D indoor positioning system designed for sub-decimeter spatial tracking of autonomous robots and industrial assets.

Winner: iTech Ideathon 2025 Spotlight Award
UWB Transceivers Decawave Trilateration STM32 / ESP32 PCB Design
INPUT CONV FEATURE AUTH
Trained Model
Artificial Intelligence / Computer Vision

Deepfake Detection AI

A deep convolutional neural network designed to identify facial manipulation artifacts and temporal inconsistencies across digital video feeds, trained with 233,560 parameters.

Python PyTorch Computer Vision Neural Nets Model Optimization
Physical AI · Robotics · On-Device AI

CURIO — Companion Robot

Curiosity-driven physical AI companion robot designed to explore spatial perception, autonomous curiosity drives, and low-latency on-device intelligence.

Physical AI Embedded Linux Multimodal Sensors
GitHub Repository ↗
CubeSat / Space Technology

AstraLink 1U Concept

Modular 100 × 100 × 100 mm CubeSat architecture prototype engineered for research payload integration, telemetry bus communications, and power management.

CubeSat Avionics Power Bus Telemetry
NeuroFlex Bionic Hand CAD model
Assistive Bioelectronics / Edge AI

NeuroFlex EMG Bionic Hand

Myoelectric prosthetic hand leveraging surface EMG biosignals and real-time edge processing for natural finger actuation. Winner of StartupTN PitchFest 2025.

EMG Biosignals Edge AI Fusion 360
6-Axis Robotic Manipulator Arm CAD
Industrial Robotics / Manipulation

6-Axis Manipulator (Mecazilla)

Six-axis robotic manipulator engineered in Fusion 360 with harmonic joint constraints and inverse kinematics control. Awarded at Autodesk Fusion 360 Mega Challenge.

Inverse Kinematics Actuation CAD
AI Platform & Architecture

FirstDayAI Platform

AI-powered career coaching architecture providing intelligent resume analysis, candidate evaluation, and automated roadmap generation.

FastAPI LLM Agents Vector DB
Visit firstdayai.in ↗
Embedded Security Firmware

HowNik Skipper OS

Open-source firmware platform for low-level peripheral exploration, wireless RF diagnostics, sub-GHz transceiver interfacing, and maker hardware experimentation.

C Sub-GHz RF RTOS

Engineering Capabilities

Organized by technical disciplines. Real tools and architectures verified through actual builds — zero fake percentages.

Electronics & Embedded

C / C++ MicroPython Arduino ESP32 Embedded Systems Sensors UART I2C SPI CAN PCB Design

Robotics & Physical Systems

Robot Control Actuators Mechanical Integration Legged Robotics Physical AI Kinematics System Integration

AI / Machine Learning

Python Machine Learning Computer Vision LLMs Edge AI TinyML PyTorch

Software Engineering

Python JavaScript React FastAPI PostgreSQL REST APIs System Services

Engineering Design

Autodesk Fusion 360 Parametric CAD 3D Design PCB Design Rapid Fabrication UI/UX

Systems & Infrastructure

Linux Git Networking Cloud Automation DevOps

Recognition

Authentic state, university, and innovation honors. Click on any certificate to inspect the verified credential.

EDII-TN Best Academic Hackathon Winner Certificate
State Award

Best Student Innovator Award

EDII-TN · Govt of Tamil Nadu

Top 25 Best Innovative Ideas statewide at the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Programme.

Click to inspect certificate →
TNSI State Level Pitch Certificate
Innovation Grant

₹3 Lakhs TNSI Seed Grant Finalist

TNSI / EDII-TN · Govt of Tamil Nadu

State-level final pitching representing HowNik Tech Systems under Tamil Nadu Student Innovators.

Click to inspect certificate →
Autodesk Fusion 360 Mega Challenge Certificate
Engineering Design

Autodesk Fusion 360 Mega Challenge

Anna University CEAT · MIT Chennai

Second Runner Up for advanced CAD and mechanical system design modeling.

Click to inspect certificate →
PitchFest 2025 Certificate
Venture Pitching

PitchFest 2025 — 3rd Place

StartupTN · Sri Eshwar THIRAN

Third place award with cash prize for innovative assistive bioelectronics technology presentation.

Click to inspect certificate →
iTech Ideathon Spotlight Award Certificate
Hardware Innovation

iTech Ideathon Spotlight Award

PSG iTech · Innovation Council

Recognized with top Spotlight Award for working prototype demonstration of UWB indoor tracking.

Click to inspect certificate →

Let's Build Something.

Have an idea, product, research problem or engineering challenge? I work across software, electronics, firmware, robotics, AI and product development.

Areas of Serious Collaboration
Engineering Collaborations Applied Research Product Development Robotics Systems AI / Edge Systems Embedded Firmware Scalable Software

Send Engineering Inquiry

Direct message to Howard Nikhil. Response within 24 hours.