Alex Pletta

Alex Pletta has a diverse range of work experience in the field of engineering and robotics. Alex started their career at Oshkosh Corporation as an Unmanned Systems and Advanced Global Products Intern, where they designed and tested driver blind spot detection systems for unmanned trucks. Alex then worked as a Tutor at the Undergraduate Learning Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, providing tutoring sessions for undergraduate engineering students.

Alex then joined the National University of Singapore as an Undergraduate Research Fellow, where they conducted research on robotic navigation and SLAM techniques. Alex developed a custom ROS package for autonomous navigation and optimized a path planning and control algorithm. Alex also worked as an Electrical Engineering Co-op at Polaris Inc., where they engineered computer vision algorithms and built electrical systems for off-road driving.

Afterwards, Alex joined Embark Trucks as a Behavior Planning and Controls Software Engineer. Alex developed automated black box hyperparameter tuning and enhanced REST API interfaces for simulation data analysis. Alex also researched and evaluated driver behavior and trajectory prediction using machine learning models.

Alex's experience includes a role as a Founder and President of Wisconsin Autonomous, where they developed computer vision algorithms and SLAM techniques for self-driving race cars. Alex also worked as an Undergraduate Researcher at the UW-Madison Simulation Based Engineering Lab (SBEL), where they focused on machine learning and optimization-based control for autonomous driving.

Recently, Alex worked as a Multi-Robot Autonomy Intern at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where they implemented and verified flight software multi-agent autonomy algorithms for lunar exploration. Alex also developed C++ libraries of autonomous exploration algorithms and generated unit tests.

Currently, Alex is working at Astrobotic as a Flight Software Engineer, where they are involved in the development of software for space missions.

Alex Pletta completed their education in a chronological order. They first attended Verona High School from 2012 to 2016, where they did not pursue a specific degree or field of study. Afterward, from 2016 to 2021, Alex attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison, earning a Bachelor of Science (BS) degree. During their time at the university, they pursued a double major in Mechanical Engineering and Computer Sciences. Finally, starting in 2021 and expected to end in 2023, Alex enrolled in the Carnegie Mellon University School of Computer Science. They are currently pursuing a Master of Science (MS) in Robotic Systems Development (MRSD), with no specific field of study mentioned.