Perception-driven autonomy, mapped and validated before deployment.
I design multi-sensor perception, SLAM, and simulation-first validation pipelines that let autonomous robots ship faster and safer. Recent work centers on NVIDIA Isaac Sim, Omniverse, and OpenUSD digital twins plus high-fidelity simulation asset pipelines for ROS 2 navigation and sim-to-real validation in complex real-world environments.
Impact Highlights
Metrics summarized from the case studies below (see “How we measured this” on each).
Skill Signal
Select a capability to see impact, tools, and the work that proves it.
Full-stack autonomy delivery
Orchestrating perception, mapping, simulation, and validation to ship reliable robot behavior.
Impact
Reduced field validation cycles by shifting autonomy testing into simulation-first workflows.
Toolchain
- ROS 2
- Nav2
- NVIDIA Isaac Sim / Omniverse / OpenUSD
- Simulation & Digital Twins
- OpenUSD
- OpenCV
- PCL
- Docker
Evidence
- Real-to-Sim Pipeline
- Perception-Driven Navigation
- Simulation Validation CI
Featured Case Studies
Demo clip available on request. Images shown are AI-generated stand-ins because I can't share the original customer footage.
Real-to-Sim Pipeline
Automated conversion of real-world scans into simulation-ready digital twins for AMR validation.
Digital Twins
Perception-Driven Navigation
Sensor-fusion navigation stack for dynamic, unstructured environments with human-aware planning.
ROS 2 + Nav2
Simulation Validation CI
Continuous validation infrastructure for autonomy stacks using headless simulation and KPI tracking.
CI + SimulationAdditional Projects
Survival Code Vault
Feb 7, 2026 – Present
Encrypted, end-to-end autonomy codebases that run from MCU-class hardware to GPU workstations. Shows portable, deterministic systems thinking with optional accelerators and verified demos.
Autonomous Hospital Transport Robot
Jan 2024 – Dec 2024
Senior design project delivering hospital supplies with a ROS 2-based navigation stack, SLAM, and onboard perception.
Mood Music
Sep 12, 2023 – Oct 24, 2023
Web app that recommends Spotify playlists based on detected or selected mood signals.
Additional Engineering Systems (Private + Public)
2020 – Present
A collection of internal autonomy and perception systems spanning GPU-accelerated 3D mapping, ROS 2 middleware integration, SLAM experimentation, embedded robotics deployment, applied AI tooling, and full-stack engineering prototypes. Many repositories are maintained privately by default, with selected public work available on GitHub.
- Real-time 3D reconstruction and volumetric mapping pipelines
- ROS 2 stereo perception and navigation middleware
- Simulation-first SLAM and localization evaluation workflows
- Applied LLM and automation toolchains for autonomy research
- Embedded-to-GPU scalable robotics software systems
- Private deployments with code available upon request
Additional repositories are private by default and available for technical review upon request.
Core Competencies
Perception
Multi-sensor fusion across LiDAR, RGB-D, and IMU for robust scene understanding.
Mapping & SLAM
High-fidelity maps and localization with EKF-based state estimation and continuous refinement.
Simulation & Digital Twins
OpenUSD & Digital Twin Workflows in NVIDIA Isaac Sim and Omniverse, built from real-world scans to close the sim-to-real gap.
Autonomy
Navigation, behavior orchestration, and mission logic for safe and efficient fleet operations.
About
Engineering Snapshot
I'm an Autonomous Systems Engineer at Rovex, focused on building perception pipelines, simulation-first validation workflows, and ROS 2 navigation stacks for healthcare deployments. I earned my B.S. in Computer Engineering from the University of Florida after completing my A.A. at Santa Fe College, building a hardware-software co-design foundation across computer organization, digital logic, microprocessors, algorithms, and computational linear algebra.
Based in Gainesville, FL.
Toolbox
- ROS 2, Nav2, Behavior Trees
- NVIDIA Isaac Sim, Omniverse, OpenUSD, Gazebo
- SLAM, EKF-based sensor fusion
- OpenCV, PCL, TensorFlow, OpenVINO
- Docker, CI pipelines, cloud simulation
Resume
Dany Rashwan
Autonomous Systems Engineer · Perception · Mapping · Simulation · Autonomy
Building reliable autonomy stacks with ROS 2, simulation-first validation, and multi-sensor perception. Focused on shipping safe, scalable robotics systems in real-world environments.
About
Autonomous Systems Engineer specializing in robotics, machine learning, and simulation-first development. Backed by a UF Computer Engineering foundation in hardware-software co-design and CRLA-certified math tutoring experience that reinforces quantitative rigor for autonomy work.
Core Skills
- NVIDIA Isaac Sim / Omniverse / OpenUSD digital twins
- Unified Robot Description (URDF/USD) asset integration
- ROS 2 autonomy stacks (Nav2, behavior trees)
- Perception + mapping with LiDAR/RGB-D and EKF fusion
Primary Focus
- NVIDIA Isaac Sim / Omniverse / OpenUSD
- Simulation-First Development
- ROS 2 autonomy stacks (Nav2)
- OpenUSD / USD pipelines
Programming Languages
- C++ / C / C#
- Python
- Java
- JavaScript
- MATLAB
- Assembly
- VHDL
- SQL
- Bash / Shell Scripting
- HTML / CSS
Frameworks & Libraries
- OpenUSD
- ROS / ROS 2 (Nav2, Behavior Trees)
- URDF / Xacro
- SLAM & State Estimation (EKF‑based fusion)
- OpenCV & Point Cloud Library (PCL)
- TensorFlow / PyTorch
- OpenVINO / TensorRT
Tools & Platforms
- NVIDIA Isaac Sim / Omniverse / OpenUSD
- Gazebo
- Docker
- Git / GitHub
- CI for headless simulation
- Jetson AGX
- Raspberry Pi / Arduino
- AWS
- SolidWorks / Altium / Quartus
- Automated environment generation
Familiar With
- NVIDIA Cosmos
- Metropolis VSS
- COLMAP
- 3D Gaussian Splatting
- fVDB/NanoVDB
Hardware & Embedded Systems
- Embedded C, microcontrollers, FPGA
- LiDAR & camera integration
- Sensor fusion & calibration
- PCB & hardware design
- Field‑Oriented Control (FOC)
- CAN bus communication
Technical Knowledge
- Digital Twins & Simulation
- Synthetic Data Generation (SDG)
- Real-to-Sim Pipelines
- Asset Pipeline Engineering
- Robotics & Autonomous Systems
- Perception & Autonomy Stack
Languages
- English (Native/Bilingual)
- Arabic (Native/Bilingual)
Autonomous Systems Engineer — Rovex Technologies Corporation,
Gainesville, FL Jan 2025 – Present
- Simulation & Digital Twins: Engineered high-fidelity digital twins in NVIDIA Isaac Sim, Omniverse, and OpenUSD workflows to validate autonomy stacks and perception pipelines before deployment, reducing field testing cycles by 13%.
- Navigation & Mapping: Built navigation and mapping pipelines that transform multi-sensor visual and depth data into simulation-ready 3D world models for hospital corridors and stretcher transport routes.
- Autonomy Stack Architecture: Architected and optimized a ROS 2 autonomy stack with Nav2, mission control, and behavior-tree orchestration, improving collision-free operation by 20.2% in mixed human-robot deployments.
- Clinical Workflow Impact: Supported AMR workflows that attach to standard hospital stretchers, reducing non-clinical transport burden so staff can return to bedside care faster.
- CI/CD for Robotics: Contributed to headless simulation CI with KPI tracking, catching 20%+ regressions before hardware-in-the-loop testing.
Selected technologies: ROS 2, Nav2, NVIDIA Isaac Sim, Omniverse, OpenUSD, OpenCV, PCL, Docker
Robotics Engineer Researcher — University of Florida
May 2024 – Aug 2024
- ROS 2 Development: Built custom ROS packages for robot control and navigation with Git-based workflows.
- SLAM & State Estimation: Tuned SLAM algorithms with EKF-based state estimation in NVIDIA Isaac Sim and Gazebo to improve localization consistency.
- Simulation Research: Developed and evaluated digital twin scenarios for mapping and perception stack validation.
- Research Collaboration: Communicated findings via presentations, technical reports, and architecture recommendations.
Selected technologies: ROS 2, NVIDIA Isaac Sim, Omniverse, OpenUSD, Gazebo, EKF, Git/GitHub
Machine Learning Engineer Intern — Flapmax, Austin, TX (Remote)
May 2023 – Aug 2023
- Model Development: Engineered an MRI tumor detection model with ~95% accuracy and optimized inference using OpenVINO for 4x faster runtime.
- Privacy & Performance: Implemented Federated Learning strategies for privacy-preserving, decentralized model training on sensitive medical data.
Selected technologies: Python, TensorFlow, OpenVINO, Federated Learning
Software Engineer Intern — Snark Health, Nairobi, Kenya (Remote)
May 2022 – Aug 2022
- Data Analysis: Applied K-means clustering to analyze large-scale healthcare datasets from Kenya and identify doctor-patient engagement patterns.
- Model Validation: Validated ML models and presented results at the FAI Summit 2022.
Selected technologies: Python, scikit-learn
Account Specialist — UF Help Desk, Gainesville, FL
Nov 2020 – Jun 2021
- Resolved 100+ technical support tickets per week and managed directory data for 200+ staff.
Math Tutor — Santa Fe College, Gainesville, FL
Feb 2019 – May 2020
- Provided academic support to 200+ students in algebra through calculus.
Autonomous Hospital Transport Robot Jan 2024 – Dec 2024
- UF Senior Design (CEN4908C): ROS 2-based autonomous mobile robot for hospital logistics that attaches to standard transport workflows.
- Built the hardware-software stack around Jetson Orin Nano, LiDAR, RGB-D cameras, IMU, Nav2, SLAM, RViz, and mission control nodes.
- Validated navigation and localization behaviors in Gazebo and NVIDIA Isaac Sim / Omniverse (OpenUSD) before hardware testing in hospital-like corridors.
Mood Music Sep 2023 – Nov 2023
- Web app that recommends a Spotify playlist based on detected or selected mood.
- Repository: github.com/dannirash/Mood-Music
- Tools: OpenCV, Flask, Python, Spotify API, HTML/CSS, JavaScript.
University of Florida, Gainesville, FL
Dec 2024
- Computer Engineering B.S. (Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering)
- Relevant coursework: CDA 3101 (Computer Organization), EEL 3701C (Digital Logic), EEL 4744C (Microprocessor Applications), COP 3530 (Data Structures & Algorithms), MAS 3114 (Computational Linear Algebra), CEN 3031 (Software Engineering), CEN4908C (Senior Design).
- Built the hardware-software rigor needed for real-time autonomy, EKF-based state estimation, and ROS 2 system design.
Santa Fe College, Gainesville, FL
May 2020
- Computer Engineering A.A.
- Transferred to UF Computer Engineering after completing core mathematics, physics, and engineering fundamentals.
Council Member — International Center Council, University of Florida Jan 2023 – Dec 2024
- Co‑founded the council with Dean Marta Wayne to advocate for 1,000+ international students.
- Provided strategic input for programs supporting international students at UF.
Marketing Director — Village Mentors UF Chapter, University of Florida Aug 2020 – Jun 2021
- Delivered mentoring and tutoring to under-resourced students and coordinated outreach.
Associate Mechanical Designer (Dassault Systémes) Aug 2020
- Certified proficiency in 3D CAD design using Dassault Systémes tools. Certificate Validation
NVIDIA GTC25 Physical AI Workshop Nov 2025
- Hands-on workshop on building and deploying AI-powered autonomous systems using NVIDIA Metropolis, Isaac Sim, and Omniverse/OpenUSD workflows.
Introduction to Quantum Computing LinkedIn Learning
- Completed foundational training in qubits, superposition, gates, and circuit-based quantum reasoning. Credential Listing
CRLA Certified Math Tutor Aug 2019
- Recognition by the College Reading and Learning Association. Learn more
Photography
Photography is where my visual systems thinking started. Composition, lighting, and motion studies directly inform how I design camera-LiDAR perception pipelines, feature selection, and robust scene understanding for autonomous robots.
See more on Instagram.
Game Hub
Side projects built for fun, experimentation, and interaction design. These game prototypes sharpen my real-time systems intuition outside of robotics work.
Gator Buster Jan 2021 – Apr 2021
Description: Arcade game where players bust maskless gators for points.
Repository: Gator Buster
Controls: Use SPACE or TOUCH.
Ping Pong Apr 2025
Description: Classic ping pong game built with p5.js featuring power-ups, AI, and timed mode.
Repository: Ping Pong Game
Controls: Q/A (Left), P/L (Right), T (Timed mode), ESC (Pause)