# Daniel Sotsaikich

> Software Engineer at Aurora

Location: Berkeley, California, United States
Profile: https://flows.cv/danielsotsaikich

## Work Experience
### Software Engineer @ Aurora
Jan 2024 – Present | Mountain View, California, United States

### Software Engineer @ Motional
Jan 2022 – Jan 2024 | Remote, USA

### Software Engineer @ Udacity
Jan 2021 – Jan 2022 | Remote, USA

### Hardware Engineering Intern @ Waymo
Jan 2020 – Jan 2020 | Mountain View, California, United States
- Worked to combat the challenges of vehicle autonomy presented by weather
- Led development of confidential testing platform for internal use
- Utilized knowledge of mechanisms, sensors/actuators, and hydraulics/pneumatics in testing platform design
- Set up virtual lab station, designed and conducted experiments, and performed tests for data acquisition
- Implemented image processing system for detection using Python and OpenCV
- Liaised with senior engineers on Planning, Simulation, and Sys Eng teams to understand their work and
challenges
- Participated in discussions with the CEO, CTO, Engineering Directors, and Team Leads to learn about the
self-driving car problem and gain unique insights into current goals and approaches
- Hosted company-wide 30-min poster session and 1-hr final presentation with Q&A to showcase internship project

### Robotics Researcher -  UC Berkeley Hybrid Robotics Lab @ University of California, Berkeley
Jan 2019 – Jan 2019 | Berkeley, California, United States
- Developed juggling control algorithm for a robot to repeatedly bounce a ball on its head while maintaining stability
- Programmed extensively in Matlab and familiarized self with lab’s existing codebase
- Implemented high level juggling controller to work with two distinct low level torque controllers
- Modified simulator and visualizer to include the ball-to-robot contact dynamics and ball flight dynamics
- Tuned algorithm on increasingly complex simulators before testing on hardware
- Utilized Agility Robotics’ Cassie, a bipedal robot with 20 degrees of freedom, as a testing platform
- Was the first lab to display successful juggling results on Cassie, achieving 42 consecutive bounces in experiment
- Published the work as an equally contributing first author at the European Control Conference 2020
- Video showcasing results (with > 25,000 views on Youtube):
    https://hybrid-robotics.berkeley.edu/cassie-juggling/

### Mechanical Engineering Intern @ Acorn Product Development, Inc.
Jan 2018 – Jan 2018 | Newark, California, United States
- Worked on CAD, tolerancing, and drawings of parts using Solidworks
- Used electrical lab equipment to test effectiveness of heating elements, light pipes, and motors
- Debugged and modified defective mechanism on a client’s product
- Communicated with vendors and manufacturers during product development

### Mechanical Engineering Intern @ Bio-Rad Laboratories
Jan 2017 – Jan 2017 | Hercules, California, United States
- Brainstormed, designed and prototyped protective enclosure
- Worked within Solidworks parts and assemblies and utilized version control software to work with teammates
- Following the internship, the submitted design was further developed and made into a real product


## Education
### Master of Science - MS in Mechanical Engineering
Stanford University
Jan 2019 – Jan 2021

### Bachelor of Science - BS in Mechanical Engineering
University of California, Berkeley
Jan 2015 – Jan 2019


## Contact & Social
- LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/dsotsaikich

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Source: https://flows.cv/danielsotsaikich
JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/danielsotsaikich/resume.json
Last updated: 2026-03-23