Leonardo Cencetti

Profile

Robotics engineer with hands-on ownership of localization, sensor fusion, and autonomous navigation stacks for UAVs and embedded systems.
I build production-grade robotics software with strong engineering fundamentals: test-driven development, CI/CD, reproducible tooling, and clear documentation, so teams can ship reliably under real-world constraints.
My work spans perception, estimation, and deployment across cross-functional and international teams, with a focus on maintainable architecture, operational robustness, and technical mentoring.
I am motivated by roles where autonomy performance, system reliability, and execution discipline are critical to mission success.

Experience

Flybotix

Lausanne, CH

R&D Engineer - Autonomy

Feb 2023 - Present

Technical lead for localization and autonomous navigation software on across Flybotix drones:
  1. Owned integration and fusion of inertial, visual, LiDAR, and radar sensing for robust state estimation and mapping in GNSS-denied and cluttered indoor environments.
  2. Deployed and maintained the navigation stack on PX4 and NVIDIA Jetson (ARM64), with focus on real-time behavior, portability (Docker), observability, and operational reliability.
  3. Established development workflows with CI/CD, unit and integration testing, and dedicated tooling for sensor calibration, benchmarking, data processing, and visualization.
  4. Mentored junior engineers and interns, supporting planning, onboarding, and day-to-day technical execution.
  • Sensor Fusion
  • Autonomous Navigation
  • SLAM
  • ROS1
  • ROS2
  • CI/CD
  • Docker

Freshape

Lausanne, CH

Robotics Engineer

Jul 2021 - Feb 2023

  1. Integrated inertial and imaging sensors on embedded RTOS platforms for reliable field operation.
  2. Developed device drivers and autofocus algorithms for electro-tunable lens systems.
  3. Implemented computer vision, state estimation, and calibration algorithms for product pipelines.
  4. Built CI/CD pipelines with hardware-in-the-loop for autonomous calibration, unit testing, and regression validation.
Reference: Guillaume Guérin guillaume.guerin@freshape.com
  • Sensor Integration
  • Zephyr RTOS
  • Embedded
  • CI/CD
  • Agile Development

Laboratory of Intelligent Systems (EPFL)

Lausanne, CH

Master Thesis Project + Traineeship

Oct 2020 - Apr 2021

Thesis on estimation and optimization methods for a modular, reconfigurable last-km delivery drone platform:
  1. Optimized motor placement against varying payload characteristics using dynamic optimization methods.
  2. Designed unified and adaptive control allocation strategies for reconfigured airframe layouts.
  3. Implemented state estimation and sensor fusion pipelines based on Unscented Kalman Filters.
Reference: Fabrizio Schiano fabrizio.schiano.ext@leonardo.com
  • Metaheuristic Optimization
  • Kalman Filtering
  • ROS1
  • MATLAB
  • Python

ESA ESTEC (Human-Robot Interaction Lab)

Noordwijk, NL

Robotics Intern

Feb 2020 - Aug 2020

Integrated GNSS and inertial sensing and developed Kalman-filter-based state estimation for the ESA INTERACT rover, within ESA HRI Lab and DLR collaboration activities.
Reference: Thomas Krueger thomas.krueger@esa.int
  • Kalman Filtering
  • DDS
  • C++
  • Python
  • MATLAB

ClearSpace (EPFL)

Lausanne, CH

Intern

Sep 2019 - Feb 2020

    Laboratory of Intelligent Systems (EPFL)

    Lausanne, CH

    Robotics Trainee

    Jun 2019 - Sep 2019

    Design, development, and deployment of a drone-based bird-deterrent system capable of autonomous targeting and flight operations:
    1. Development of computer vision algorithms for bird detection and classification, based on TensorFlow and transfer learning techniques.
    2. Autonomous navigation and path-planning algorithms for perimeter patrol and target interception.
    3. Project was carried out in partnership with the SwissTech Convention Center (STCC).
    Reference: Fabrizio Schiano fabrizio.schiano.ext@leonardo.com
    • UAV
    • TensorFlow
    • Computer Vision
    • Autonomous Navigation
    • Python

    Dronistics (EPFL)

    Lausanne, CH

    Academic Project

    Feb 2019 - Jun 2019

      Ubiatar

      Turin, IT

      Robotics Intern

      Jan 2018 - Jul 2018

        Education

        MSc in Robotics Engineering + Minor in Space Technology

        Lausanne, CH

        École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)

        Sep 2018 - Feb 2021

        BSc in Electronic and Communications Engineering

        Shanghai, CN

        Tongji University (同济大学)

        Aug 2016 - Jul 2017

        BSc in Electronic and Communications Engineering

        Turin, IT

        Politecnico di Torino

        Sep 2015 - Jul 2018

        Profile picture

        Skills

          • Programming
          • C/C++
          • Python
          • Rust
          • Web Stack
            Frameworks
          • ROS1
          • ROS2
          • Zenoh
          • Zephyr RTOS
          • STM32 HAL
            Developer Tools
          • Git
          • Pytest
          • Pybind11
          • GoogleTest
          • Docker
          • GitHub / GitLab CI/CD
          • Doxygen / Sphinx
            Other
          • Adobe Suite
          • Microsoft Office
          • LaTeX

        Languages

        • Italian
          Native
        • English
          C2
        • French
          B2
        • Spanish
          B2

        Interests

        • Photography
        • Traveling
        • Automation
        • Piano and music
        • Cycling
        • Hiking
        • DIY
        • Board games
        • Sailing
        • Skiing

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