Leonardo Cencetti

Profile

I am an engineer driven by curiosity and craft. I thrive at the intersection of robotics, science, and real-world constraints, turning complex problems into reliable, maintainable systems.
I prioritize well-tested, documented, and deployable code — grounded in rigorous tooling, clean architecture, and test-driven delivery — so complex systems remain reliable and maintainable under real-world constraints, and teams can move fast with confidence.
My experience spans diverse teams and cultures, and I love building momentum with people who think differently: it's where the innovation and success happen. I enjoy mentoring, shaping engineering practices, and designing processes that make teams faster and more confident.
I am always looking for the next challenge that blends perception, autonomy, and systems thinking — places where reliability matters, constraints are real, and mission success depends on the details. I want to contribute meaningfully and help a team ship results with confidence.

Experience

Flybotix

Lausanne, CH

R&D Engineer

Feb 2023 - Present

Lead developer of the localization and navigation stack for the ASIO X drone:
  1. Selection, integration and fusion of multiple sensing modalities (inertial, visual, LiDAR, radar) for robust state estimation in challenging indoor environments and conditions.
  2. Deployment on embedded and ARM64 architectures (PX4 Autopilot, NVIDIA Jetson), focusing on real-time performance, portability (Docker), reliability, and availability.
  3. Strong diligence in tooling, documentation, and test-driven development, with extensive use of CI/CD pipelines, unit and integration testing, and development of tools and procedures for sensor calibration/benchmarking, data processing, and visualization.
  4. Supervision and mentoring of junior engineers and interns.
  • Sensor Fusion
  • Autonomous Navigation
  • SLAM
  • ROS1
  • ROS2
  • CI/CD
  • Docker

Freshape

Lausanne, CH

Robotics Engineer

Jul 2021 - Feb 2023

  1. Integration of inertial and imaging sensors in embedded RTOS platforms.
  2. Development of drivers and auto-focus algorithms for electro-tunable lenses.
  3. Development of computer-vision, state estimation, calibration algorithms.
  4. Deployment of CI/CD pipelines, with hardware-in-the-loop for autonomous calibration, unit and regression testing of products.
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 state estimation and optimization algorithms for a modular and reconfigurable delivery-drone for last-km delivery:
  1. Dynamic optimization of motor placement for the payload characteristics.
  2. Unified and adaptive control allocation policies for the optimized configurations.
  3. State estimation and sensor fusion with 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

Integration of GNSS and inertial sensors, and development of Kalman state estimation algorithms for the ESA INTERACT rover, developed by ESA HRI Lab in collaboration with the German Aerospace Center (DLR).
Reference: Thomas Krueger thomas.krueger@esa.int
  • Kalman Filtering
  • DDS
  • C++
  • Python
  • MATLAB

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 detection of targets (birds) and flight operations:
  • Development of computer-vision algorithms for bird detection and classification, based on TensorFlow and transfer learning techniques.
  • Autonomous navigation and path-planning algorithms for perimeter patrolling and target interception.
    • The 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

    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
      • MATLAB
      • Web Stack
        Frameworks
      • ROS1
      • ROS2
      • Zenoh
      • Zephyr RTOS
        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
      B1
    • Spanish
      B2

    Interests

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

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