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IDAN KESTENBOM

AI Research · Robotics · Autonomous Systems | Student Researcher · Science Fair Award Winner

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About Me

Building intelligent machines that help people.

I'm an aspiring AI Research Scientist focused on robotics, reinforcement learning, and autonomous systems. I've built end-to-end ML and robotic platforms including an autonomous surgical system (VASARA) and large-scale news analysis models.

Experienced in iOS development (10+ apps, 2 published on the App Store) and leading a nonprofit tackling food waste. Conducted research on Alzheimer's disease mechanisms (NMDA receptor phosphorylation).

0+ Apps Built

0 Published Apps

0 Science Fairs

idan.py

class Idan:
    location  = "Sunnyvale, CA"
    school    = "Santa Clara HS '28"
    focus     = [
        "Reinforcement Learning",
        "Robotics & Control",
        "Autonomous Systems",
        "Computer Vision",
    ]
    research_experience = True
    apps_shipped = 10

    def status(self):
        return "Building cool stuff"

Experience

Campaign Technical Director

Agarwal for Congress · Full-time

Mar 2026 — Present

Built and shipped the candidate's primary campaign site (ethanagarwal.com) on Next.js 15, Supabase, and Stripe
Designed and shipped two opposition-research microsites: khannarecord.com (antisemitism record) and a financial-disclosures investigation
Wrote a Python pipeline that scrapes and OCRs Congressional financial disclosures from the House Clerk site
Santa Clara County, California · Remote

Founding Engineer & Product Lead

The FoodXChange

Jul 2023 — Present

Collaborating with a small team of engineers to build a donation-based food marketplace to reduce food waste
Driving end-to-end product strategy and development for a marketplace-style platform currently in active development

Team Lead & Software Lead

FTC TeamTaro

Jun 2024 — Present

Built ML-powered autonomous navigation algorithms for competitive robotics
Led 10-person team through full robot design, build, and programming cycle
Raised $1,500+ and engaged 225 community members through outreach events

Research — Autonomous Surgical Robotics

Synopsys Science Fair

Jul 2025 — Feb 2026

Built autonomous vascular suturing system (VASARA) using RL + VLA, achieving <0.5mm simulated stitch spacing accuracy
Engineered CoreXY robot with sub-mm precision across thousands of motion cycles
Trained using reinforcement learning in NVIDIA Isaac Sim with domain randomization

Research — Humanitarian Crisis Detection

Synopsys Science Fair

Jun 2024 — Jan 2025

Trained deep learning model on 20+ years of news data to detect humanitarian crisis patterns

Research — AI Fitness App

Synopsys Science Fair

Sep 2023 — Jan 2024

Built AI app generating personalized fitness warm-ups with Apple ML real-time form feedback

Awards

Dr. Michael V. McCusker Award

SCVSEF · Mar 2026 — VASARA

Honorable Mention, Biological Science & Engineering

SCVSEF · Mar 2026 — VASARA

Exceptional Project for the Betterment of Humanity

SVP Market Research · Apr 2025 — ForeHumanity

Honorable Mention, Physical Science & Engineering

Synopsys Championship · Apr 2025 — ForeHumanity

CSEF — 3rd Place, Mathematical Sciences

Apr 2024 — PhysioRise · Nominated for Thermo Fisher JIC

Synopsys Championship — 1st Place, Physical Science & Engineering

Mar 2024 — PhysioRise · Castro Family Award · Qualified for CSEF

Publications

Upregulated phosphorylation in Alzheimer's disease links excitotoxicity of NMDA receptors and impaired long-term potentiation

Co-authored research abstract · Jan 2025 – Apr 2025 · Analyzed differential gene expression data linking Alzheimer's disease to inhibited long-term potentiation

Featured Projects

Campaign Tech Next.js Technical Director

Agarwal for Congress

Three production sites for the CA-17 primary: candidate site, antisemitism-record investigation, and a financial-disclosures pipeline that scrapes + OCRs House Clerk PDFs.

Next.jsSupabaseStripePythonOCR