Nikita Jha’s transformative internship at Azalea Robotics

In spring 2025, Nikita Jha, a fourth-year Franklin and Terry student, embarked on a transformative internship at Azalea Robotics, a startup revolutionizing airport baggage handling through autonomous robots. As a Foundation Fellow in the Morehead Honors College pursuing a dual degree in computer science and economics, Jha’s experience was more than a spring internship—it marked a defining chapter in her journey toward innovation at the intersection of technology and entrepreneurship.

Jha’s journey began in 2022 when she joined UGA as a Foundation Fellow. Drawn to the blend of academic rigor and real-world opportunity, she chose to study computer science and economics. Through her coursework and experiences, she connected with industry pioneers who ignited her vision of merging technical expertise with business acumen.

Mentorship from Franklin faculty and alumni—particularly within the School of Computing—sharpened her focus and guided her toward opportunities aligned with her goal of creating impactful technology solutions, she said. Her dual degree enabled her to combine coding expertise with business and economic reasoning, a skill set she would later apply directly during her internship at Azalea Robotics.

“I’ve always had an interest in economics as well as in the technical field of computer science and software engineering,” Jha said. “I realized that by working at this intersection, I could gain the technical knowledge to understand how systems function at every level and guide my thinking toward implementing practical solutions.”

Discovering Azalea Robotics

The opportunity to intern at Azalea Robotics emerged during a banquet held as part of Foundation Fellow Interview Weekend. There, Jha met Azalea co-founder David Millard. His vision for transforming the long-stagnant airport baggage industry immediately captivated her, she said. When Jha learned that Azalea had secured seed funding and joined the prestigious accelerator Y Combinator, she recognized the chance to immerse herself in an innovative startup environment.

Millard (BS Mathematics and Computer Science, ’14) cofounded Azalea Robotics with John B. Stroud (BS Mathematics and Economics, ’16). Both are alumni of the Foundation Fellowship.

The internship offered hands-on technical work alongside exposure to the fast-paced entrepreneurial mindset that aligned with Jha’s ambitions. She saw Azalea as an opportunity to work in “a very innovative, cutting-edge field in robotics—especially in airport baggage handling, an industry that hadn’t seen much change or progression,” she said.

Tackling New Challenges

Within Azalea’s fast-paced environment, Jha encountered a steep learning curve. While her Franklin coursework had strengthened her coding skills, robotics was largely uncharted territory.

She quickly learned to tackle complex problems across areas such as sensor fusion, numerical optimization with Kalman filters, computer vision, and simulation testing, using a wide range of tools and programming languages including Python and C++.

“I came in with a very non-traditional background,” she said. “I didn’t have experience in robotics beyond a few projects I completed in high school. Every day was a new learning experience. Before developing, I often spent two or three days reading textbooks, reviewing articles online, or talking with David, who’s extremely knowledgeable.”

Her persistence paid off when she delivered a tracking system that enhanced the robot’s precision—a testament to Franklin’s emphasis on problem-solving. One of her most memorable moments came early in the internship when she and Millard worked together to unbox a new robotic arm.

“It was a really crazy day for me because I came in expecting to do software work, and suddenly we were doing something completely out of the blue,” she said. “We had to figure out how to get a 2,000-pound, industrial-grade Nachi robot arm out of a wooden box—maneuvering a crane to find the right angle and eventually using a makeshift wooden lever.”

“After the room was filled with bubble wrap, David told me, ‘You know, Nikita, it’s just all about dogged persistence. That’s all we do here at Azalea Robotics.’ That quote stuck with me for the entire internship.”

A Fresh Perspective

Beyond technical work, Jha thrived in Azalea’s dynamic startup environment. She sat in on investor meetings, gaining insight into funding strategies and market positioning. Bringing a fresh perspective, she suggested novel mechanisms and designs for the robot’s end effector—the component responsible for picking up luggage—sparking creative solutions.

Unburdened by years of industry convention, she brought an eagerness to learn and a willingness to ask “why not?”—helping push the team toward innovation. Her proudest achievement, she said, was fixing a “critical bug” in her perception pipeline, significantly improving the system’s velocity estimates.

“I was able to break the system down, challenge each assumption, and narrow in on the root cause,” she said. “The filter was incorrectly using global extents rather than local ones, which wasn’t reflected in the system’s internal dynamics model. After fixing this, my Kalman filter was finally able to correctly estimate the moving bag’s position and velocity in real time.”

Staying Ahead of the Curve

To stay current in the rapidly evolving fields of robotics, artificial intelligence, and entrepreneurship, Jha relies on resources such as Hacker News, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, and arXiv. She also scrolls X to see what engineers are building, drawing inspiration from tangible products and emerging tools.

Her internship at Azalea Robotics solidified her aspiration to one day launch her own startup, blending technology and business to solve real-world problems. She credits Franklin, Terry, and the Foundation Fellowship with equipping her with the tools, connections, and confidence needed to pursue these opportunities and continue developing in her field.

Following her spring internship, Jha spent the summer as a forward-deployed software engineering intern at Palantir Technologies in New York City.

“Coming to UGA and taking advantage of everything that Franklin, Terry, and the Morehead Honors College have to offer has shaped me in so many ways that I like to think of myself as a Swiss Army knife in terms of my capabilities,” she said.

UGA offers students countless opportunities to gain hands-on experience and prepare for successful careers. Through the School of Computing, students can explore coursework in areas such as artificial intelligence and cybersecurity while engaging in experiential learning opportunities, including cooperative education, faculty-mentored research, study away programs, and industry internships. These initiatives—paired with career services, distinctive scholarship programs, and multidisciplinary pathways—empower students to follow in Jha’s footsteps, blending knowledge, innovation, and real-world application to shape their own transformative journeys.