Rithish Dharanidharan
Founder, Project Phantom
This is the personal work of a UAE student engineer building systems across autonomous flight, AI, energy, computer vision, and real-world hardware.
My work has ranged from flight systems and computer vision to energy concepts and games. Different fields, same instinct: find the constraint, make a version, and push it hard enough to reveal what matters.
I founded Project Phantom, but this website is my personal record—the work, the experiments, and the direction I'm heading next.
From flight tests in the UAE to AI systems for healthcare and energy, each project begins with a specific constraint.
A youth-led VTOL fixed-wing UAV platform for environmental monitoring, sustainable endurance, and onboard Mercury AI.
My founding project. I lead platform direction and flight-system development; four early flights collected 28 minutes of atmospheric data up to 150 metres.
A self-healing battery concept using sensor data and AI analytics to predict failure before it takes useful energy offline.
A systems-thinking project recognised with first place at the WFES AI Energy Hackathon.
A diagnostic-support concept applying deep learning to endoscopic imaging for earlier gastrointestinal-disease signals.
An exploration of where visual AI can make complex medical information easier to interpret.
A vision-based system that identifies faulty pipe fittings on a moving conveyor and triggers a physical response.
A practical chain from camera input to automation—not just a model on a screen.
An AI-driven disaster-response concept coordinating drones for detection, assistance, and communications relay in low-connectivity areas.
An attempt to design for the situations where a fragmented response costs the most.
Project Phantom · Dubai
Unipreneur Inc. · Dubai
Gulf Asian English School · Sharjah
Gulf Asian English School · Sharjah
A full, date-ordered record of competition results, finalist selections, scholarships, representation, and recognition across sustainability, AI, aviation, and digital innovation.
Selected as one of six finalist teams to present Project Phantom’s sustainable aviation framework. The 222-page technical thesis and final presentation were evaluated by government, university, and industry stakeholders.
Selected as one of six shortlisted Project Phantom teams and awarded a 20% institutional academic scholarship for undergraduate studies in recognition of the team’s technical design and presentation.
Part of the winning team for LiCycle, an AI-assisted self-healing intelligent battery system for sustainability, monitoring, efficiency optimization, and future energy resilience.
Secured third place in the STEM & AI Innovators’ Challenge for AEGIS, an AI-based healthcare concept focused on gastrointestinal disease detection through medical imaging and machine learning.
Selected to represent Gulf Asian English School, Sharjah, at the CBSE Skill Expo 2025–26 First International & Regional Event in Dubai, presenting innovation and project-based learning.
Awarded Overall Champion and Best Social Impact for an AI-powered emergency evacuation and response system integrating smart monitoring and drone-assisted support.
Awarded first place for participation and innovation in game development and digital creativity during the 2024–2025 academic year.
Secured second place in the Innovation with Sustainability Interschool Competition for a sustainable smart-city concept with self-powered infrastructure and environmental systems.
Recognized for excellence in adapting to virtual learning, maintaining strong outcomes, and active participation during the transition to online education.
Awarded third place for a sustainability-focused solar-energy concept using unused infrastructure space to reduce operational energy costs.
Selected founder milestones across aerospace, youth innovation, school leadership, aviation operations, and the ecosystems helping Rithish turn early prototypes into durable work.
Accepted into The Knowledge Society Dubai cohort for 2026–2027 to explore deep-tech frameworks, collaborate with ambitious peers, and learn how to scale hardware innovation.
Supported the MAAD Model Aircraft Airshow Dubai as an Event Volunteer in Media and Audio Management, handling live audio systems, technical coordination, announcements, presentations, and media flow during a high-activity aviation event.
Project Phantom received funding and backing from Unipreneur Inc. to advance a long-term vision for autonomous, multi-sensor telemetry and zero-emission aerospace systems for environmental monitoring and data collection.
Co-created Mango Miles with Meherab Hossain Mokter and Mufeed Kakkidi during a rapid Unipreneur Spark Tank challenge, securing second place after building and pitching a concept from three random prompts.
Rithish’s technical learning spans coding, AI, data, robotics, remote sensing, web design, and agentic development workflows.
AI-assisted development workflows, agentic coding, context management, prompting, code review, MCP integrations, custom skills, subagents, and development automation.
Satellite-data applications for environmental monitoring, planet-scale analysis, AI-adjacent environmental systems, and real-world problem solving.
Python Developer Certification focused on programming, analysis, and practical technical fluency.
Robotics foundations across sensors, electronics, IoT and embedded systems, with hands-on functional projects.
Python programming, datasets, data analysis, Pandas, NumPy, and foundational data work.
Artificial intelligence and machine-learning concepts through the University of Helsinki and MinnaLearn programme.
Python, data analysis, visualisation, datasets, simple models, and trend exploration.
HTML5, CSS3, Flexbox, CSS Grid, responsive design, front-end UI/UX, and project-based problem solving.
AI applications, digital transformation, workplace automation, and future-facing technology skills.
For meaningful projects, engineering conversations, collaborations, or a problem that feels worth taking apart—send a signal.
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