Skip to content
Kai Zhao

Bay Area · AI, full-stack & systems

Kai Zhao

Software Engineer building AI-powered products.

From interactive prototypes to reliable AI and backend systems.

UC Berkeley · Graduating May 2027

Selected work

01 / MouseFit Studio

Find your fit.
See every detail.

Find a mouse that fits your hand. Explore a keyboard, layer by layer.

What I builtA deployed recommendation platform with a 434-model mouse catalog and interactive 3D tools.

~80%testers satisfied with MouseFit’s recommendations

Feedback from 30+ testers, collected through direct messages.

Next.jsThree.jsFastAPIPostgreSQL
Explore the full product
Interactive playground2 demos · No sign-in
Stylized blue mouse and smooth mannequin hand showing a two-finger claw grip

Shape. Scale. Grip.

Adjust hand size · Switch grips · Rotate in 3D

02 / AI toy & voice systems

A little character.
A real conversation.

Meet ChooChoo, an AI voice companion for stories and conversation in English or Chinese.

What I builtA streaming speech-to-text, LLM, and text-to-speech pipeline for a BK7258 voice device.

7s → 3.5sresponse latency in my BK7258 device pipeline

Device timing after switching to 20 ms audio chunks. ChooChoo is a separate web demo of the companion experience.

PythonWebSocketsSpeech-to-textVoice AI
Open ChooChoo directly
ChooChooEnglish / 中文
SAY HELLO TO

ChooChoo.

Stories start with a little curiosity.

Launch the web demo · Enable your mic when ready

03 / RiseLink recorder platform

Record on a handheld device. Sync the audio and read the transcript in its companion app.

What I builtThe Android app, BLE / Wi-Fi audio sync, and an asynchronous cloud transcription pipeline on GCP.

~50%lower short-recording transcription latency in my manual testing

Measured against the original pipeline after adding a dedicated path for short recordings.

KotlinJetpack ComposeBLE / Wi-FiGCP
Recorded hardware demo1 min 38 sec

Engineering in practice

Experience

Building useful software with teams.

  1. Jul 2026 - Present

    Remote / Sacramento, CA

    Developer

    RiseLink

    Building the Android and cloud software behind a connected voice recorder.

    • Built the Kotlin/Compose app, device communication, and Wi-Fi audio-sync workflows.
    • Deployed asynchronous transcription on GCP and debugged protocols with hardware engineers.
    • Supported the RiseLink × Agora conversational-AI workshop at Robotics Fair 2026.
    KotlinJetpack ComposeCloud RunCloud TasksFirestoreSpeech-to-Text
  2. Nov 2025 - Present

    Berkeley, CA

    IT / Software Assistant

    Berkeley Law Library

    Developing data tools that make university research and operations more reliable.

    • Adapted Python scraping across 200+ faculty sites, reducing extraction from 2–5 minutes of manual work per site to seconds.
    PythonBeautiful SoupData ProcessingValidation
  3. Mar 2026 - May 2026

    Remote, US

    AI Agent Builder Intern

    NeuralSeek

    Built and demonstrated a customized AWS-hosted agent for grounded technical feedback.

    • Implemented multi-model LLM routing, retrieval grounding, context-window optimization, and automated code evaluation.
    AWSLLM RoutingRetrievalCode Evaluation
  4. Jan 2025 - Apr 2025

    Berkeley, CA

    Full Stack Engineer Intern

    Someidea AI

    Shipped structured AI services for search and personalized financial analysis.

    • Built a Llama query parser that turns free-form prompts into validated JSON.
    • Shipped schema-validated financial reporting with LangChain and GPT-4o.
    Llama 3.1LangChainGPT-4oStructured OutputsJSON Schema
Additional experiencePolyLabs · FTC Robotics · MS Rocketry

The product, business, and mentoring work that shapes how I collaborate and build.

Business Development Intern

PolyLabs Inc

Jun – Aug 2024 · Remote

Connected product development with market research for an AI education platform.

  • Analyzed global market and company data to identify potential partners and support strategic outreach.
  • Built educational prompts and interactive mini-games for ScratchGPT (then at scratchgpt.xyz), and tested features with the product team. The platform’s current editor is STAX.
Market ResearchProduct DevelopmentEducation
Explore the current STAX editor

Team Lead & Mentor · FIRST Tech Challenge

FTC Robotics · Team 10602

Team lead: Aug 2022 – May 2023 · Mentor: May 2023 – Apr 2024

Led a student robotics team in Fairfield, Iowa, then mentored new members remotely in programming and robot systems.

  • Taught Java programming for autonomous robot behavior, alongside mechanical design and robot-system fundamentals.
  • Supported newer members as they learned to build and compete; the team achieved a state championship.
JavaAutonomous ProgrammingRobot SystemsMentoring

Team Lead & Mentor · American Rocketry Challenge

MS Rocketry

Team lead: Aug 2021 – May 2023 · Mentor: May 2023 – Apr 2024

Led the rocketry team in Fairfield, Iowa, then returned as a remote mentor to help new members design and build.

  • Designed and manufactured model-rocket components using Fusion 360 and SolidWorks, and mentored members in mechanical design.
  • Team achievements included a state championship, a national finalist placement, and qualification for NASA Student Launch.
Fusion 360SolidWorksFabricationMentoring

More to explore

Additional projects

More experiments in software, AI, and product building.

12 projects

Backend systems

Distributed Job System

A Go and PostgreSQL job queue with worker leases, retries, delayed scheduling, and crash recovery. Includes idempotent submissions, operational metrics, and an admin CLI.

GoPostgreSQLConcurrencyObservability

Someidea AI · Financial analysis

Financial AI Agent

Turns financial prompts into structured balance sheets and cash-flow statements. Uses LangChain, GPT-4o, and schema validation to produce consistent reports.

PythonLangChainGPT-4oJSON Schema

Chrome extension · Applied AI

VentureSignal

A Chrome extension that tracks startup traction signals and drafts investor follow-ups. Parses company websites and uses LLM workflows to suggest reasons to reconnect.

Chrome ExtensionLLM WorkflowsParsing
Explore 4 more software projectsShow fewer software projectsMambo · Queuebot · Image Processing · ScratchGPT

Backend API · Learning project

Image Processing Service

An authenticated API for image uploads, resizing, cropping, and format conversion. Built with FastAPI, cached transformations, and database migrations.

FastAPIJWTSQLAlchemyPillow

Community tools

Queuebot

Organizes gaming groups with player slots, waitlists, and automatic promotion. A shareable viewer stays in sync with queue state in PostgreSQL.

TypeScriptFastifyDiscordPrisma

Conversational AI · Community tools

Mambo

A Discord AI companion with user memory, server-knowledge retrieval, image questions, and web search. Adds persistent games and response caching to reduce repeated model calls.

TypeScriptdiscord.jsQwenModalTavilyDocker

PolyLabs · Educational product

ScratchGPT → STAX

Contributed mini-games, learning prompts, and product testing at PolyLabs. I worked on ScratchGPT at scratchgpt.xyz; its current editor is STAX.

ScratchLearning DesignProduct Testing
Beyond software5 projects · SolidWorks gallery, design, engineering & research

Hands-on work that connects interfaces, physical systems, and product decisions.

CALO nutrition-scanner concept: tablet form, stand, and interface design

Product design concept · Mar 2023

CALO Calories Scanner

A nutrition-scanner concept connecting a physical product with tablet and phone interfaces. Designed interactive Figma flows, CAD models, and KeyShot renders.

FigmaSolidWorksAutodesk FusionKeyShot
Melting Glaciers augmented-reality prototype displayed in outdoor and indoor settings

Augmented reality · Design project

Melting Glaciers

An augmented-reality project that brings glacier and climate research into physical spaces through visual storytelling.

Augmented RealityVisual StorytellingClimate Communication

Industrial design · Concept proposal

Life Rocket

A portable emergency-signaling concept for remote environments. Explores visibility, portability, and use when connectivity or power is limited.

Industrial DesignConcept DevelopmentDesign Research

UC Berkeley E26 · Team project · May 2024

Wind Turbine Design & Testing

Designed, simulated, fabricated, and tested a wind turbine with a seven-person Berkeley team. Combined SolidWorks and FEA with 3D printing; the team reported 1.66 W peak output.

SolidWorksFEA3D PrintingPhysical Testing

Industry research · Jan 2025

ASML Semiconductor Analysis

Analyzed ASML’s competitive position, acquisitions, and supply-chain risks for Berkeley’s FEDS. Applied Five Forces, SWOT, and PESTLE to technology and supplier dependencies.

Supply ChainPorter’s Five ForcesSWOTPESTLE

Technical skills

Languages

  • Python
  • Java
  • SQL
  • C
  • TypeScript / JavaScript

Frameworks

  • React
  • Next.js
  • FastAPI
  • Node.js
  • Spring Boot
  • SQLAlchemy
  • LangChain

Data & Cloud

  • PostgreSQL
  • SQLite
  • Redis
  • AWS
  • GCP
  • Oracle Cloud
  • Docker

Tools & Testing

  • Git / GitHub
  • GitHub Actions
  • Alembic
  • pytest
  • Jest