Biography

I am a Graduate Student with Masters in Robotics and Mechatronics from New York University currently working as a Robotics Engineer at BotCrew LLC. My primary research interest lies in the intersection of Optimal Control and Perception. Recently I am exploring reinforcement learning for contact rich manipulation.

Previously I worked as a research associate at Professor Giuseppe Loianno’s Agile Robotics and Perception Laboratory. During my undergraduate studies I worked in Prof Shital Chiddarwar IvLabs building quadrotors and working on control architectures to fly them in wind. Before that I spent the summer of 2022 working at Center of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, DRDO under Dr. Murali Krishna P (Scientist F) working on Autonomous Driving in crowded urban intersections.

Beyond research I enjoy reading, playing cricket, video games, cooking and sketching.

Experience

Robotics Engineer — BotCrew LLC

May 2025 – Present | Austin, Texas

• Developed a Nonlinear Model Predictive Control (NMPC) system for Reeds-Shepp trajectories with gradient based smoothening for the Company’s Flagship Gravion Robot.
• Led the development of robust middleware communication pipeline using FastDDS, ensuring efficient, real-time data exchange between distributed robotic modules.
• Developed a torque-tube and bracket detection system using YOLO26 with TensorRT optimization on the Gravion Robot, generating navigation waypoints to autonomously align the robot relative to detected brackets for precise solar module placement.

Robotics Engineering Intern — BotCrew LLC

Feb 2025 – May 2025 | Duluth, Minnesota

• Designed and developed a ROS-agnostic, optimized mapping engine as an alternative to NAV2, capable of efficiently handling large-scale maps exceeding 5,000 acres, ensuring scalability and reliability for real-world deployments.
• Implemented ORB-SLAM3 for RGB-D SLAM on the Gravion Robot, enabling accurate real-time localization and mapping for robust autonomous navigation in dynamic environments.

Graduate Research Associate — Agile Robotics and Perception Laboratory

Sep 2023 – Jan 2025 | New York University

• Authored and presented research combining NMPC and adaptive control barrier functions, refining RGB-D data with neural networks to enhance depth accuracy and improve real-time obstacle avoidance.
• Collaborated with the design team to optimize quadrotor platform, increasing flight time by 26% through firmware improvements, resulting in greater crash resilience and extended mission duration.
• Engineered a multi-source odometry pipeline integrating OpenVINS visual-inertial odometry with PX4’s onboard IMU and barometer, producing a robust fused state estimate for reliable autonomous navigation across GPS-denied environments.

Undergraduate Research Intern — Center for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, DRDO

May 2022 - July 2022 | Bangalore, India

• Developed a navigation pipeline designed to handle urban landscape complexities, rigorously tested across 15 different weather conditions and various maps, significantly enhancing overall system reliability
• Implemented PID controller and A* navigation algorithms to enable precise control and navigation for autonomous vehicles
• Implemented YOLOv5 for pedestrian detection and achieved safe vehicle movement in 12 test cases of traffic situations, avoiding collisions with pedestrians and vehicles

News

• [Jan 2026] Our Company has shifted to Austin, Texas.
• [May 2025] Joined BotCrew LLC as a Robotics Engineer.
• [Feb 2025] Joined BotCrew LLC as a Robotics Engineering Intern.
• [Dec 2024] Our paper “Reactive Collision Avoidance for Safe Agile Navigation” accepted at International Conference of Robotics and Automation (ICRA) 2025.
• [Sep 2023] Joined Agile Robotics and Perception Laboratory (ARPL) under Prof. Giuseppe Loianno as a Graduate Research Assistant.
• [Sep 2023] Joined New York University as a Mechatronics and Robotics Graduate Student.
• [Apr 2023] Our Paper “From Concept to Reality: An In-Depth Review of Autonomous Driving Strategies and Their Implementation” got accepted in International Conference on Mechanical Design and Manufacturing (ICMDM) 2023