About Me
I'm Ph.D. student at the University at Buffalo working with Dr. Karthik Dantu at Distributed RObotics and Networked Embedded Sensing (DRONESLab). Previously, I am also taught the CSE568 course at UB.
My research interests lie at the intersection of motion planning, control and robot learning. Currently I am working on 3D representations for robot learning.
You can find my CV here
My research interests lie at the intersection of motion planning, control and robot learning. Currently I am working on 3D representations for robot learning.
You can find my CV here
Selected Publications
QuayPoints: A Reasoning Framework to Bridge the Information Gap Between Global and Local Planning in Autonomous Racing
Autonomous racing demands rapid, coordinated perception, planning, and control. Conventional pipelines often lose high-level racing context as information flows downstream, limiting local decision-making. Our work introduces QuayPoints—regions along the raceline where deviations lead to significant time loss. By conveying this global optimality knowledge to the local planner, QuayPoints help existing planners make more informed decisions and achieve consistently better performance across diverse race tracks.
VISION: Visual Inspection System with Intelligent Observation and Navigation
Culverts along canals like the Erie Canal require regular inspection but are difficult for humans to access due to their geometry, lighting, and environmental conditions. We present VISION, a language-guided autonomous inspection system that integrates a vision–language model with constrained viewpoint planning. Brief prompts generate open-vocabulary defect proposals, depth fusion recovers scale, and a planner commands the robot to capture targeted re-images. Deployed on a quadruped in real culverts, VISION achieved up to 80% agreement with expert assessments.
KFC: Kinematics Only Differential Flatness based Control for F1Tenth Autonomous Racing
2023 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS)
In this work, we show the effectiveness of Differential Flatness based control for high-speed trajectory tracking for car-like robots. We demonstrate a 15% increase in trajectory tracking performance compared to MPC while reducing the required compute by more than 50%, both in simulation and on a real 1:10 scale race-car.
Other Research Projects
Excavators, earth-movers, and large construction vehicles have been instrumental in propelling human civilization forward at an unprecedented pace. Recent breakthroughs in computing power, algorithms, and learning architectures have ushered in a new era of autonomy in robotics, now enabling these machines to operate independently. To this end, we introduce EARTH (Excavation Autonomy with Resilient Traversability and Handling), a groundbreaking framework for autonomous excavators and earth-movers. EARTH integrates several novel perception, planning, and hydraulic control components that work synergistically to empower embodied autonomy in these massive machines. This three-year project, funded by MOOG and undertaken in collaboration with the Center for Embodied Autonomy and Robotics (CEAR), represents a significant leap forward in the field of construction robotics.
Previous Projects
F1tenth Simulator in Gazebo classic and ROS Noetic
A geometry based path planning system for UAV remote sensing in urban environments
An inexpensive and reliable autonomous Unmanned Aerial System (UAV) capable of performing point-to-point autonomous missions
An open source tool to trigger cameras using Pixhawk and Raspberry Pi
A hybrid Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) with Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) capabilites built around a high-wing trainer model aircraft
Education
Jan. 2024 - Present
University at Buffalo
PhD, Computer Science and Engineering
Distributed RObotics and Networked Embedded Sensing (DRONES) Lab
Advised by Dr. Karthik Dantu
Distributed RObotics and Networked Embedded Sensing (DRONES) Lab
Advised by Dr. Karthik Dantu
Aug. 2022 - Dec. 2023
University at Buffalo
M.S. in Robotics
Aug. 2016 - May 2020
Mumbai University
B.E. in Computer Science