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Achievement: Pair ExtraordinaireAchievement: YOLOAchievement: QuickdrawAchievement: Pull Shark

Achievements

Achievement: Pair ExtraordinaireAchievement: YOLOAchievement: QuickdrawAchievement: Pull Shark

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@pearwpi

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Shakthi-Bala/README.md

Shakthi Bala

MS Robotics Engineering · WPI · GPA 4.0 Perception · Manipulation · Aerial Robotics · Massachusetts, US

About

I build end-to-end robotic systems — from sensor fusion and learned perception to motion planning, control, and deployment on constrained hardware.

Directed researcher at PeAR Lab (WPI) under Prof. Nitin Sanket, developing lightweight multimodal perception for flapping-wing MAVs that works in snow, smoke, and darkness. Previously at MER Lab (WPI) and DManD Lab (SUTD).

Research

ThermalUSFusionNet — PeAR Lab, WPI · Jan 2026 – Present · Advisor: Prof. Nitin Sanket

  • Designed a 24 g, 1.2 mW ultrasound + thermal stack for a 148 g flapping-wing MAV — replacing LiDAR/RGB-D in degraded conditions
  • Built ThermalUSFusionNet: FiLM-conditioned encoder–decoder for per-pixel metric depth + uncertainty up to 7 m
  • Deployed full perception + RL navigation stack on Raspberry Pi Zero 2W at 18 Hz across 10+ indoor/outdoor sites
  • Robust on materials that defeat RGB-D: transparent acrylic, aluminum foil, matte black surfaces

Ensemble Antipodal Grasping — MER Lab, WPI · Aug – Dec 2025 · Advisor: Prof. Berk Calli

  • Modular benchmarking framework across 1000+ grasp attempts under noisy perception/execution
  • Ensemble grasp selection combining geometry planners + learned quality networks → +7% grasp success
  • Built failure analysis tools separating perception vs. execution failures

Projects

Project Stack Result
DeepVIO — FiLM Visual-Inertial Odometry PyTorch · ResNet-18 · BiLSTM 92% test loss reduction · 1.5 m ATE
Hybrid IK–RL Controller — UR16e MoveIt2 · PPO · Isaac Sim +15% success in cluttered scenes
CBF Quadrotor Control — Full dynamics C3BF · Geometric Control · Isaac Sim Real-time collision avoidance on min-snap trajectories
RRT Aerial Planner* ROS2 · PID · Cubic Splines Full 3D planning + cascaded PID tracking
NeRF from Scratch PyTorch · Volume Rendering Lego/Ship benchmarks + real drone scenes
Structure from Motion NumPy · SIFT · RANSAC · Bundle Adj. Reconstructed WPI Unity Hall from 5 photos
Stereo MSCKF VIO Python · EuRoC Validated vs mm-accurate Vicon ground truth
ICRA SimSort MATLAB · YOLOv4 · IK 🥉 2nd Runner-Up, ICRA 2025

Stack

Languages · Python · C++17/20 · MATLAB Robotics · ROS2 · MoveIt2 · Nav2 · PX4 · MAVSDK Simulation · Isaac Sim · Gazebo · PyBullet Learning · PyTorch · PPO · FiLM · NeRF · 3DGS Perception · OpenCV · Open3D · PCL · ZED SDK Hardware · UR16e · Crazyflie · RealSense · ZED2i · RPi Zero 2W

Highlights

  • 4.0 GPA · MS Robotics Engineering, WPI
  • 🥉 2nd Runner-Up · ICRA 2025 Simulation Sorting
  • 18 Hz perception deployed on 148 g MAV · Raspberry Pi Zero 2W
  • 1000+ grasp attempts benchmarked at MER Lab

Links

Popular repositories Loading

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