Akshay Hinduja

Software Engineer, MBARI

Hi! I am Akshay Hinduja, a Software Engineer for Embedded Data and Algorithms in the Software Engineering - Embedded group at MBARI, the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, in Moss Landing, CA.

I completed my PhD in Robotics from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University in July 2024, advised by Prof. Michael Kaess at the Robot Perception Lab. I also obtained my Master’s from CMU, advised by Prof. Kenji Shimada.

I build perception and SLAM systems for underwater robots. My work covers embedded vision and AI that runs on the vehicles, drivers for cameras and acoustic sensors, and localization in GPS-denied environments. You can read about my engineering work on the Projects page and my papers on the Publications page.

Apart from getting robots to do cool things, I enjoy spending time with my wife and daughter, taking her out on adventures whether on foot or on my mountain bike!

sliceoflife

News

2024

  • Joined MBARI as a Software Engineer for Embedded Data and Algorithms in the Software Engineering - Embedded group (July 2024).

  • Completed my PhD at Carnegie Mellon University with the thesis “Underwater Localization and Mapping for Cost-Effective Robots” (July 2024).

  • Our paper, “Multi-Radar Inertial Odometry for 3D State Estimation using mmWave Imaging Radar”, has been accepted for ICRA 2024!

  • Our paper, “SONIC: Sonar Image Correspondence using Pose Supervised Learning for Imaging Sonars”, has been accepted for ICRA 2024!

  • Reviewing for IEEE Intl. Conf. on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) 2024

2023

  • Presenting a poster for our work “SONIC: Sonar Image Correspondence using Pose Supervised Learning for Imaging Sonars” at IROS 2023, Detroit. We are presenting at two workshops, 2nd Advanced Marine Robotics and Closing the Loop on Localization.

  • Reviewing for IEEE Transactions on Robotics (T-RO)

  • Reviewing for IEEE Journal of Ocean Engineering (JOE)

  • Presented my thesis proposal title “Underwater Localization and Mapping for Cost-Effective Robots”. Got a couple of exciting projects in line to improve feature-based SLAM using imaging sonars!

  • Reviewing for IEEE Transactions on Robotics (T-RO).

  • Our paper, “Conditional GANs for Sonar Image Filtering with Applications to Underwater Occupancy Mapping”, has been accepted for ICRA 2023!.

  • Reviewing for IEEE Transactions on Robotics (T-RO).

2022

  • Attending IROS 2022 in Kyoto, Japan!.

  • Our paper, “Acoustic Localization and Communication Using a MEMS Microphone for Low-cost and Low-power Bio-inspired Underwater Robots”, has been accepted for IROS 2022!.

  • Reviewing for IEEE Transactions on Robotics (T-RO).

  • Reviewing for IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters(RA-L).

  • Won the Milton Shaw Ph.D. research award from the department of Mechanical Engineering!

  • Head TA for 24-787 Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence for Engineers.

2020

2019

  • Attending IROS 2019 at Macao, China!.

  • Our paper, “Degeneracy-Aware Factors with Applications to Underwater SLAM”, has been accepted for IROS 2019!.

  • Our paper, “Designing a Mobility Solution for Fully Autonomous Welding of Double-Hull Blocks”, has been accepted by the ASME Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics!.

2018

  • Started PhD program in the Mechanical Engineering department, advised by Prof. Michael Kaess at the Robotics Institute.

  • Our paper, “Feature-based SLAM for imaging sonar with under-constrained landmarks”, has been accepted for ICRA 2018!.

2017

  • Promoted to Systems Engineer at RPL.

  • Joined Robot Perception Lab(RPL), Robotics Institute as Extern.

  • Completed my Master’s in Mechanical Engineering, working on NDT based lidar odometry of a welding robot, advised by Prof. Kenji Shimada.