Table of Contents

Shruti Sharma

Trying to work towards being a better version of myself and creating more positivity for people around me. Always looking forward to interacting with new people and learning newer perspectives and ideas!

Feel free to reach out via email [email protected] or connect with me on Linkedin.

I love robotics, and am studying at Columbia University in the City of New York. I working towards a MS in Mechanical Engineering with Robotics Concentration. I recently worked with National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, NIH to develop a Automated Batch Evaporation System. I earlier worked at CGI, India as a software engineer, favorite parts of my job were to translate immediate payments changes into product changes for the CLS Manager software used by banks globally! I worked at Festo, Germany for my bachelor thesis in robotics! Festo was kind of an ideal workplace for me, with everyone working with every other subsystem of robotics, and with the infinite knowledge each of them possessed, I just felt lucky each day to be there and learn directly from the researchers who had written the books on techniques I was trying to learn and implement.

You can check some of my recent open-source projects here on Githhub.

I love to write feel free to read some of the

EDUCATION

MS, Mechanical Engineering; Columbia University, New York City, NY, 2022-2023

  • Coursework:
    Robot Learning, Computational Aspects of Robotics, Advanced Robotics, Modern Control Theory, Neural Networks and Deep Learning, Robotics Studio, Evolutionary Computation and Design Automation, Reinforcement Learning Alt text Having lived through all these places fills you with great modesty and a responsibility to work towards becoming a better person each day! Will always wear the crown with honor :)!

BE, Manufacturing Engineering; BITS Pilani, India, 2016-2020

  • Coursework:
    Robotics, Control Systems, Object-Oriented Programming, Mechatronics and Automation

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This place allowed me to explore, live and create realities which I had never previously imagined.

High School - Grade 12; A.N. Public School, India, 2014 - 2015

  • Percentage - 95.8, first rank in school
  • Coursework: Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics

WORK EXPERIENCE

Automation Research Associate, NCATS, MD, Jun 2023 - Aug 2023 Worked with Axle Informatics for NCATS to develop automated solutions to accelerate drug discovery process. An overview of the work done is as - Alt text

  • Implemented Automatic Batch Evaporation system to automate weighing, evaporating of vials using a Meca industrial robot arm
  • Implemented a computer vision method to detect vial caps in real-time using image segmentation and template matching
  • Developed an interface for balance to read and write various commands to measure the vial weights accurately,
  • Mapped the output from barcode scanner, and tare weight to calculate final weight of the compounds
  • Developing a centralized communication channel with the robotic arm with balance and evaporator via UI

Read more about the work here - FinalInternshipReport

Software Engineer, CGI, Banglore, India, Sept 2020 – July 2022

I worked with the CLS Manager project – a foreign exchange product for banks globally. It involved implementing design changes as per new client requirements using C++ and agile development practice. And maintaining a secure and reliable application when settling more than 400,000 trades per day per bank and keeping it up recent industry standards and finance guidelines. I also worked with the integration ISO20022 changes such as MT To MX transition for message types as per new SWIFT Guidelines.

Along with this, the rich and wide expertise of my colleagues across various geographies helped me to understand payment systems and latest technological and policy changes being introduced in the area ranging from new offline payment transaction architecture to digital currencies. Reach out to know more details about it all :)!!

Off-Campus Thesis, Festo AG & Co. KG, Germany, Jul 2019 - Dec 2019
Model-Based Design and Control of a Pneumatic Robot Joint, Supervisor - Dr Rainer Nitsche

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Abstract Transforming research into industry requires initial designs to be remodelled close to actual conditions, with increased robustness. This thesis represents an approach to de- velop the existing prototype of a pneumatic robot for industrial use. Initially, the model of a swivel drive is designed to drive the joints of a robot without any gears. A valve identification tool is used to map valve characteristics with the applied input signal, and these values are later used to adapt the swivel drive model. The model is used to design a nonlinear controller for pressure and position control using a Flatness-based controller design method.

Read full thesis document read access here -

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An overview of the work done is as -

  • Remodelled a pneumatic cobot joint model programming custom modular Simulink library blocks in C
  • Implemented flatness-based position and pressure controller to control the nonlinear pneumatic joint
  • Implemented derived simulation model on a testbench using dSPACE hardware system MicroAutoBox
  • Documented experimental setup and simulation using Latex for being used by the subsystem further

Internship, CSE, Hiroshima University, Japan, May 2018 - Jul 2018

  • Control System Design, Supervisor - Prof Shin Wakitani
  • Worked on system identification of linear and non-linear systems; built a motor controller
  • Developed a PID, I-PD, and a fuzzy controller for a non-linear system in the presence of disturbances
  • Remodelled a metal temperature control system from C# to MATLAB, validated it using HIL simulation

TECHNICAL SKILLS

Programming langauges

  • C++
  • Java
  • C
  • Python
  • IDL
  • Shell Scripting

Simulation

  • ROS
  • Gazebo
  • Matlab - SIMULINK
  • SOLIDWORKS
  • AutoCAD
  • COntrolDesk - dSPACE

Version Control Software

  • GIT
  • Bazaar

Operating Systems

  • Linux
  • Windows

Others

  • PL/SQL
  • Latex

PROJECTS

Image Instance Segementation - Columbia University Feb 2023 - Feb 2023

  • Generated rendering of five objects on a floor in pybullet with rgb images, and ground thruth instance segmentation masks
  • Implemented a MiniUNet with skip connections to detect distinct intances of an object in the images
  • Used the trained model and RGB-D images to estimate the pose of the objects Alt text

Here, the point clouds with green represent the ground truth masks, blue represents ground truth mask estimates and red represents predicted masks

Bi-pedal Robot Design and Manufacturing – Columbia University Sept 2022—Dec 2022

  • Designed a bi-pedal robot with four servo motor actuators using Fusion 360 to walk
  • Manufactured and assembled the robot using additive manufacturing, communicating with the motors using Wi-Fi via LePotato
  • Programmed robot gait using keyframes to walk in an indoor surrounding Alt text Here is journey video for the robot - Journey Video - CASY Bi-pedal robot To read more about the design process from initial sketches to final 3D printed Robot - CASY Journey Presentation

Design of a multi-copter

  • Developed a teleoperated hexacopter using Pixhawk flight controller tuned using Mission Planner with a team of three
  • Optimized the weight to 1.5 kg and a payload of 800 grams at 50 percent throttle

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Here is video during test for the drone - Flying Test

POSITION OF RESPONSIBILITIES

Vehicle Dynamics Lead - Inspired Karters - Formula Student, BITS Pilani Aug 2016 - Mar 2019

  • Led Vehicle Dynamics subsystem, one of the four subsystems of a 50 member student team
  • Designed and tested the wheel assembly for a Formula Style open-cockpit vehicle using Solidworks and Ansys

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  • Worked with sponsorship team; once raised one lakh INR in a week to resolve sudden engine problem
  • Participated in Formula Bharat’19; stood 4 in Cost Competition; 17 overall nationally 70 among team

Alt text A solidworks cad design for the wheel hub which was manufactured and used in the car!

Founding member and Co-editor - Alumni Relations Cell, BITS Pilani, Aug 2017 - Sept 2018

  • Initiated and worked as a co-editor for cell’s magazine BITS ECHO ( volume one ) - read here
  • Organized and coordinated reunions comprising of alum batches from 1968 - 2000
  • Implemented a strategy to update the old and scattered alumni database of 1.5 lakh alums
  • Developed an initial layout for functioning of the cell in subsequent years

CERTIFICATIONS

C++ Nanodegree Program - Udacity, Jun 2020 - Jul 2020

  • Route Planning: Developed an application to find path between two points on a map using A* search
  • System Monitor: Developed a Linux system monitor using C++ and OOP concepts
  • Memory Management Chatbot: Used smart pointers to avoid leaks during memory allocation from the heap
  • Concurrent Traffic Simulation: Built a simulation for facilitating traffic flow between intersections
    • Used a real urban map for the simulation where each vehicle ran on a separate thread
  • Snake Game: Rebuild the game to run with efficient memory management and OOP techniques
  • Read more about the projects completed here - Github
  • Find the certificate here

Robotics Software Engineer - Udacity, May 2020 - Jun 2020

  • Build my world: Built a simulated environment in Gazebo for housing the robot
  • Go chase it: Built a differential drive robot with LIDAR and camera with URDF description
    • Implemented a ROS package called ball chaser containing a C++ nodes:
    • With a service to drive the robot by controlling its linear and angular velocities
    • To read, analyze camera images; if a white ball exists, request a service to drive the robot towards it
  • Where am I: Localized the robot using adaptive Monte Carlo Localization in a map simulation
  • Map My world: Created 2D occupancy grid and 3D octomap of simulation with RTAB-Map package
  • Home Service Robot: Used ROS Navigation stack for path planning from pickup and drop off location
  • Read more about the project implementation here
  • Find the certificate here

SCHOLARSHIPS

Merit-Cum-Need Scholarship, 2016 - 2019

  • 40 and 25 % tuition fees were waived off for II semester and for five semesters from 2017 - 2019 by BITS Pilani

First Degree Project Funding, Apr, 2019

  • Granted 28,000 INR for developing the multi-copter by the Mechanical Engineering Department, BITS Pilani

Mahendra Ram Dalmia Memorial Scholarship, Aug 2018

  • BITSAA scholarship, 25% of my tuition fees was waived off, which is around 31,000 INR

SHRI S. VAISH MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP, May 2018

  • Granted 2,22,250 INR via Vaish Foundation to pursue internship at Hiroshima University