Curriculum Vitae (CV)

Download PDF: CV_Brual_Shah

BRUAL SHAH – Ph.D.

Center of Advanced Manufacturing (CAM)
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA – 90089, USA

Contact:
Phone: +1-213-280-7265
E-mail: brualsha at usc dot edu.
Website: https://brual.info/

CAREER GOALS:

Pursue a career in the field of control and planning for autonomous systems with a specialization in:

  • Physics-based motion planning algorithms for unmanned system
  • Intelligent decision-making algorithms for realizing operations of autonomous systems
  • Machine learning-based approaches to enhance the performance of autonomous robots
  • Human-robot collaboration

EDUCATION:

  • Ph.D., Department of Mechanical Engineering (Summer 2016)
    University of Maryland, College Park, MD
    Dissertation Topic: Planning for Autonomous Operation of Unmanned Sea Surface Vehicles (USV)
    Advisor: Professor Satyandra K. Gupta
  • Masters in Telecommunication Engineering (Spring 2013)
  • Bachelors of Engineering – Electronics & Telecommunication (May 2011)
    K.J. Somaiya College of Engineering, Vidyavihar, University of Mumbai

RESEARCH AND TEACHING EXPERIENCE:

University of Southern California
Postdoctoral Research Associate (August 2016 – Present)
Realization of Robotic Systems Lab and Center for Advanced Manufacturing

  • Developed a dynamics-aware reactive planner for Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGV) for avoiding dynamic obstacles while operating on uneven terrains.
  • Developed a simulation environment for hybrid (human-robot collaboration) work cell assembly operating using Gazebo and Robot Operating System (ROS).
  • Developed a framework to proactively handle contingencies in hybrid work cell assembly operation.
  • Selected among the top 5 finalists and the only team from USA for KUKA Innovation Award 2017

University of Maryland
Graduate Research Assistant (Jan 2012 – July 2016)
Maryland Robotics Center and Simulation-based System Design Laboratory

  • Developed a real-time planner named Risk and congestion-aware trajectory planners (RCAP & A-RCAP) for operation of Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USV) in an environment with congested civilian traffic.
  • Developed and deployed planning algorithms for approach, follow and COLREGs behavior of USV.
  • Developed a planning algorithm for USV, which looks ahead multiple stages in time and computes a path which minimizes the overall risk of the cluttered operating scenario.
  • Developed a speed up an algorithm by adaptively varying the control action primitive based on the congestion of the operating scenario which enables USV to compute low risk paths in real time.
  • Successfully developed classification models for each COLREG rule using SVM technique.
  • Implemented several complex human-like maneuvers for each COLREG rule using machine learning techniques for indication of COLREGs compliant behavior to other sailing vessels.
  • Developed a simulation environment to test and evaluate the developed algorithm.
  • Incorporated WAM-V simulation model with the existing simulation environment for improving planning by designing a new Atomic Maneuver model for the planner.
  • Implemented LCM communication interface for higher level planning interface to communicate with low level ARM-9 boat controller.
  • Conducted physical experiments to evaluate the developed planning approaches for approach, follow and COLREGs behavior on physical WAM-V platform in collaboration with Florida Atlantic University (FAU).

University of Maryland
Teaching Assistant (Fall 2014 & 2015)
Course: Bio-Inspired Robotics

  • Assisted undergraduate students in designing the mechanical and electrical components of their bio-inspired robots, and programming the walking gait of the robots using Arduino.

PUBLICATIONS:

Ph.D. Thesis:

B. C. Shah. Planning for Autonomous Operation of Unmanned Surface Vehicles. Ph.D. Thesis. 2016. PDF

Journal Article:

  • B. C. Shah, and S.K. Gupta. Long Distance Path Planning for Unmanned Surface Vehicles in Complex Marine Environments. IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering, doi: 10.1109/JOE.2019.2909508, 2019. PDF
  • B. C. Shah, P. Švec, I.R. Bertaska, W. Klinger, A. J. Sinisterra, K. von Ellenrieder, M. Dhanak, and S.K. Gupta. Resolution-Adaptive Risk-Aware Trajectory Planning for Surface Vehicles Operating in Congested Civilian Traffic. Autonomous Robots. PDF
  • I.R. Bertaska, B. C. Shah, K. von Ellenrieder, P. Svec, W. Klinger, A.J. Sinisterra, M. Dhanak, and S.K. Gupta. Experimental evaluation of automatically-generated behaviors for USV operations. Ocean Engineering, 106:496-514, 2015. PDF
  • P. Švec, A. Thakur, E. Raboin, B.C. Shah, and S.K. Gupta. Target Following with Motion Prediction for Unmanned Surface Vehicle Operating in Cluttered Environments. Autonomous Robots, 36(4): 383-405, 2014. PDF

Full Paper Refereed Publications in Conferences and Workshops:

  • P. Rajendran, S. Thakar, A.M. Kabir, B.C. Shah, S.K. Gupta. Context-Dependent Search for Generating Paths for Redundant Manipulators in Cluttered Environments. IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, Macau, China, November 2019.
  • B. C. Shah, and S. K. Gupta. Speeding up A* Search on Visibility Graphs Defined Over Quadtrees to Enable Long Distance Path Planning for Unmanned Surface Vehicles. International Conference on Automated Planning and Scheduling (ICAPS’ 16), London, UK, June 12 – 17, 2016. PDF
  • B. C. Shah, P. Švec, A. Thakur, and S.K. Gupta. Path Planning for Unmanned Vehicles Operating in Time-Varying Flow Fields. ICAPS 2016 Workshop on Planning and Robotics (PlanRob), London, UK, June 12 – 17, 2016. PDF
  • B. C. Shah, P. Švec, I. R. Bertaska, W. Klinger, A. J. Sinisterra, K. von Ellenrieder, M. Dhanak, and S. K. Gupta. Trajectory Planning with Adaptive Control Primitives for Autonomous Surface Vehicles Operating in Congested Civilian Traffic.  IEEE/RSJ  International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS ’14), Chicago, IL, USA, September 14-18, 2014. PDF
  • P. Švec, B.C. Shah, I.R. Bertaska, W. Klinger, A. J. Sinisterra, K. von Ellenrieder, M. Dhanak, and S.K. Gupta. Adaptive sampling based COLREGS-compliant obstacle avoidance for autonomous surface vehicles. ICRA 2014 Workshop on Persistent Autonomy for Marine Robotics (PAMR ’14), Hong Kong, China, June 2014. PDF
  • P. Švec, B. C. Shah, I. R. Bertaska, J. Alvarez, A. J. Sinisterra, K. von Ellenrieder, M. Dhanak, and S. K. Gupta. Dynamics-Aware Target Following for an Autonomous Surface Vehicle Operating under COLREGs in Civilian Traffic. IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS ’13), Tokyo, Japan, November 3-7, 2013. PDF
  • I. B. Bertaska, J. Alvarez, A. J. Sinisterra, K. Ellenrieder, M. Dhanak, B. Shah, P. Švec, and S. K. Gupta. Experimental Evaluation of Approach Behavior for Autonomous Surface Vehicles. 6th Annual Dynamic Systems and Control Conference (DSCC ’13), Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA, USA, October 21-23, 2013. PDF
  • P. Švec, A. Thakur, B.C. Shah, and S.K. Gupta. USV trajectory planning for time-varying motion goals in an environment with obstacles. ASME Mechanism and Robotics Conference, Chicago, IL, August 2012. PDF

Poster Presentations:

  • B. C. Shah and S. K. Gupta. Path Planning for Unmanned Vehicles Operating in Time-Varying Flow Fields. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA ’15), Seattle, WA, May 26-30, 2015.
  • B. C. Shah and S. K. Gupta. Resolution Adaptive Risk-Aware Trajectory Planning for Unmanned Surface Vehicles Operating in Congested Civilian Traffic. Computers and Information in Engineering Conference, Buffalo, NY, 2014.
  • B. C. Shah and S. K. Gupta. Development of Autonomy for Unmanned Surface Vehicles. Performance Metrics for Intelligent Systems (PerMIS) Workshop, College Park, MD, 2012.

Patents:

  • B. C. Shah, P. Švec, and S.K. Gupta. Surface Vehicles Trajectory Planning Systems, Devices and Methods. In Process.
  • R. K. Malhan, T. Centea, S. K. Gupta, A. M. Kabir, B. C. Shah, and A. V. Shembekar, “Hybrid Formation of Multi-Layer Prepreg Composite Sheet Layup”, U.S. Provisional Patent 62/715,497. Filled on August 7, 2018.
  • S. K. Gupta, A. M. Kabir, and B. C. Shah, “Setup Planning, Trajectory Planning, and Parameter Selection for Robotic Finishing”, U.S. Provisional Patent 62/661,441, Filled on April 23, 2018.

Awards:

  • First place in Aerodef Poster Challenge at Aerodef Manufacturing Conference, Long Beach, CA. May 2019.
  • First place in Best Paper Award at IEEE International Symposium on Safety, Security, and Rescue Robotics (SSRR) Conference in 2018.
  • Third place in Best Paper Award at ASME 13th Manufacturing Science and Engineering Conference (MSEC), 2018.
  • Judge’s Choice Award for poster at AST-NSF-ASME-SME Workshop on Challenges in Representing Manufacturing Processes for Systemic Sustainability Assessments at ASME 13th Manufacturing Science and Engineering Conference (MSEC), 2018.
  • First place in Agile Robotics for Industrial Automation Competition (ARIAC) organized by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in 2017.
  • Finalist in KUKA Innovation Award Competition in 2017.

LEADERSHIP:

Team Leader – Robocon Club (2011)
K. J. Somaiya College of Engineering, Mumbai, India

  • Led the team of 20 members who participated in a national robotics competition named Robocon for the first time representing our college.
  • Achieved 21st position out of 53 teams who participated across the country.
  • Designed and built a human-driven robot and an autonomous Line-Follower Robot to perform the designed task of the competition.

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIP:

  • Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers since June 2013.
  • American Society of Mechanical Engineers since June 2013