About
Roboticist & Entrepreneur
- Birthday: 23 May 1997
- Website: www.shalutharajapakshe.com
- Phone: +94 77 4644 357
- City: Piliyandala, Sri Lanka
- Age: 25
- Degree: BSc (Hons) Specialized in Electronic and Telecommunication Engineering
- Email: shalutha321@gmail.com
I’m a Robotics and AI PhD Student at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne , Lausanne, Switzerland.
I’m a Roboticist, specially interested in research areas of Robot Control and Kinematics, Human Robot Interaction, Path Planning, and Navigation. Other-than the robotics life, I love being an Entrepreneur and has been already Co-founded two startups CircuitBreakers Robotics and IXD Labs.
I was a student researcher at CSIRO Data61 Robotics and Autonomous Systems Group, Brisbane, Australia during the period of Oct 2020 to May 2021 where I have worked with Mr. Paul Flick (Principal Engineer/ Operations lead at CSIRO Data61 Robotics and Autonomous Systems Group) and Mr. Nicholas Panitz (Mechatronics Engineer at CSIRO Data61 Robotics and Autonomous Systems Group).
My work has been recognised at International Events such as IEEE Region 10 Robotics Competition in 2022, IAS CMD Student Robotics Demonstration Contest in 2021 , Techfest | IIT Bombay in 2020, and BR4IN.IO International Brain Computer Designers Hackathon in 2020. Furthermore I have achieved top places in several National Robotics Contests including Sri Lankan Robotics Challenge in 2019, organised by the University of Moratuwa.
Before I started my undergraduate degree, I studied at D.S.Senanayake College, Colombo 07 and served as the Deputy Head Prefect for the years 2016/2017. Furthermore I have been awarded the Most Outstanding Student Award for the year 2016.
I have worked at,
University of Moratuwa
Analog Inference
CSIRO Data61
CircuitBreakers Robotics
IXD Labs (PVT) LTD
theBRIC
News
Our final year research has been accepted for publication at the 23rd IEEE International Conference on Autonomous Robot Systems and Competitions (ICARSC 2023).
Our project "BRAINEOCARE" won the Best Poster Presentation Award at the Association of Sri Lankan Neurologists 16th Annual Congress (ASNAC 2023).
Our final year project emerged as the Champion of the IEEE Region 10 Robotics Competition 2022, under the category of innovative robots development for healthcare and humanitarian applications. I visited Bangkok, Thailand, on the 17th and 18th December 2022, representing my country for the grand finals and successfully conducted the demo and presentation of the project.
Our final year project has been selected to the grand finals of IEEE Region 10 Robotics Competition 2022 under the category of innovative robots development for healthcare and humanitarian applications.
Joined Electronic and Telecommunications Engineering Department of University of Moratuwa as a Visiting Instructor. Responsible for instructing and marking lab tutorials and practicals for undergraduates.
Joined Analog Inference as an AI & ML Engineer. Working under the supervision of Dr. Yasantha Rajakarunanayake on Machine Learning / Deep learning based model creation, simplification, and optimization for the purpose of deploying on a customized analog chip.
Successfully completed our Final Year Project "Collaborative Ground - Aerial Multi - Robot System for Disaster Response Missions". The project was done in collaboration with the CSIRO's Data61 Robotics and Autonomous Systems Group and the main supervision was done by Dr. Peshala Jayasekara (UoM), Dr. Navinda Kottege (CSIRO), Eng. Paul Flick (CSIRO), and mentored by Mr. Bhanuka Silva (UoM). Watch our project and the six legged Rex in action from here
Presented our paper titled “Design and Development of a Research-Oriented Low-Cost Robotics Platform with a Novel Dynamic Global Path Planning Approach” at the 8th 8th IEEE International Conference on Control, Automation, and Robotics (ICCAR) .
Our paper titled “Design and Development of a Research-Oriented Low-Cost Robotics Platform with a Novel Dynamic Global Path Planning Approach” has been accepted for publication at the 8th IEEE International Conference on Control, Automation, and Robotics (ICCAR) .
Our team "CircuitBreakers" emerged as the World Champions of IAS CMD Student Robotics Demonstration Contest. This marks the first time a team, representing Sri Lanka, emerged as the "Global Champions" of this competition. The aim of the competition was to develop a robotics application that can be used in an industrial environmrnt. Our team was able to develop a low-cost robotics solution for warehouse inspection, equipped with a uniquely designed manipulator to perform inspection tasks in industrial environments.
Successfully conducted the ENTC Training Program for Microcontrollers. In this program I worked as a visiting lecturer covering the programming of Microcontrollers part.
Successfully completed the first "Little Engineer" program.
Initiated the "Little Engineer" program.
Successfully conducted the 4 week Embedded Systems Workshop for Beginners organized by the IEEE SL Inspire. In this workshop I conducted the Programming with Arduino and C++ and Basics of PCB design verification and fabrication sections. You can find the workshop recordings using this link.
Conducted a session on "Approach to a good hardware design" at IEEE EMBS International Student Conference 2021 as a Researcher of theBRIC.
Our team "CircuitBreakers" emerged as the 2nd Runners-up in the first ever Virtual International Micromouse Competition organized along with Techfest | IIT Bombay 2020; Asia's largest Science and Technology Festival in its 24th edition.
Our team "BrainTrain" emerged as the Intheon Winner of the BR4IN.IO International Brain Computer Designers Hackathon at IEEE SMC Systems, Man, and Cybernetics Society in Toronto.
I got selected as a "Student Researcher" to work at CSIRO Data61 Robotics and Autonomous Systems Group, Brisbane, Australia .
Co-Founded IXD Labs as my second Startup.
Our team "CircuitBreakers" emerged as the 2nd Runners-up at the Xbotix Robotics Competition organized by the University of Ruhuna
Our team "CircuitBreakers" won the Silver Award and Best Robot Design Award at the Sri Lankan Robotics Challenge organised by the University of Moratuwa. You can watch our robots' performance using this link.
Our team "CircuitBreakers" emerged as the 2nd Runners-up at the Robot Design and Competition organised as a partial requirement for the module EN2532. You can watch our robot's performance using this link.
Co-Founded CircuitBreakers Robotics as my first Startup.
Skills
Resume
Summary
Shalutha Rajapakshe
“I’m a graduate in electronic and telecommunication engineering, extremely passionate about learning new concepts and helping make a difference in this world. I am capable of working in a challenging and fast-paced environment, particularly when dealing with multiple projects and priorities at the same time and can take initiative for any challenge. My research interests include Robot Control, Embedded Systems, Locomotion, Navigation, Computer Vision, and Deep Learning.”
- Piliyandala 10300, Western Province, SL
- +94 77 4644 357
- shalutha321@gmail.com
Education
BSc (Hons) specialized in Electroinic & Telecommunication Engineering
2017 Aug - 2022 July
University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka
- Department Representative - Electronic and Telecommunication Dept.
- Rotaract Club
- AIESEC
- Classicial Music Society
GCE Advanced Level & Ordinary Level
2003 - 2016
D.S.Senanayake College, Colombo 07, Sri Lanka
- 9A passes at GCE O/L
- 3A passes at GCE A/L. Ranked 82nd in the Island
- Deputy Head Prefect
- Tariq Muthalif Memorial Trophy winner for being selected as the Most Outstanding Student
Professional Experience
Visiting Instructor
2022 July - Present
Electronic and Telecommunications Engineering Department of University of Moratuwa
- Instructing and marking lab tutorials and practicals for undergraduates of the Department of Electronic and Telecommunication Engineering, University of Moratuwa.
AI & ML Engineer
2022 May - Present
Analog Inference, Santa Clara, USA
- Deep learning based model creation and simplification, for the purpose of deploying on a customized analog chip.
Student Researcher
2020 Oct - May 2021
CSIRO Data61 Robotics and Autonomous Systems Group, Brisbane, AUS
- Implementing navigation and vision algorithms on a low cost robotics platform in ROS environment.
- Research paper published at 8th IEEE International Conference on Control, Automation and Robotics
Researcher
2020 June - 2022 March
- A low-cost and user friendly EEG monitoring system for screening neonatal seizures
- Regional Finalists at CASS Student Design Competition
Co- Founder and Chief Technical Officer
2019 Jan - present
- Employs 32 undergraduates. Providing robotics educational content for Sri Lankan students with the vision of empowering robotics education in Sri Lanka.
- Little Engineer Program - A program that focuses on all four aspects of STEM and introduces the concept of the role of an engineer while developing the students’ innovative and critical thinking skills to tackle challenges they meet in their day-to-day lives and come up with their own solutions
Co- Founder and Director
2020 March - present
- A tech startup that focuses on using cutting-edge technologies to innovate products and services in the areas of Mobile Application Development, Web Application Development, Remote Monitoring and Iot, and Artificial Intelligence
- Employs 15 employees.
Hobbies
I’m a passionate music lover and have been actively engaged in so many music-related activities since my school days. I was popular among my friends as a singer and took part in many events and concerts as a singer. Also I play violin and was in two of the main orchestras during my school and university time.
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