I am a fourth-year Ph.D. student at the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. Within the RI, I am part of the Field Robotics Center and am advised by Tony Stentz.

I received my M.S. in robotics from the RI in August, 2004. I graduated in May, 2002 from Cornell University with a bachelors in computer science and a concentration in electrical engineering from the College of Engineering. As an undergrad I worked on several robotics and astronomy projects as a Cornell Presidential Research Scholar.

[Robotics] Robotics and Artificial Intelligence are about breathing a little life into the inanimate world. Groundhog autonomously explores coal mines below Pittsburgh; Valerie greets visitors to Newell-Simon Hall with a bit of an attitude; and HeartLander holds a beating heart steady during surgery. Broadly, my own Ph.D. is about getting robots to work together well. I'm developing "Hoplites," a market-based approach to coordinating a team of robots tasked with a spatially complex mission. I'm trying to answer questions such as "What does it mean for robots to really work together?" "How do robots know when they need to work together?" "How do they coordinate during mission planning and execution?" Read more about Hoplites on my research page.

[The Application of Science] Science is the effort of understanding the way things are and the way things work. Science and technology can and should play a leading role in our efforts to address many of the challenges facing the world: hunger, poverty, an endangered environment, disease, disempowerment, exploitation, imperialism, and on and on. Initiatives such as TechBrigeWorld can have a significant impact in this regard. Currently I am working on a V-Unit research project to appply technology to the problem of illiteracy among the blind in developing communities. Specifically, we are developing an automated writing tutor that will teach students how to write Braille. Read more on the Braille Writing Tutor project homepage.

[Conservation and Sustainability] I strongly and actively support protecting our environment, for its own sake and for ours. Indeed, we human beings need the other living beings on this planet much more than they will ever need us. [Read Diane Brooks's excellent essay on the topic: Interview with a Fungus]. Unfortunately, we collectively have unlimited wants in a world of limited resources, and the result is devastating to the planet. Fortunately, by making smart, healthy choices as individuals, we can slowly become part of the solution instead of part of the problem. Read more on my friend Carl Wellington's conservation page.

Email: nidhi @ ri . cmu . edu

Office: 2209 Newell Simon Hall

Office Phone: 412.268.9923

Official RI Web: http://www.ri.cmu.edu/people/kalra_nidhi.html