Things that move are interesting!
Hi, I'm Tanay. I work as a Motion Planning Software Engineer at Woven by Toyota, building the next generation of advanced driver assist and autonomy features for software-defined vehicles. Before that, I was at Vecna Robotics, where I started my professional career and got the opportunity to work on a variety of warehouse robots -- bringing autonomy to existing platforms such as manipulators and forklifts, as well as developing novel robotic platforms such as a mobile shelf storage and retrieval robot.
I graduated from the MS in Robotics program at Northwestern University. Before starting grad school, I spent my final undergrad semester at TU Darmstadt's Locomotion Laboratory where I did my bachelor's thesis on the biomechanics of lower limb powered prostheses.
My journey into robotics began during my undergrad days as a mechanical engineering student at BITS Pilani Goa. Rather disillusioned by traditional MechE courses, I decided to undertake a number of extra-curricular projects encompassing robot actuators, medical devices and assistive technology, hoping to find what I like. I was eventually drawn to robotics because of its interdisciplinary and practical nature (apart from wanting to be on the right side of the imminent robot revolution). Since almost every aspect of robotics is so fascinating, I find myself on the path to becoming a jack of many trades, instead of narrowing down to one subfield. Over the years, I’ve developed a strong interest in planning, localization, and controls.
In my free time, I like to work out, go snowboarding, explore new music, travel, and plenty of other things depending on who's around and what's happening. A few things I've recently dabbled in include learning House dance, improv comedy, and playing the ukulele.