- Developed ultra-low-cost digital magnetic card reader and fingerprint reader devices
- Managed IT security and back-end server administration for PCI compliance
- Created an Android app that enables merchants to accept payments while on the move.
Work Experience
Over the years, I have had the pleasure of wearing multiple hats, allowing me to learn diverse skill sets, including core research, engineering, product design, business development, sales, and strategy.
(Creator +) Senior Director of Business Development
Nemo product line of Ridecell
May 2021 – May 2022, San Francisco
Created Nemo – a search engine for video and laser data. It uses computer vision and contextual scene understanding AI to search for relevant scenes, such as a specific traffic scenario in large video or laser datasets.
Companies use Nemo for various purposes, including autonomous driving, factory floor safety monitoring, traffic surveillance, and truck driver coaching. We also open-sourced a Traffic Scenario Description Library for objective and accurate traffic scenario descriptions for simulation and post-accident scene reconstruction.
(Creator +) Senior Director of Business Development
Nemo product line of Ridecell
Sept 2020 – May 2022, San Francisco
Created Nemo – a search engine for video and laser data. It uses computer vision and contextual scene understanding AI to search for relevant scenes, such as a specific traffic scenario in large video or laser datasets.
Companies use Nemo for various purposes, including autonomous driving, factory floor safety monitoring, traffic surveillance, and truck driver coaching. We also open-sourced a Traffic Scenario Description Library for objective and accurate traffic scenario descriptions for simulation and post-accident scene reconstruction.
(Division Head +) Director of Business Development
Autonomous Driving Division of Ridecell
Oct 2017 – May 2021, San Francisco
Auro Robotics, the startup I co-founded, became the Autonomous Driving Division of Ridecell post its acquisition by Ridecell in 2017. In my new role, I continued to lead the division, focusing on product strategy, sales, business development, operations, marketing, and hiring.
- Expanded product & mission from campus golf carts to public-road self-driving cars (video below).
- Introduced Empty Vehicle Automation feature for car-sharing vehicles (video below).
- Closed multiple strategic and tech partnerships with sensor manufacturers and software providers.
(Division Head +) Director of Business Development
Autonomous Driving Division of Ridecell
Oct 2017 – May 2021, San Francisco
Auro Robotics, the startup I co-founded, became the Autonomous Driving Division of Ridecell post its acquisition by Ridecell in 2017. In my new role, I continued to lead the division, focusing on product strategy, sales, business development, operations, marketing, and hiring.
- Expanded product & mission from campus golf carts to public-road self-driving cars (video below).
- Introduced Empty Vehicle Automation feature for car-sharing vehicles (video below).
- Closed multiple strategic and tech partnerships with sensor manufacturers and software providers.
Co-founder & CEO
Auro Robotics (acquired by Ridecell)
Sept 2013 – Sept 2017, San Francisco
Auro Robotics built self-driving shuttles for transportation within campus-like environments, such as a university campus, retirement community, and business park.
Auro was part of the Y Combinator S15 batch and was backed by some of the top Silicon Valley VCs and angel investors. It was acquired by Ridecell in 2017. I was responsible for company strategy, fundraising, sales, tech partnerships, operations, marketing, and hiring.
- Auro's AVs were among the first commercial deployments in the US, ferrying students daily at Santa Clara University.
- US federal agency NHTSA bought Auro's autonomous vehicle as a reference to draft safety regulations for the self-driving industry.
- Auro's AVs were among the first commercial deployments in the US, ferrying students daily at Santa Clara University.
- US federal agency NHTSA bought Auro's autonomous vehicle as a reference to draft safety regulations for the self-driving industry.
Co-founder & CEO
Autonomous Driving Division of Ridecell
Sept 2013 – Sept 2017, San Francisco
Auro Robotics built self-driving shuttles for transportation within campus-like environments, such as a university campus, retirement community, and business park.
Auro was part of the Y Combinator S15 batch and was backed by some of the top Silicon Valley VCs and angel investors. It was acquired by Ridecell in 2017. I was responsible for company strategy, fundraising, sales, tech partnerships, operations, marketing, and hiring.
- Auro's AVs were among the first commercial deployments in the US, ferrying students daily at Santa Clara University.
- US federal agency NHTSA bought Auro's autonomous vehicle as a reference to draft safety regulations for the self-driving industry.
Co-founder & Chief Product Architect
AadhaarUp Payments
Sept 2011 – Sept 2013, India
AadhaarUp offered a pocket-size point-of-sale (POS) terminal and a one-click checkout mechanism for receiving online payments. It was backed and funded by the GSF startup accelerator (covered by The Economist and YourStory).
Co-founder and Team lead
AGV Robotics Club at IIT Kharagpur
Apr 2011 – Jun 2012, India
AGV (Autonomous Ground Vehicle) is a research group at IIT Kharagpur working on autonomous vehicles and outdoor mobile robots. Under my leadership, the group grew to a strong multi-disciplinary team of 30 people, including several PhDs, researchers, and professors, received a research grant of $400K, published several research papers, and participated in several national and international robotics competitions.
In the 2010 Student Robotics Competition organized by DRDO (India’s defense organization) for developing Autonomous Ground Vehicles for Low-Intensity Conflicts, the team won the Best Engineering Design Award, Best Vehicle Dynamics Award, and Best White paper Award (covered by The Hindu and Times of India).
Education
Internship in Brain-Computer Interfaces
Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Germany
May 2011 – Jul 2011
I interned in the field of brain-computer interfaces under Dr. Ranganatha Sitaram and Dr. Niels Birbaumer at the Institute of Medical Psychology and Behavioral Neurobiology, University of Tubingen, Germany.
I developed (and open-sourced) software for the real-time classification of emotional brain states using fMRI signals. The toolbox, along with the associated research, was published in Frontiers in Neuroscience journal.
Graduation - B.Tech + M.Tech
IIT Kharagpur, India
Jun 2008 – Apr 2013
I graduated from IIT Kharagpur, India, with a B.Tech + M.Tech degree in Electronics Engineering, specializing in Visual Information Processing and Embedded Systems.
For my Master’s thesis, I developed a digital magnetic stripe card reader using a mobile phone’s audio interface – which became the basis for my first startup, AadhaarUp.
While at the university, I co-founded the Autonomous Ground Vehicle (AGV) robotics group, helped launch the university’s Business Club, and actively participated in the Kharagpur Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Group (KRAIG).
Education
Internship in Brain-Computer Interfaces
University of Tuebingen, Germany
May 2011 – Jul 2011
I interned in the field of brain-computer interfaces under Dr. Ranganatha Sitaram and Dr. Niels Birbaumer at the Institute of Medical Psychology and Behavioral Neurobiology, University of Tubingen, Germany.
I developed (and open-sourced) software for the real-time classification of emotional brain states using fMRI signals. The toolbox, along with the associated research, was published in Frontiers in Neuroscience journal.
Graduation - B.Tech + M.Tech
IIT Kharagpur, India
Jun 2008 – Apr 2013
I graduated from IIT Kharagpur, India, with a B.Tech + M.Tech degree in Electronics Engineering, specializing in Visual Information Processing and Embedded Systems.
For my Master’s thesis, I developed a digital magnetic stripe card reader using a mobile phone’s audio interface – which became the basis for my first startup, AadhaarUp.
While at the university, I co-founded the Autonomous Ground Vehicle (AGV) robotics group, helped launch the university’s Business Club, and actively participated in the Kharagpur Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Group (KRAIG).