Aditya Penumarti

Ph.D. Candidate · Gainesville, FL

Robot decision-making under uncertainty in unstructured and GPS-denied environments: belief-space planning, uncertainty-aware multimodal representations, information-constrained planning, and active perception for marine and ground robots in GPS-denied environments.

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Education

2023 – Expected Spring 2027

Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering

University of Florida · Gainesville, FL
  • Dissertation: Uncertainty Quantification and Representations for Active Perception in Navigation and Planning Frameworks
  • Advisor: Jaejeong Shin (now Seoul National University)
  • Committee Chair: Rushikesh Kamalapurkar
2021 – Aug 2023

M.S. in Mechanical Engineering

University of Florida · Gainesville, FL
  • Thesis: Mechanical Networks: An Investigation Into Connected Kinematic Systems
  • Advisor: Carl D. Crane III

Publications

† Student mentee

Journal Articles

Conference Papers

C32025

Action Recognition for Underwater Gesture Communication in Human Diver and Robot Teaming

Zi-Hao Zhang†, E. Baker Herrin, Jia Guo, Aditya Penumarti, Zilong He, Andres Pulido, Jaejeong Shin
2025 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS)
C42025

Belief-Conditioned One-Step Diffusion: Real-Time Trajectory Planning with Just-Enough Sensing

Gokul Puthumanaillam, Aditya Penumarti, Manav Vora, Paulo Padrao, Jose Fuentes, Leonardo Bobadilla, Jaejeong Shin, Melkior Ornik
Proceedings of the 9th Conference on Robot Learning (CoRL), PMLR 305:68–92
C52025

Lessons from RAITE: Real-World Evaluation of Robust Multimodal Target Detection and Tracking under Adversarial Attacks

E. Baker Herrin, Aditya Penumarti, Andres Pulido, Nikhil Iyer†, You-Long Wu†, Kaleb Lewellen, Tyler Fitzsimmons, Jaejeong Shin
Disruptive Technologies in Information Sciences IX, Proc. SPIE
C62025

Neural Network-Based Magnetometer Sensor Model for Virtual Magnetic-Based Navigation Testbed

Aditya Penumarti, Nikhil Iyer†, Loi Park†, Kristy Waters, Jose H. Ramos, Jaejeong Shin
AIAA SciTech Forum

Under Review

R22027

HALo: Hilbert-space Active Localizability for Scalar Field Navigation

Aditya Penumarti, Jaejeong Shin
Submitted to 2027 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)
R32027

Akule: Fast and Scalable Multi-Robot Motion Planning via Sparse Interaction Diffusion

Manav Vora, Gokul Puthumanaillam, Aditya Penumarti, Jaejeong Shin, Melkior Ornik
Submitted to 2027 International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS)

Research Experience

Aug 2023 – Present

Graduate Research Assistant

University of Florida · Gainesville, FL

Active perception and uncertainty representations in GPS-denied environments (Advisor: Jane (Jaejeong) Shin)

  • Developed an uncertainty-aware magnetic navigation planner that, compared with state-of-the-art methods, improves localization accuracy by 5%, cuts failure rates by 34%, and reduces computational costs by over 99% [J1].
  • Built neural and Bayesian neural network models of magnetometer sensing and magnetic fields, including expandable maps with competitive calibration to Gaussian process baselines [C6, R1].
  • Characterized how gradients in scalar fields determine localizability and used this for information-driven planning [R2].
  • Designed research drones for information-aware guidance; built a magnetic navigation simulator in NVIDIA Isaac Sim, Gazebo, and ROS2 [C6].
  • Developed low- and high-level software for an underwater vehicle (thrust mapping, filtering, closed-loop control) and a gesture-driven diver-following controller with transformer-based gesture recognition [C3].
  • Built radar–vision fusion tracking (YOLO detection, global nearest-neighbor association) for the U.S. Navy NSWC Crane Robust AI Test Event (RAITE), evaluated under adversarial attack [C5].
Sep 2021 – Aug 2023

Lab Assistant

Center for Intelligent Machines and Robots, University of Florida · Gainesville, FL

Research on mechanically connected systems to evaluate kinematic feasibility (Advisor: Carl D. Crane III)

  • Automated a 1/10th vehicle platform with GNSS and LiDAR navigation; implemented ROS2 path planning, SLAM, LiDAR mapping and localization, and UKF-based sensor fusion.
  • M.S. thesis (Advisor: Carl D. Crane III): mechanical network analysis of closed-loop mechanisms (four-bar, Stephenson, and parallel) for geometric mobility, joint displacement, and internal joint preload.

Teaching Experience

Aug 2022

Course Co-Developer

EML4842C: Autonomous Vehicles, University of Florida · Gainesville, FL
  • Co-developed the course with Carl D. Crane III.
  • Designed and maintained robotic vehicle platforms, created assignments, projects, and lecture materials in conjunction with the lecturer.
  • Taught undergraduate students autonomous navigation using GNSS and LiDAR on a 1/10th-scale autonomous vehicle platform.
2021 – 2025

Teaching Assistant

University of Florida · Gainesville, FL
  • EML2023 - Computer Aided Design, Fall 2021, Summer 2025: graded assignments and held office hours.
  • EML6282 - Robot Geometry II, Spring 2022: graded assignments and held office hours.
  • EML3301C - Mechanics of Materials Lab, Summer 2025: graded assignments and held office hours.
Sep 2021 – Aug 2023

Manager and Lab TA

UF-MAE Rapid Prototyping Facility · Gainesville, FL
  • Trained and managed student assistants in CNC machining and 3D printing to precise tolerances.
  • Designed and built apparatus and experiments for undergraduate laboratory courses: (1) Computer Aided Design, (2) Mechanics of Materials Lab, (3) Dynamics and Controls System Laboratory.

Guest Lectures

  • Lecture on Uncertainty-Aware Motion Planning for Magnetic-based Navigation, EML6934, Spring 2026 [J1]
  • Lecture on Dead Reckoning, EML4842C: Autonomous Vehicles, Spring 2023
  • Lecture on Particle Filtering, EML6934: Sensor Based Robot Planning, Spring 2024
  • Lecture on Controllability, EML4312: Control of Dynamic Systems, Fall 2024

Mentoring

  • Zi-Hao Zhang, master’s and Ph.D. researcher (2024–Present): learning-based tracking of divers and agents [C1, C2, C3]
  • Khanh Dong, master’s researcher (2026–Present): computer vision and sonar calibration [C1]
  • Nikhil Iyer, undergraduate researcher (2023–2026): magnetometer modeling and mapping [C5, C6, R1]; now a Software Engineer at AutoPCB
  • You-Long Wu, master’s researcher (2024–2026): multi-modal fusion [C5]; now a lecturer at the National Defense University, Taiwan
  • Loi Park, undergraduate researcher (2024–2025): magnetometer modeling [C6]; now a senior in mechanical engineering at the University of Florida

Proposal Writing Experience

  • “A Unified Risk-Aware Representation for Multi-Modal Planning in Uncertain Environments,” Amazon Research Awards, 2026. Role: Developed the contributions, methodology, and experimental plan. PI: Jaejeong Shin
  • White paper on “Active Magnetic Sensing for Long Duration Navigation Underwater,” Office of Naval Research (PM: Tory Cobb), 2025. Role: Wrote two research thrusts, “Active perception for robust map-based magnetic navigation” and “Active navigation with magnetic landmarks for map-free navigation”. PI: Jaejeong Shin
  • “Compliant Mechanical Network Theory for Enhanced Design and Control of Robotic Systems,” NSF Foundational Research in Robotics (FRR), 2023. Role: Wrote the background, methodology, and experimental design sections. PI: Michael Griffis; Co-PIs: Carl D. Crane III, Shannon Ridgeway

Presentations

  • “Neural Network-Based Magnetometer Sensor Model for Virtual Magnetic-Based Navigation Testbed,” AIAA SciTech Forum, Orlando, FL, January 2025 [C6]
  • “Information-Driven Magnetic Navigation,” research presentation and live demonstration, with an underwater motion-capture tank demonstration, for the Office of Naval Research program manager (Tory Cobb), University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, July 2024
  • “Modularis: Modular Underwater Robot for Rapid Development and Validation of Autonomous Systems,” poster presenting proposed Modularis 2.0 extensions to the platform of Herrin et al. (OCEANS 2023), UF Center for Coastal Solutions Summit, Gainesville, FL, December 2023

Honors and Awards

2023

Dean's Research Award

Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering, University of Florida

Competitive award funding Ph.D. studies.

2021

Achievement Award

Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering, University of Florida

Awarded on admission to the M.S. program.

Professional Service

  • Reviewer: The 26th International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (2026), IEEE International Conference on Robotics & Automation (2026–), IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (2025–), IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering (2026–), IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering (2026–)
  • Member: IEEE Student Member, IEEE RAS Student Member, AIAA Student Member
  • FIRST Robotics Mentor at P.K. Yonge High School: mentored students on robotic design and software development
  • Outreach: First-Year Engineering 2025 presentation on the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering