IIT Madras

Team

The people behind the work

Abhilash Somayajula

Abhilash Somayajula

Director

Associate Professor, Department of Ocean Engineering

Abhilash Somayajula is an Associate Professor in the Department of Ocean Engineering at IIT Madras and directs the Marine Autonomous Vehicles Laboratory. His work spans marine robotics and simulation, marine autonomy, artificial intelligence applied to hydrodynamics, and system identification.

He holds a PhD in Ocean Engineering from Texas A&M University (2017) and a dual B.Tech and M.Tech in Ocean Engineering and Naval Architecture from IIT Kharagpur (2011), with a minor in Mechanical Engineering. He also has a micro-masters in Robotics from University of Pennsylvania (2019).

Research group

Current members

Jay Prabhakaran

Project Associate · 2023

Marine autonomy

Vallabh Deogaonkar

PhD Scholar · 2023

Formerly Team Aritra

Cooperative autonomy and data-driven control of marine vehicles

Sayan Chowdhury

PhD Scholar · 2022

Marine autonomy

Leo D

Co-guided by Prof. K. Murali

PhD Scholar · 2019

Marine autonomy

Sangeetha S

Co-guided by Prof. Arjun Jagannathan

PhD Scholar · 2022

Marine autonomy

Don Gideon

Co-guided by Prof. Bijo Sebastian

PhD Scholar · 2023

Multi-agent path planning for marine vehicles

Ankush Deepakrao Kadu

MS Scholar · 2022

Marine autonomy

Shailesh Yadav

MS Scholar · 2024

Marine autonomy

Barbie Sharma

Co-guided by Prof. Viswanadha Reddy

MS Scholar

Marine autonomy

Naga Deepak Krishna

Co-guided by Prof. Bijo Sebastian

MS Scholar

Marine autonomy

Vithya Devi Sundari

Project Associate

Marine autonomy

Hemalatha

Project Associate

Marine autonomy

Aravind Yokesh

Project Associate

Marine autonomy

Aatmaj Bhayani

Dual Degree Student

Marine autonomy

Samyak

B.Tech Student

Autonomous docking and AUV development

Aarav Patel

B.Tech Student

Team Aritra

Marine autonomy

Madhav Sai

B.Tech Student

Team Aritra

Marine autonomy

Gurukesav

B.Tech Student

Formerly Team Aritra

Marine autonomy

Janani Nandhakumar

B.Tech Student

Geometry reconstruction from side-scan sonar data

Hari Verabadran

Project Associate

Marine autonomy

Alumni

Where they started

Name Research topic Role Years
Devayani Power electronics, sensing and integration for ASV and AUV platforms Project Associate 2024–2026
Eshant Kumar Jha Co-guided by Prof. Bijo Sebastian COLREGs-inspired decentralised path planning for multi-agent systems MS Scholar 2022–2026
Mohammed Sohrab Ali Marine autonomy MS Scholar 2022–2026
Mrityunjay Upadhyay Marine autonomy MS Scholar 2022–2026
R. Krishnavelu Ship maneuvering in waves PhD Scholar Also Project Associate 2020–2026
Gangesh Kumar Agrahri Simulation-based analysis of parametric rolling in head seas MS Scholar 2021–2024
Vishnu K T Co-guided by Prof. Suresh Rajendran Deep reinforcement learning for integrated path following and collision avoidance of ASVs MS Scholar 2021–2024
Anand Mohan Comparative study of controllers for path following of ships MS Scholar 2021–2023
Md Shadab Alam Data-driven control for marine vehicle maneuvering MS Scholar 2021–2023
Roshan Singh Underwater acoustic noise classification using machine learning MS Scholar 2019–2021
Mayur Gundal Structural analysis of welded ship joints MS Scholar 2018–2020
Aditya Jadhav Collision avoidance for autonomous surface vessels using artificial potential fields Dual Degree Student —
Akash Vijaykumar Learning autonomous docking and extraction of ship collision avoidance patterns B.Tech Student Formerly Team Aritra —
Amar Nath Singh Deep reinforcement learning for ship collision avoidance and path tracking B.Tech Student Formerly Team Aritra —
Arundathi Chandrasekaran HydRA development B.Tech Student —
Aswin Vijay Identification of hydrodynamic coefficients using SVR; also HydRA development B.Tech Student —
Balaji — Intern —
C H Prem Kumar Free-running scaled surface vessel design B.Tech Student —
Geetharani — Intern —
Gowsik Guru Dev Control algorithms for torpedo-shaped AUVs B.Tech Student —
Gowtham Bharadwaj HydRA development B.Tech Student —
Hari Kishore HydRA development B.Tech Student —
Hari Priya Palla Free-running scaled surface vessel design B.Tech Student —
J Manoranjan Hydrodynamic object detection for ASVs; also HydRA development B.Tech Student —
Joel Jose Deep reinforcement learning for path following of marine vessels B.Tech Student —
Karthiyalini Free-running scaled surface vessel design B.Tech Student —
Mohammed Ibrahim High-fidelity multi-agent maritime simulator B.Tech Student Formerly Team Aritra; also Project Associate —
Nikhila — Intern —
Nirmal Kumaran — B.Tech Student Formerly Team Aritra —
Pitta Nimesh Prediction of parametric roll B.Tech Student —
Pritish — B.Tech Student —
R S Sanjeev Kumar Reinforcement learning for ship control B.Tech Student —
Rohit Deraj Reinforcement learning for ship waypoint tracking B.Tech Student —
Shrenik Zinage Active heave compensation and autonomous surface vessels B.Tech Student —
Visharad HydRA development B.Tech Student —
Vishva Nilesh Bhate Autonomous surface vessel development Project Associate Previously Intern —