I grew up in a modest city in Rajasthan, India, and come from a humble background. My parents have always urged me to study to build a successful career. Thus, I have always excelled academically. I scored 96.6% and 90.9% in the 10th and 12th grade board examinations. The latter resulted in an INSPIRE scholarship, awarded to only the top 1% of 1.4 million applicants. After high school, I decided to pursue engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). I achieved a rank of 1934 in India after clearing a two-stage examination consisting of JEE Advanced and JEE Mains, in which 1.2 million candidates participated in 2016.
At the end of my freshman year, I was granted a change of major (a privilege given to only 10% of first-year students) to Mechanical Engineering due to my exceptional academic ability and interest in mechanics. Over the course of my undergraduate studies, I developed an aptitude for robotics through a rigorous curriculum that included courses such as machine kinematics and dynamics, as well as modeling and control of robotic arms. However, a dearth of robotics-related employment opportunities and financial obligations compelled me to accept a position with a consulting firm. I continued to pursue my interest in robotics and completed a 6-month online specialization in autonomous vehicles while working 60-hour work weeks. During this time, I worked on multiple projects to gain an understanding of perception, localization, path planning, and control-specific concepts. These projects gave me unparalleled intellectual stimulation and the courage to pursue a career in robotics. Soon I decided to take the road less traveled and quit my job to pursue robotics full-time, despite the significant financial sacrifice.
My varied pursuits have equipped me with non-technical skills that I can utilize while developing robotic products in labs. During my undergrad, I became adept at working with limited funds when I led the Events Department at Mood Indigo, Asia's largest college cultural festival. This skill would enable me to utilize the allocated research funds effectively. At Mood Indigo, I led over 200 volunteers in curating more than 100 professional showcase events, which provided me with public relations expertise and the confidence to generate and drive initiatives. As a consultant at Ernst and Young (EY), I have been trained to work in teams under tight deadlines. In addition, structured problem-solving thinking was the most crucial skill I honed at the time, which served me well when I pursued research and navigated unfamiliar territory.
Volunteering as a mentor has helped me develop the empathy necessary for an engineer to identify and solve social issues. During my undergraduate studies, I was chosen to be a cultural mentor to foster music culture due to my musical talent and leadership ability. I served as a mentor to several bands and created new avenues for musicians to exhibit their talent. Based on my accomplishments and positive peer reviews, I was also selected as an academic mentor to assist 12 underprivileged freshmen. I held many one-to-one meetings with my mentees to gain an understanding of the challenges they faced and helped them develop solutions.
I aim to mentor underrepresented aspiring robotics engineers so that talented individuals can rely on something other than expensive training programs due to the field's high entry barrier. Motivated by my own experience, I also want to create opportunities for those who want to work in robotics research but are forced to work in corporate jobs like consulting due to financial constraints.