Dedicated AI/ML, Computer Vision and Human-Robot Interaction researcher devoted to pushing the boundaries of Artificial Intelligence and ensuring its constructive influence on human society. Specialising in Continual Machine Learning and Human-Robot Interaction, my interests lie in fostering the development of versatile and adaptive systems tailored for dynamic real-world environments. My research is focused on advancing sensory perception and behavioural learning in autonomous agents, with a strong emphasis on promoting fairness and equity. I boast of a track record of 25+ publications with 600+ citations (H-index=16) resulting from a number of successful interdisciplinary collaborations achieved by engaging with experts from diverse fields. Committed to leveraging AI/ML and Robotics for innovation, I am dedicated to expanding the boundaries of how AI and robotics can help address real-world challenges and improve daily human life.
Postdoc researcher at the Affective Intelligence and Robotics (AFAR) Lab investigating Federated Continual Learning solutions for Affective and Social Robotics. Postdoc project funded by Google under the GIG funding scheme.
Worked at the Technical Aspects of Multimodal Systems (TAMS) group (Apr 2016 - Mar 2017) and Knowledge Technology (WTM) group (Apr 2017 - Sept 2018). Research focussed on developing ML solutions for 3D pose estimation (TAMS) and Multi-modal Affect Perception for Social Robots (WTM). Collaborated on projects funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) under project Cross-modal Learning (TRR 169).
Developed and managed industry-academia collaboration projects ranging from Industrial Automation, IoT, AI/ML, Mobility and Big Data, partnering with industry leaders and government agencies for SME development. Work deliverables also included delivering skill-building sessions for undergraduates on programming for IoT devices such as Arduino and Intel Atom boards.
Designed, implemented and managed Technology Transfer and Skill-building Projects for Industrial Automation of SMEs in North India.
Provided Project consultation and internal employee training on Programming Languages, Databases and Software Engineering. Designed coursewares for Mainframes (COBOL, CICS) and Relational Databases. Conducted training sessions for new recruits (trainees) on several topics, including OOPS, SQL and Software Engineering principles.
Research focussed on developing (deep) Lifelong and Continual Machine Learning solutions for personalised and continual perception and context-appropriate behavioural learning for robots. PhD research funded by the EPSRC International Doctoral Scholarship and Cambridge Computer Laboratory Premium Research Studentship.
Supervised by Prof Hatice Gunes
Research focussed on End-to-End Deep Learning solutions for Multi-modal Perception and Behavioural Learning for Social Robots.
Thesis: Modelling Affective Cores for Behaviour Modulation in Social Robots
Supervised by Prof Dr Stefan Wermter
Grade: 1.0 mit Auszeichnung bestanden (Distinction).
Excelled in Course Modules on Software Engineering, Relational Databases, Object-oriented Programming and Expert Systems. Final Year Project: Developed and deployed a problem ticket management system for R Systems, India (1000+ employees) for sys-admins to record and resolve IT-related issues.
Assisted in Undergraduate/Graduate modules on Mobile Robot Systems (2019, 2020), Interaction Design (2019, 2020), Affective Computing (2020, 2024) and Further Human-Computer Interaction (2022).
Designed and conducted Cambridge Undergraduate/Graduate supervisions on Interaction Design, Further-HCI and Affective Computing.
Co-Supervised Cambridge MPhil student projects on:
Organiser for the Dungeons Neuron and Dialogues workshop to be held at the IEEE International Conference on Affective Computing and Intelligent Interaction (ACII) 2024
Contributing to IEEE ACII 2024 as the Visa and Registration chair.
Organiser for the Lifelong Learning and Personalization in Long-Term Human-Robot Interaction (LEAP-HRI) workshop held at the IEEE/ACM International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction 2024.
Main organiser for the Causal-HRI: Causal Learning for Human Robot Interaction workshop held at the IEEE/ACM International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction 2024.
Contributed as the Talks Chair for the 1st ContinualAI Un-conference aimed at speeding-up the long desired inclusive and sustainable progress of the Continual Learning community with an open-access, multi-timezone, 24 hours long event.
Co-organiser for the CLVision: Continual Learning in Computer Vision workshop held at the IEEE / CVF Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition Conference (CVPR) 2020.
Managed volunteer coordinators for the IEEE International Conference on Affective Computing and Intelligent Interaction (ACII) 2019. Key deliverables included helping schedule and organise the paper and poster presentations, preparing venues and coordinating with the tech-team for the smooth running of the conference.
Organiser for the Workshop on Empathy Modelling in Real-World Scenarios: Lessons Learned from the OMG Empathy Prediction Challenge held at the International Conference on Face and Gesture Recognition (FG), 2019.
Organiser for the OMG Empathy Prediction Challenge held in conjunction with the International Conference on Face and Gesture Recognition (FG), 2019.
Saksham Checker, Nikhil Churamani, and Hatice Gunes
Bahar Irfan, Mariacarla Staffa, Andreea Bobu, and Nikhil Churamani
Jiaee Cheong, Nikhil Churamani, Luke Guerdan, Tabitha Edith Lee, and Zhao Han, Hatice Gunes
Nikhil Churamani, Tolga Dimlioglu, German I. Parisi, and Hatice Gunes
Samuil Stoychev, Nikhil Churamani, and Hatice Gunes
Nikhil Churamani, Jiaee Cheong, Sinan Kalkan, and Hatice Gunes
Nikhil Churamani, Ozgur Kara and Hatice Gunes
Emily McQuillin, Nikhil Churamani, and Hatice Gunes
Nikhil Churamani, Pablo Barros, Hatice Gunes, and Stefan Wermter
Nikhil Churamani, Minja Axelsson, Atahan Çaldır, and Hatice Gunes
Vincenzo Lomonaco, Lorenzo Pellegrini, Pau Rodriguez, Massimo Caccia et. al.
Minja Axelsson, Nikhil Churamani, Atahan Caldir, and Hatice Gunes
Nikhil Churamani, Sinan Kalkan, and Hatice Gunes
Indu P. Bodala, Nikhil Churamani, and Hatice Gunes
Finalist for the RSJ/KROS Distinguished Interdisciplinary Research Award
Ozgur Kara, Nikhil Churamani, and Hatice Gunes
Nikhil Churamani
Best Doctoral Consortium Paper Award
Nikhil Churamani, Sinan Kalkan, and Hatice Gunes
Pablo Barros, Nikhil Churamani, and Alessandra Sciutti
Pablo Barros, Nikhil Churamani, and Alessandra Sciutti
Pablo Barros, Nikhil Churamani, Angelica Lim, and Stefan Wermter
Pablo Barros, Nikhil Churamani, Egor Lakomkin, Henrique Sequeira et al.
Nikhil Churamani, Pablo Barros, Erik Strahl, and Stefan Wermter
Nikhil Churamani, Alexander Sutherland, and Pablo Barros
Nikhil Churamani, Paul Anton, Marc Brügger, Erik Fließwasser et. al.
H. G. Ng, P. Anton, M. Brügger, Nikhil Churamani, et. al.
Nikhil Churamani, Matthias Kerzel, Erik Strahl, Pablo Barros, Stefan Wermter