Hi, I'm Darshan K T Gowda

Robotics Engineer | Control & Navigation Specialist | ROS Developer | Maker

About Me

I am a Robotics Engineer with a Master's degree from the University of California, Riverside, specializing in control and navigation. I have a strong background in robotics, automation, and sensor fusion, with hands-on experience in ROS, Python, C++, and embedded systems.

Education

The National Institute of Engineering, Mysuru, India

MTECH/MS in Industrial Automation and Robotics

Courses: Programming Practical Robots, Kinematics & Dynamics of Robots, Mobile robotics, Optimal Control & Estimation, Computational Methods for Robotics, Hydraulics and pneumatics, PLC, Drives & control system, Foundations of Robotics, Linear Control Systems

Ghousia College of Engineering, India

BE/BTECH in Mechanical Engineering

Courses: Mechatronics, Mechanical Design & Analysis, Michanical Vibration, Automotive electronics, Control Systems, Machine Dynamics, Manufacturing

Skills

Programming

C/C++, Python, Arduino, CUDA Programming

Software Tools

Docker, Dev Containers, Github, VS code, Linux

Robotics - Tools

ROS/ROS2, MoveIt, Gazebo, RViz, OpenCV, PCL

Robotics - Types

AMR, Drones, Arm robots, ROVs

Robotics - Concepts

Path Planning(Global & local planning), SLAM, Kalman Filters(EKF), PID

Sensors

2D/3D Lidars, RGB-D Camera(Zed, Kinect, Realsense), GPS(RTK)

Embedded Systems

Pixhawk, ESP32, Raspberry Pi, Jetson Nano

Projects

Multi-Robot Navigation using RMF and TurtleBot3

Multi-Robot Navigation using Open-RMF and TurtleBot3

Coordinated fleet management and navigation in a using Open-RMF, ROS 2, and TurtleBot3 robots. Demonstrates task scheduling, traffic management, and collision-free delivery in complex indoor layouts.

RMF
ROS 2
Multi-Robot Coordination
Gazebo Simulation
Fleet Management
Navigation

BlueROV2 Underwater Robot Setup

Configured and deployed the BlueROV2 robot for underwater operation using QGroundControl and Xbox controller. Achieved live video streaming and control, and laid the groundwork for ROS2 integration with future YOLO-based perception tasks.

BlueROV2
QGroundControl
Xbox Controller
ArduSub
Pixhawk
Raspberry Pi
ROS2 (Future)
YOLO Detection (Future)

Plate Cleaning Robot

Developed an automated plate-cleaning system with an ABB IRB 120 robotic arm using inverse kinematics and PD control for spiral motions. It features efficient trajectory planning and enhanced reliability through random plate positioning and robust task space design.

Matlab
ABB IRB 120
Inverse Kinematics
PD Control
Trajectory Planning
Automation

SITL + Gazebo UAV Simulation

A two-part simulation framework using ArduPilot SITL and Gazebo to develop and test autonomous navigation and flight control of quadrotors without real hardware. Supports mission planning, flight modes, and 3D visualization.

ArduPilot SITL
MAVProxy
Gazebo
Flight Simulation
Mission Planning
Autonomous UAV Control

Pole Detection & Midpoint Calculation

Designed a LiDAR-based navigation system for a robot operating beneath solar panels. Used point cloud filtering to detect poles and calculate midpoints for autonomous mowing.

LiDAR
Point Cloud Filtering
ROS 2
Midpoint Path Planning
Simulation in Gazebo

GPU Virtualization for OpenPose

Demonstrated how GVirtuS virtualizes GPU resources to run the GPU-hungry OpenPose application on lightweight non-GPU edge devices by redirecting CUDA calls to a remote GPU backend.

GPU Virtualization
GVirtuS Framework
OpenPose
Caffe
CUDA

Simple chat Application based on talker and listener node in ROS

Implemented a chat-like application consisting of 2 nodes in ROS, demonstrating basic subscriber-publisher communication with multithreading via AsyncSpinner.