Mobile Robot for Inspection
Building infrastructure audit robot (Meerkat).
Senior Research Fellow · SUTD, Singapore
Viraj MuthugalaToward robots that adapt their form, reason about their world, and earn a place alongside people in everyday spaces.
I am a Senior Research Fellow in the Engineering Product Development Pillar at the Singapore University of Technology and Design, where I lead research projects spanning robotics and AI. I was a Visiting Researcher at the Dyson School of Design Engineering, Imperial College London (2025–26). My work covers path and motion planning, foundation models for robot autonomy, reconfigurable robots, human–robot interaction, robot-inclusive design of buildings, and service and field robots.
110+publications
1,744citations
Google Scholar
Google Scholar
23h-index
40JCR Q1 journal papers
3granted SG patents
SGD 10M+in grants · led proposal writing and research execution
Recipient of the IROS 2024 New Generation Star Award
All awards →
01 / NEWS
Recent
- ServiceAppointed Associate Editor for ICRA 2027.
- Paper“GAT-based Reinforcement Learning for NBV Selection in Semantic Visual Active SLAM under Dynamic Environments” presented at IROS 2026.
- PanelPanelist at the Workshop on Circular Robotics: Designing Sustainable Autonomy for a Finite World, ICRA 2026, Vienna.
- Paper“LARVO-RRT*: Learning Guided Adaptive Reconfiguration with Vector field Oriented RRT*” presented at ICRA 2026, Vienna.
- Paper“Design by Robot: Relocating Obstacles for Efficient Mobile Robot Navigation” presented as a late-breaking result at ICRA 2026, Vienna.
- Talk“Robotics and AI for Inspection and Maintenance: Challenges and Opportunities”, monthly webinar of the Institution of Engineers, Sri Lanka.
- PanelPanelist at the Applied Robotics & Artificial Intelligence Symposium (ARAIS) 2026, Singapore.
- Talk“Autonomy and Planning Across Reconfigurable Robots, Morphologies, and Environments”, Morph Lab, Imperial College London.
- VisitStarted a visiting researcher post at the Dyson School of Design Engineering, Imperial College London, hosted by Prof. Thrishantha Nanayakkara.
- AwardBest Paper Award at the International Conference on Social Robotics + AI 2025, Naples, for human–robot co-design of cleaning layouts with a vision-language model.
- PatentsThree Singapore patents granted: inspection robot, robot coupling mechanism and beach litter-removal robot.
02 / RESEARCH
What I work on
Most of my work starts from a real deployment: cleaning, inspection and maintenance robots that have to run in food courts, ship yards, drains, pavements and hospitals. Select a paper to see its details.
Path and motion planning
Planning for single and multi-robot systems in complex, changing environments: complete coverage, shape-aware path planning for reconfigurable robots, multi-agent path finding and scheduling, and active perception. Methods include reinforcement learning, bio-inspired neural networks and metaheuristics.
Foundation models for autonomy
Vision-language and foundation models for robot task planning, the safety of VLM-controlled robots against physical prompt injection, and human–robot co-design of the spaces robots work in.
Reconfigurable robotics
Tiling, size-variable and inter-reconfigurable modular robots that change morphology to fit obstacles, cover more area and dock with each other.
Human–robot interaction
Robots that interpret uncertain spatial language, read gestures and approach people appropriately. My PhD used neuro-fuzzy methods for navigational commands.
Robot-inclusive design
Auditing and designing buildings so robots can work in them, from lighting and floor unevenness to false ceilings, drains and tactile markers.
Service & field robots
Design and control of robots for ship-hull blasting, facade and wall cleaning, aircraft inspection, drain and ceiling inspection, and outdoor sweeping.
03 / PUBLICATIONS
Publications
40 JCR Q116 JCR Q213 IROS7 ICRA4 RO-MAN3 FUZZ-IEEE2 SMC2 ReMAR
04 / FUNDING & IP
Grants, patents and partners
SGD 11.15M in competitive grants. I prepared most of each proposal, from methodology and literature review to research plans, and lead the research execution once funded. PI on all: Prof. Mohan Rajesh Elara.
LEO 1.0: A New Class of Bed Making Robot
SGD 2.73M
Wrote most of the technical proposal on embodied AI and large-scale dataset collection.
Osprey: Bespoke Robot for Decontamination Works
SGD 2.22M
Wrote most of the proposal: methodology, literature review, path planning and HRI plans.
PANTHERA 2.0: Deployable Autonomous Pavement Sweeping Robot through Public Trials
SGD 1.2M
Wrote most of the proposal, including methodology and research plans.
ERMINE III: Deployable Reconfigurable Robots
SGD 3M
Prepared most of Work Package 1, complete multi-dimensional coverage planning in reconfigurable robots.
Advanced ROS2-native Platform Technologies for Cross-sectorial Robotics Adoption
SGD 2M
Contributed to the literature review and methodology.
Total across five awardsSGD 11.15M
Granted patents · Singapore
Coupling Mechanism for a Robot
Error-tolerant, directionless coupling for reconfigurable modular robots.
Robot for Litter Removal
Turaco, a beach cleaning robot that removes litter from sand.
Industry collaborations
Obayashi CorporationDeployable construction robots2025–present
Wefaa RoboticsReconfigurable robotics2024–present
Intrinsic (Alphabet)Resource-aware multi-robot coordination2022–2026
LionsbotAutonomous floor cleaning2021–2022
Oceania RoboticsAutonomous floor cleaning2021–2022
Brightsun MarineShip hull maintenance2019–2021
05 / EXPERIENCE
Experience and education
Work experience
- Oct 2024 – nowSenior Research FellowEngineering Product Development Pillar, SUTD · PI: Prof. Mohan Rajesh Elara
- Nov 2025 – Feb 2026Visiting ResearcherDyson School of Design Engineering, Imperial College London · Host: Prof. Thrishantha Nanayakkara
- Oct 2021 – Oct 2024Research Fellow IIEngineering Product Development Pillar, SUTD
- Oct 2018 – Oct 2021Research Fellow IEngineering Product Development Pillar, SUTD
- Aug 2021InstructorFACT programme, Design Thinking & Innovation · SUTD and Prasetiya Mulya University
- Apr – Aug 2018Visiting LecturerDept. of Computational Mathematics, University of Moratuwa · CM 4310 Artificial Neural Networks and Evolutionary Computing
- Jul 2014 – Sep 2018Research Scholar and Visiting InstructorDept. of Electrical Engineering, University of Moratuwa · laboratory and tutorial classes
- Apr – Jun 2014Temporary InstructorDept. of Electrical Engineering, University of Moratuwa · laboratory and tutorial classes
Education
- Aug 2014 – Jul 2018PhD, University of MoratuwaEnhancing Interpretation of Uncertain Information in Navigational Commands for Service Robots Using Neuro-Fuzzy Approach · Advisor: Dr. A. G. Buddhika P. Jayasekara
- Jul 2009 – Mar 2014BSc Eng (Hons), Electrical Engineering, University of MoratuwaFirst class · GPA 3.82 / 4.2 · Dean’s List four semesters · EESoc best undergraduate project award
06 / MENTORING
Students and researchers I mentor
6 PhD students, 7 MSc students, 16 research assistants and engineers, and more than 25 interns, exchange and final-year students from Singapore, Sri Lanka, the US, Europe, India and China.
PhD
- Yang Zhenyuan2023 – now
- Rishan Sachinthana2023 – 2026
- Arjo Chakravarty2022 – 2026
- Ash Wan Yaw Sang2021 – 2025
- Braulio Felix Gomez2021 – 2025
- Soon Kiat Matthew Yeo2019 – 2024
MSc
- Aryan Kurungadathil2024 – 2026
- Chia Hwe Huang2024 – 2026
- Shasheeka Himaruwan2023 – 2025
- Kotaprolu Smaran2023 – 2025
- Shameer Ahamed2022 – 2024
- Isira Damsith Wijegunawardana2021 – 2023
- Anilkumar Ezhilarasu2021 – 2023
Research assistants and engineers
- Saurav Ghante Anantha Padmanabha
- Jun Hua
- Koppaka Ganesh Sai Apuroop
- Qi Boon Ng
- Yi Jin Ng
- Raihan Enjikalayil Abdulkader
- Selvakumaran
- Pey Jia Jie Javier
- Zeng Zimou
- Sairam Borusu
- Chee Gen Moo
- Sriniketh Konduri
- Eduardo Sanchez Cruz
- Raul Fernando Garcia Azcarate
- Akhil Jayadeep
- Aung Kyaw Zin
Undergraduates, interns and exchange students
- Maggie Liu, Nikki Guo · iUROP, University of Waterloo2026
- Jona Benjamin Patig · iUROP, University of Twente2026
- S. Sreeram Nair, Anil, Swathi · FYP, Amrita University2024–25
- Alan Li Pusong · Intern, UIUC2024
- Charan Vikram · Intern, VIT2024
- Dojitha Mirihagalla, Melisa Arukgoda, Randika Perera · Interns, Univ. of Moratuwa2023–24
- M.R. Dilhara, U.P. Ruwanpura, M.S. Amith · FYP, Univ. of Moratuwa2023–24
- Anica Krueger, Paola Flores · iUROP, University of Twente2023
- Thelma Run Edvaldsdottir · iUROP, Reykjavik University2023
- Luke Weaver · iUROP, Lehigh University2023
- Natalie Ratzlaff · iUROP, UC San Diego2023
- H.A.D. Madhusanka, K.P.G. Sandamal, R.M.S. Lakruwani · FYP, Univ. of Moratuwa2022–23
- Ishneet Singh · SUTD-RMP, Temasek Junior College2022
- Soh Wei Si · Undergraduate intern, SUTD2021
- Phone Thiha Kyaw · Intern2020–21
- Suresh Raj Vishaal, Htet Lin Nay · Interns2019–20
- Ayyalusami Vengadesh, Sriharsha Ghanta · Interns2018–19
- Xinke Wu · Exchange student, Zhejiang University2018
07 / HONOURS
Awards
Research
- Best Paper Award, International Conference on Social Robotics + AI (ICSR + AI) 2025, NaplesSep 2025
- New Generation Star Award, IROS 2024Oct 2024
- First runner-up, MathWorks Mini Drone Competition, IROS 2018Oct 2018
- Nanjing City Prize, Robotics Innovation Awards, RO-MAN 2018Aug 2018
- Best Paper, Robotics and Control track, MERCon 2016Apr 2016
- EESoc Award, best Electrical Engineering undergraduate projectDec 2014
- Travel grants2016 – 25IES SYPA Travel Award, IROS 2025 · IEEE RAS, IROS 2016 and 2017 · NSF Sri Lanka, IROS 2017 · IEEE CIS and EUSFLAT, FUZZ-IEEE 2017
Design
- Melbourne Design Awards, GoldJul 2025KOALA, plant health assessment and shrub pruning robot
- IDA Design Awards, Honorable MentionJan 2025Meerkat, building infrastructure audit robot
- IDA Design Awards, GoldJan 2022flipX, compact reconfigurable chair for home workouts
- IDA Design Awards, Silver ×2Jan 2022SoGa Chair; PlayBench
- IDA Design Awards, BronzeJan 2022Kanga, a childcare seat
08 / SERVICE
Talks and professional service
Editorial
- Associate Editor, ICRA 20272026
- Associate Editor, Frontiers in Robotics and AI2024 – now
- Associate Editor, Frontiers in Manufacturing Technology2024 – now
- Associate Editor, Discover Applied Sciences (Springer)2024 – now
- Topic Editor, Electronics (MDPI)2021 – 23
Conference roles
- Session Chair, IROS 2026, ARSO 2026, IROS 2022, AROB 2022, ReMAR 2021
- Track Co-Chair, DTDA Japan 2025, 2026; MERCon 2025, 2026; EECon 2026
- Program Co-Chair, EECon2024
- Co-chair, Technical Program, IEEE R10 HTC2018
- TPC member, ICIPRob, ICIAfS, EECon, RCAR, RAAICON2018 – 26
Invited talks & panels
- Panel, Circular Robotics workshop, ICRA 2026, ViennaJun 2026
- Invited talk, IESL monthly webinarMay 2026
- Panel, ARAIS 2026, SingaporeMay 2026
- Guest talk, Morph Lab, Imperial College LondonFeb 2026
Robotics competitions
- Organizing Committee, RoboRoarZ2023, 2024, 2025
- Organizing Team, IEEE Region 10 Robotics Competition2022, 2024
- Judge Panel, IEEE Region 10 Robotics Competition2023
- Organizing Committee, Global Robotics Games2023
- Judge Panel, iNTUition v9.0, IEEE NTU Student Branch2024
- Guest Judge, Pei Hwa Virtual Hackathon2024
Reviewing & examining
- Reviewer for leading robotics journals and conferences
- PhD/MSc thesis examiner, Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology, India; University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka
- Grant evaluator, University of Moratuwa
- Mentor, MOE Innovation Programme2025
Memberships & advisory
- Senior Member, IEEE (RAS, IES)2023 – now
- Member, IEEE (RAS, SMC)2015 – 23
- Product Advisory Council, Wefaa Robotics2024
- Assistant Secretary, IEEE RAS Sri Lanka Section Chapter2017 – 19
Get in touch
If my research interests you, I would be glad to hear from you, whether you are a researcher, a student or an industry partner. I welcome conversations across robotics and AI, from embodied AI and foundation models to reconfigurable robots, path and motion planning, human–robot interaction, robot-inclusive design and field robotics, and on how this research can make a real difference in the world.
viraj_jagathpriya [at] sutd [dot] edu [dot] sgEngineering Product Development Pillar
Singapore University of Technology and Design
8 Somapah Road, Singapore 487372