Violinist. Engineer. Researcher.
On stage
I started learning Carnatic violin at four, under Sangeeta Kalanidhi Padmashri A. Kanyakumari (opens in a new tab). Since then I’ve performed more than 2,000 concerts around the world and recorded for over 200 films and albums - from Carnatic and Hindustani music to Western classical, jazz, rock, country and Irish fiddle. I compose, arrange, produce and mix for independent and commercial projects.
I was the first to bring a talk box into Indian classical music, making the violin sing lyrics. I also collect and play rare instruments, from the duduk to the musical saw.
In the lab
I’m an engineer at heart. At Georgia Tech’s Center for Music Technology I spent six years building musical robots and the AI behind them - a robotic violinist that plays Carnatic music, a prosthetic drumming arm funded by Google, and Shimon, the robot that set a Guinness World Record.
I earned my Ph.D. there in 2024, worked on surgical robots at the University of Louisville, and now work on music and audio AI as a Research Scientist at Duetti.
Experience
Since 2026
Duetti
Research Scientist
Music and audio understanding with AI.
2025–2026
University of Louisville
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Surgical robotics: automated instrument-tray assembly and continuum robots.
2018–2024
Georgia Tech, Robotic Musicianship Lab
Researcher
Musical robots, prosthetics and music AI. I led low-level control, machine learning and electronics for the lab’s robots.
2023
Dolby Laboratories
Audio research
Immersive spatial audio from mono recordings and 360° video.
2020
Google
Research collaboration
The Drumming Arm, a prosthesis for drummer Jason Barnes.
2019
Amazon Web Services
Applied science
Low-latency cloud speech recognition for Alexa.
Teaching
Robotic Musicianship
Georgia Tech
I designed and taught the course. Students build musical robots and perform with them in an end-of-semester concert.
Digital Signal Processing for Music
Georgia Tech
Plus mentoring research teams in the Robotic Musicianship Lab.
Honors
- 2020Guinness World RecordsShimon, the first robot in a rap battle
- 2018All India RadioB-High graded violinist
- 2014Lalgudi G. Jayaraman Endowment AwardKrishna Gana Sabha, Chennai
- 2012T. Kesavalu Endowment AwardKrishna Gana Sabha, Chennai
Reviewer for HRI, ICASSP, IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine, Computer Music Journal and npj Robotics.
Background
Ph.D. and M.S. in Music Technology, Georgia Tech · Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, MIT · B.Tech. in Electronics and Communication, SRM University