Research Interests 

I am interested in the area of Human-Machine Interaction. My current research emphasis is on developing implicit communication between human beings and robots based on emotion detection using physiological sensing.

My prime research interests cover the following topics:

	Human-Robot Interaction
	Pattern Recognition
	Signal processing of Biomedical Signals

Education

Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN (Graduating in June 2005)

PhD in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Dissertation Topic: Affect- based implicit human-robot interaction

GPA: 3.9/4.0

Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN n  (May 2003)

M.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Major: Robotics and Control Systems

GPA: 3.9/4.0

Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, India n  2001

B.E. (Hons.) in Electrical and Electronics Engineering

GPA: 8.7/10

Experience 

At Robotics and Autonomous Systems Laboratory, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN:

Research Assistant – to Prof. N. Sarkar - Currently associated with research in the field of Psycho physiological Control Architecture for Human-Robot Coordination- developing concepts and initial experiments

Teaching Assistant – in the course – ME 234 System Dynamics- Conducted laboratory sessions, held classes, graded programs, homework and examinations.

At Motorola India Electronics Limited, Bangalore, India (January-June 2001)

Internship - Motorola Digital Signal Processor - Star*Core140, based applications in the area of image compression and Voice Coding-Decoding

 At Central Leather Research Institute, Chennai, India (May-July 1999)

Internship - Designed and implemented an ORACLE/SQL database system to manage and maintain records of leather exports from India

Publications

Journal Publications

P. Rani, J. Sims, R. Brackin, and N. Sarkar, “Online Stress Detection using Psychophysiological Signal for Implicit Human-Robot Cooperation,” Robotica, Vol. 20, No. 6, pp. 673-686, 2002.

Rani, P., Sarkar, N., Smith, C., A., Kirby, L., D., “Anxiety Detecting Robotic System-Towards Implicit Human-Robot Collaboration”, Robotica.

(Under Review) Rani, P., Sarkar, N., Smith, C., A., Adams, J., A., “Affective Communication for Implicit Human-Machine Interaction”, IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics. 

Conference Publications

 P. Chai, P. Rani, and N. Sarkar, “An innovative high-level human-robot interactions foe disabled persons,” To appear in the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, New Orleans, USA, April 2004.

Rani, P., Sarkar, N., Smith, “Anxiety Detection for Implicit Human-Robot Collaboration”, IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man & Cybernetics, October 2003, Washington D.C., pp: 4896-4903

Rani, P., Sarkar, N., Smith, C., "Affect-Sensitive Human-Robot Cooperation –Theory and Experiments", IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, pp: 2382-2387, Taiwan, September 2003

Erol, D., Rani, P., Brackin, R., Sarkar, M., and Sarkar, N., "Robotic Aid to Disabled People By Means of an Innovative Communication Paradigm", 9th Mechatronics Forum International Conference, , Ankara, Turkey, September, 2004..

Sarkar, N., Sims, J., Vashishtha, D., Rani, P., Brackin, “Stress Detection for Implicit Human-Robot Cooperation”, World Automation Congress, Orlando, USA, June 2002

Workshop Publication

Rani,P, Nilas, P., Sarkar, M., Sarkar, N., "Semi-Autonomous Human-Robot Interaction Using EMG-Based Modified Morse Code", to appear in the Workshop on Multi-point interaction in Robotics and Virtual Reality, IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, New Orleans, USA, April 2004.

Adams, J, Rani, P, Sarkar, N, “Mixed Initiative Interaction and Robotic Systems”, Workshop on Supervisory Control of Learning and Adaptive Systems, to be held at the Nineteenth National Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI-04), San Jose, CA, July, 2004.

Technical Reports

Mixed Initiative Control Architecture- A Survey

Projects 

At Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN

	Path Planning of Multiple Vehicles in a Dynamic Environment using Model Predictive Control
	PSD Analysis of Electromyograms for Detection and Classification of Myopathic and Neurological Diseases
	Development of a Decision Tree Based Affect Classification System
	Design and Implementation of an Affect Controlled Robot System Based on Subsumption Architecture
	Real-time Acquisition and Processing of Physiological signals for Affect Computing
	Design and Simulation of a Snake-Robot in ROBOSIM
	Speed and Orientation Control of a Mobile Robot using Fuzzy Logic

 At Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, India

	Interactive Voice Response System
	Design and Implementation of Firmware for the Control of Pendubot
	Contrasting the Performance of BJT and MOSFET in High Frequency Switching application
	Design and Implementation of an Infrared ranging System for the Navigation of an Autonomous Guided Vehicle

Technical competence 

	Languages- C/C++, LISP (LISTs Processor), Assembly Language Programming (Motorola and Intel microprocessors and microcontrollers, Motorola DSPs and Analog Devices DSPs)
	Tools- MATLAB (expertise with the Simulink, Wavelet, Fuzzy Logic and DSP toolbox), ROBOSIM (Graphical simulation for robotic systems), PSPICE (Simulation Program with Integrated Circuit Emphasis), PROTEL design (PCB layout and SCHEMATICS) Hardware- Intel microprocessors (Intel-8085, 8255, 8054), Motorola microcontrollers (M68HC05 family), Motorola DSP (MSC8100-StarCore), Analog Devices DSP, Robotic Arm Manipulator (CRS CataLyst-3 C500C Controller), Mobile Robot (Arrick Trilobot), Robotics Invention System (Lego Mindstorms).
	Operating Systems – Microsoft Windows 9x, NT3.51/4.0, 2000, XP