Varun Thirupathy

Dual Degree Student | AI/ML & Robotics Researcher

LinkedIn | GitHub

About

Highly analytical and results-driven Dual Degree student specializing in Electronics and Electrical Communication Engineering, with a robust foundation in Deep Learning, Computer Vision, and Robotics. Proven ability to innovate and deliver high-impact solutions, demonstrated by a publication accepted at IEEE ICDCS 2025 and significant contributions to projects in autonomous driving and federated learning. Seeking to apply advanced research capabilities and technical expertise to develop cutting-edge AI/ML systems and drive technological advancements in dynamic environments.

Work Experience

Research Intern

HiRo Lab (IISc Bangalore)

May 2025 - Jul 2025

Bangalore, Karnataka, IN

Led the deployment and evaluation of advanced diffusion policies for robotic arm control, significantly improving accuracy and action diversity.

  • Deployed diffusion policies utilizing FiLM-ResNet and temporal U-Net for real-time 1 kHz control of a robotic arm, achieving 92.14% test-time accuracy.
  • Collected and structured over 130 RGB-D frames and action trajectories into ReplayBuffers, enabling robust training and evaluation of robotic control models.
  • Improved action diversity by 35% over IBC and BET baselines using multi-modal sampling with Diffusion Policy, enhancing robotic arm adaptability.
  • Modified the evaluation script from an RTDE-based interface to the ROS2 Framework, resulting in 92% test-accuracy for the Franka arm and streamlining research workflows.

Education

Electronics and Electrical Communication Engineering

Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur

8.13/10 CGPA

Jan 2023 - Dec 2028

Kharagpur, West Bengal, IN

Courses

  • Advanced Calculus
  • Probability and Statistics
  • Linear Algebra
  • Optimization Models
  • Signals and Systems
  • Numerical and Complex Analysis
  • Programming and Data Structures
  • Digital Signal Processing
  • Control Systems
  • Machine Learning specialization (Coursera)
  • CS-182 Deep Learning (UC Berkeley)
  • Summer Analytics (IIT Guhwathi)

Volunteer

Mentor

Students Welfare Program (ECE department)

Jul 2025 - Present

Kharagpur, West Bengal, IN

Mentored first-year students, providing academic and professional guidance within the ECE department's welfare program.

  • Mentored 4 first-year students from the ECE department, providing academic guidance and fostering professional development within the Students Welfare Program.

Junior Secretary

Department of Electronics and Electrical Communication Engineering

Jan 2025 - Present

Kharagpur, West Bengal, IN

Served as Junior Secretary, contributing to departmental operations and student engagement initiatives.

  • Managed administrative tasks and supported departmental events, enhancing operational efficiency and student engagement within the ECE department.

Vision and Controls Team Member

Autonomous Ground Vehicle Research Group

Apr 2024 - Present

Kharagpur, West Bengal, IN

Contributes to cutting-edge research in autonomous ground vehicles, leading to significant publications and simulations.

  • Collaborated with lead researchers on Vertical Federated Learning, contributing to a publication accepted at IEEE ICDCS.
  • Participated in CDC 2025, implementing Pure Pursuit and Stanley controllers for autonomous F1Tenth car simulation, demonstrating advanced control system expertise.

Projects

Stanley Controller - F1Tenth Pipeline

Aug 2025 - Aug 2025

Developed a geometric path tracking algorithm for small-scale autonomous vehicles, specifically for F1Tenth cars.

Mixup-VFL: Leveraging Unaligned Data in Vertical Federated Learning

Feb 2025 - Mar 2025

Developed innovative Mixup methods to prevent data wastage in Vertical Federated Learning settings, enhancing multi-party learning.

Neural Network Implementation from Scratch

Nov 2024 - Dec 2024

Implemented Deep Learning models from scratch to reinforce mathematical foundations and gain a deeper understanding of neural network mechanics.

Publications

Mixup-VFL: Leveraging Unaligned Data for Enhanced Regression in Vertical Federated Learning

HotDiML @ IEEE ICDCS 2025

Jan 2025

Co-authored a research paper accepted at HotDiML @ IEEE ICDCS 2025, Glasgow, UK, focusing on novel methods for enhanced regression in Vertical Federated Learning.

Skills

Programming Languages

  • Python
  • C/C++
  • Arduino
  • Verilog
  • MATLAB
  • LaTeX

Libraries & Frameworks

  • NumPy
  • Pandas
  • Matplotlib
  • Seaborn
  • Scikit-learn
  • PyTorch
  • TensorFlow
  • OpenCV
  • ROS1/ROS2

Tools & Software

  • Google Colab
  • Kaggle
  • Docker
  • Git
  • PyCharm
  • VSCode
  • Proteus
  • Xilinx
  • Vivado
  • LTSpice

Technical Domains

  • Deep Learning
  • Natural Language Processing (NLP)
  • Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN)
  • Computer Vision
  • Federated Learning
  • Generative AI (VAE, GAN, Diffusion Models)