Sonia Chacko, Ph.D.
Sonia Chacko is a dedicated roboticist with a deep passion for advancing applied robotics research. Before joining BGSU, she served as the Lead Roboticist at a construction robotics company specializing in robotic wall painting. There, she led a dynamic team of engineers in developing a revolutionary painting robot that increased productivity tenfold for large-scale commercial wall coating applications. Sonia has also worked as an Assistant Professor for undergraduate studies and gained experience in the embedded systems and semiconductor industries in India. Alongside her research and industry experience, she is committed to advancing K-12 STEM education. As a STEM Robotics professional development trainer on an NSF-funded project, she provided training to NYC public school teachers in creating robotics-integrated curricula.
Sonia's research focuses on leveraging cutting-edge technologies like AR/VR and AI to enhance human-robot interactions and improve environmental sensing. She has developed intuitive AR-based interactive solutions for a range of robotics applications, making significant contributions to the integration of AR in the field of robotics.
Education
- Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, New York University, 2020
- MTech in Mechatronics Engineering, NITK Surathkal, India, 2012
- BTech in Electronics and Communications Engineering, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, India, 2007
Areas of Research
- Applied AR/VR Research for Robotics
- Human- Robot Interactions (HRI)
- Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMR)
- Construction Robotics
- Mechatronics and Automation
- K-12 STEM Education
Peer-reviewed journal/conference paper
H.S. You, S.M. Chacko, and V. Kapila, “Examining the Effectiveness of a Professional Development Program: Integration of Educational Robotics into Science and Math Curricula,” Journal of Science Education and Technology, February 2021. DOI.
H. Wazir, C. Lourido, S.M. Chacko, and V. Kapila “A COVID-19 Emergency Response for Remote Control of a Dialysis Machine with Mobile HRI,” Frontiers in Robotics and AI, February 2021. DOI.
S.M. Chacko, A. Granado, A. RajKumar, and V. Kapila, “An Augmented Reality Spatial Referencing System for Mobile Robots,” IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2020. DOI.
S.M. Chacko, A. Granado, and V. Kapila, “An Augmented Reality Framework for Robotic Tool-path Teaching,” CIRP Conference on Manufacturing Systems (CIRP-CMS), Chicago, USA, 2020. DOI.
S.M. Chacko and V. Kapila, “An Augmented Reality Interface for Human-Robot Interaction in Unconstrained Environments,” IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), Macau, China, 2019. DOI.
S.M. Chacko and V. Kapila, “Augmented Reality as a Medium for Human-Robot Collaborative Tasks,” IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN), New Delhi, India, 2019. DOI.
H.S. You, S.M. Chacko, S. B. Rajguru, and V. Kapila, “Designing Robotics-based Science Lessons Aligned with the Three Dimensions of NGSS-plus-5E Model: A Content Analysis (Fundamental).” ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Tampa, FL, 2019. DOI.
H.S. You, S.M. Chacko, and V. Kapila, “Teaching Science with Technology: Science and Engineering Practices of Middle School Science Teachers Engaged in a Professional Development for Robotics Integration into Classroom,” ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Tampa, FL, 2019. DOI.
I.F. Ghalyan, S.M. Chacko, and V. Kapila, “Simultaneous robustness against random initialization and optimal order selection in Bag-of-Words modeling,” Pattern Recognition Letters, 116, pp.135-142, 2018. DOI.
S.M. Rahman, S.M. Chacko, S. B. Rajguru, and V. Kapila, “Fundamental—Determining Prerequisites for Middle School Students to Participate in Robotics-based STEM Lessons: A Computational Thinking Approach,” ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Salt Lake City, UT, 2018. DOI.
Patent
Title: System for autonomously applying paint to a target surface
Patent Number: WO 2023/205359 A2
Date Issued: October 26, 2023
Updated: 10/02/2024 01:14PM