Alap Kshirsagar

Alap Kshirsagar is a postdoctoral researcher at the Intelligent Autonomous Systems lab within the Computer Science Department at TU Darmstadt, Germany. He joined the lab in July 2022 and is affiliated with the Adaptive Mind research cluster, which integrates Cognitive Science, Experimental Psychology, and Artificial Intelligence.

Education:

• Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, Cornell University (2022)
• M.S. in Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras (2017)
• B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay (2014)

Research Interests:
Alap specializes in Human-Robot Interaction, Robotic Manipulation, and Tactile Perception. His work explores Dynamic Motor-Skill Learning, Vision-Based Tactile Sensors, and Safe Reinforcement Learning frameworks. He investigates how humans adapt to robotic collaborators and develops simulation tools like TacEx for tactile sensing research.

Publication Trends:
His recent work focuses on human-robot handover dynamics, visuotactile integration, and adaptive motor-skill learning. Key contributions include tactile sensor simulation frameworks (TacEx), computational models for fear-induced postural control, and variational expert systems for HRI. Collaborative projects span Isaac Sim, German Robotics Conference, and IEEE/RSJ IROS initiatives.

Scientific Awards:

• 🏆 Best Workshop Paper, ICRA@40 (2024)
• 🏆 Best Late Breaking Report, IEEE RO-MAN (2019)

Advising & Grants:
Alap supervises Bachelor's and Master's theses on topics like non-verbal communication, self-supervised robotic pouring, and visuotactile pose estimation. He collaborates with institutions including Georgia Tech, DFKI, and IIT Bombay.