Abhishek CauligiView profile
Assistant Professor
Abhishek Cauligi is an incoming Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering, starting in Summer 2025. Prior to this role, he worked as a Robotics Technologist at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and earned his PhD in Aeronautics & Astronautics from Stanford University. His doctoral research focused on accelerating trajectory optimization using machine learning, with experiments conducted on the International Space Station. His research interests center on spacecraft and robotic autonomy, leveraging nonlinear optimization, machine learning, and control theory to advance autonomous space exploration. Key areas of focus include trajectory optimization, autonomous systems, and machine learning-driven solutions for space robotics. Recent work highlights include studies on transformer-based constraint prediction for powered descent guidance, diffusion policies for spacecraft trajectory generation, and stochastic optimization for asteroid reconnaissance. He has also contributed to lunar navigation systems (ShadowNav) and multi-agent autonomy for planetary exploration, such as the Cadre Lunar Technology Demonstration. Notable collaborations include the CoSTAR team’s victory in Phase II of the DARPA Subterranean Challenge, showcasing advanced robotic autonomy in challenging environments. His innovations span from gecko-inspired adhesive testing aboard the ISS to recurrent neural network approaches for mixed-integer optimal control problems.
