Swapnil Kalhapure

• Senior Robotics & Autonomous Systems Engineer with over 8 years of experience delivering mission-critical robotics, UAV, and autonomous platforms across UK aerospace, defence, and global industrial robotics sectors.

• Proven technical leader with end-to-end ownership of system architecture, avionics integration, autonomy stacks, and rapid prototyping pipelines.

• Experienced in taking complex systems from early research and feasibility through to TRL-5 flight-ready platforms and real-world deployments.

• Specialised in autonomous navigation, multi-robot systems, and UAV avionics architectures.

• Hands-on expertise spanning embedded systems, robotics software, perception, and system-level integration.

• Strong background in simulation-to-hardware workflows, safety-critical design, and regulated engineering environments.

• Published researcher with peer-reviewed publications in robotics and autonomous systems.

• Named inventor on multiple granted international patents covering localisation, mobility, docking, and robotic manipulation.

• Track record of transitioning research-led innovation into deployable, production-oriented robotic systems.

• Acted as technical lead across cross-functional teams, mentoring engineers and guiding system architecture decisions.

• Experienced in working with suppliers, research partners, and defence stakeholders.

• Comfortable operating at the interface of engineering, research, and product strategy.

• Advanced autonomous systems for aerial and ground robotics.

• Scalable and modular avionics platforms for UAVs and UCAV-class systems.

• Bridging cutting-edge research with real-world, safety-critical deployment.

Rotron Aerospace Limited, Shaftesbury, UK

Sept 2024 – Present

Senior R&D Robotics Engineer

• Technical lead for UAV avionics, autonomy integration, and mission systems on UK defence programmes.

• Led end-to-end avionics and mission architecture across flight control, navigation, communications, and safety-critical subsystems.

• Architected modular avionics platforms for sovereign UCAV programmes (Stratos, Defendor).

• Delivered flight-critical hardware including redundant power, ADS-B, and flight termination systems.

• Led PDR/CDR with UK defence stakeholders; systems demonstrated at DSEI and REPMUS.

Dyson Technology Limited, Malmesbury, UK

Aug 2022 – Aug 2024

Robotics Design Engineer

• Led evaluation of next-generation robotic platforms across mobility, actuation, and embedded systems.

• Established rapid feasibility and prototyping frameworks reducing validation cycles by ~30%.

• Delivered multiple validated concepts into Dyson’s NPI pipeline.

• Mentored junior engineers and acted as technical lead across teams.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Bangalore, India

Dec 2016 – May 2020

Robotics Engineer – Research & Innovation Labs

• Core engineer in Robotics Research & Innovation Labs and Smart Machines Lab.

• Led development of “RaDa” autonomous airport assistance robot deployed at live aviation environments.

• Contributor to MBZIRC 2020 autonomous ground vehicle team (6th globally).

• Led AMR platform architecture for industrial automati

University of Sheffield, United Kingdom

Oct 2020 – Nov 2021

Master of Science (MSc) in Robotics

• First Class with Distinction

• Dissertation: Decentralized Payload Transport by Swarm of Mobile Robots

Savitribai Phule Pune University, India

Jun 2013 – Dec 2016

Bachelor of Engineering (BE) in Computer Engineering

• First Class with Distinction

• Thesis: Telepresence Robot – Real-Time Communication using Embedded System

Savitribai Phule Pune University, India

Jun 2010 – May 2013

Diploma in Computer Engineering

• First Class with Distinction

• Thesis: SAMULE – Semi-Automated Multi-Utility Logistic Equipment Rover

Project Stratos / Defendor – Sovereign UCAV Programme

Mar 2025 – Present

• Architected modular avionics and mission systems platform for UCAV-class aircraft.

• Defined system-level architecture and ICDs across flight control, comms, power, and payloads.

• Led avionics integration and harness strategy with grounding and EMI/EMC considerations.

• Advanced platform to TRL-5; passed PDR/CDR with UK defence stakeholders.

DT300 “Talon” – Multi-Role VTOL UAV Avionics Platform

Sept 2024 – Mar 2025

• Designed highly integrated avionics module consolidating flight control, compute, and power.

• Owned full PCB lifecycle from schematic through HIL and environmental validation.

• Enabled cost and build-time reduction through architectural consolidation.

Decentralised Swarm Robotics (MSc Research)

May 2021

• Designed and implemented decentralized multi-robot payload transport using cooperative planning.

• Benchmarked swarm autonomy in simulation and physical deployments.

• Formed basis for peer-reviewed publications.

MBZIRC 2020 – Autonomous Ground Vehicle

2019 – 2020

• Developed mapping, localisation, and autonomy modules under competition conditions.

• Achieved 6th place globally among academic and industry teams.

RaDa – Robotic Assistant for Airport Operations

2017 – 2018

• Led end-to-end system integration across mobility, perception, and HRI.

• Deployed in live aviation environments with national media coverage.

• UAV–miniUGV Hybrid System for Hidden Area Exploration and Manipulation — IEEE/RSJ IROS, 2022

• OATS: An Architectural Design and Implementation for Telepresence Robots — IJCA, 2016

• Real-Time Communication Beyond Videoconferencing Towards Telepresence — IJCA, 2016

• Patent Numbers: US12360536B2, EP4130924B1

• Status: Granted (2024–2025)

• Scope: Vision-based dynamic localisation using live markers for autonomous navigation and telepresence robotics.

• Impact: Enables robust localisation in GPS-denied and indoor environments; deployed in real-world robotic platforms.

• Patent Numbers: US12084133B2, EP3929067B1

• Status: Granted (2024)

• Scope: Novel surface traversal and locomotion mechanism for autonomous inspection robots.

• Impact: Improves mobility and inspection capability across complex and constrained surfaces.

• Patent Number: EP4312341B1

• Status: Granted (2025)

• Scope: Autonomous docking, alignment, and charging system for mobile robotic platforms.

• Impact: Supports reliable fleet-scale deployment and unattended operation of autonomous robots.

• Publication Number: EP3653348A1

• Status: Published (2020)

• Scope: Cognitively enabled modular robotic gripper using synchronised control and visual sensing.

• Impact: Enhances intelligent grasping with adaptive force control in manipulation tasks.

• Autonomous navigation, SLAM, localisation, motion planning

• Multi-robot systems, swarm robotics, decentralised coordination

• State estimation, sensor fusion, behaviour trees

• Human–Robot Interaction (HRI) and field robotics

• PX4 and ArduPilot flight control architectures

• UAV / UCAV avionics system design and integration

• Redundant power systems, flight termination systems (FTS)

• ADS-B, GNSS, CRPA, RF and communications subsystems

• EMI/EMC-aware design for aerospace platforms

• Embedded C/C++ for microcontrollers and SoCs

• STM32, ESP32, ARM-based embedded platforms

• Custom PCB design (schematic, layout, bring-up)

• CAN, UART, SPI, I2C, Ethernet, USB interfaces

• Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) and bench testing

• ROS and ROS2 (nodes, launch files, DDS middleware)

• Linux-based robotics stacks and deployment

• Companion computer integration (Jetson, SBCs)

• Simulation-to-hardware workflows

• Autonomy validation and regression testing

• Vision-based localisation and tracking

• Depth sensing (stereo, RGB-D, LiDAR)

• Multi-sensor perception pipelines

• Camera calibration and sensor synchronisation

• Gazebo, Ignition, ROS2 simulation environments

• JSBSim-based flight dynamics simulation

• MATLAB / Simulink model integration concepts

• Digital twins and virtual test environments

• End-to-end system architecture and decomposition

• Interface Control Documents (ICDs)

• Requirements traceability and design assurance

• TRL progression from concept to flight-ready systems

• Safety-critical system considerations

• PDR / CDR preparation and execution

• Environmental, functional, and integration testing

• EMI/EMC considerations for defence and aerospace

• UK defence stakeholder engagement

• Documentation for regulated environments

• Applied robotics research and prototyping

• Patent ideation, drafting support, and filings

• Peer-reviewed publications

• Technology demonstrators and proof-of-concepts

• Transitioning research into deployable systems

• Technical leadership across cross-functional teams

• Mentoring junior engineers

• Supplier and subcontractor coordination

• Stakeholder communication (engineering & non-technical)

• Agile and rapid development environments

TCS Innovista Design Award

2019

Awarded for AMR platform architecture and industrial automation innovation.

Multiple Granted International Patents

2024 – 2025

Inventor and co-inventor on robotics, localisation, docking, and manipulation systems.