Hi, I'm Shiloh

I'm a MEng student at MIT. In May 2020, I completed my bachelor's degree in course 6-2 (Computer Science and Electrical Engineering).

My robotics experience is extensive; I've used ROS since the 2012 Fuerte release, and worked with a variety of different robotics platforms, on projects like autonomous mapping and fiducial-based localization. Although my primary focus is software, I enjoy working on robots on every layer, from hardware to low-level controls to high-level planning.

Experience

Spring 2020 - present

MEng Research in MIT's Learning and Intelligent Systems Group

Designing a bio-inspired hierarchical map representation for robotics, and building a planner that makes use of it

Summer 2020

Robotics Engineer Intern at Robust.AI

C++
Python
Bazel
MediaPipe
gRPC
scikit-learn

Modified MediaPipe to use RealSense D435i for hand skeleton tracking

Collected dataset of hand poses; designed and developed ML pipeline to classify hand skeletons into pose categories

Summer 2019

Robotics Engineer Intern at Artificial

Python
asyncio
OpenCV
Docker

Designed 2-finger gripper interface for robot software framework, and implemented drivers for Robotiq 2F-85 and OnRobot RG2 grippers

Designed and developed demo of object detection and reactive grasping using Precise Automation PF400 arm, using OpenCV to detect objects with colored markers

Fall 2018 - Spring 2019

Undergraduate Research in MIT's Distributed Robotics Lab

ROS
C++
Python
PCL

Implemented object detection on RGB-D camera data, used to evaluate the grasping performance of an experimental soft robotic hand

  • Refactored monolithic PCL-based planar segmentation into efficient, clear, unit-tested C++ library with backward-compatible ROS wrapper
  • Implemented ROS node using pretrained semantic segmentation model to deal with scenes where planar segmentation fails
Summer 2018

Robotics Engineer Intern at Iron Ox

ROS
Gazebo
C++
Python
OnShape

Implemented fiducial-based localization on the 1,000 lb Module Mover robot

  • Created static fiducial maps using Ceres Solver
  • Used robot_localization to fuse fiducial-based pose estimates with other sensor data
Summer 2017

Engineering Practicum Intern at Google

C++
gRPC
gUnit
Bazel

Developed C++ backend for internal data storage debug tool

  • Helped design RPC API (protocol buffer) to interface with frontend
  • Integrated with proprietary access control system to protect sensitive user data
Winter 2015-16

Robotics Engineer Intern at Fetch Robotics

ROS
Gazebo
Python

Developed ROS node for autonomous area exploration and mapping

  • Incorporated recent autonomous mapping research on the Next-Best-View problem of navigational goal selection
  • Used Voronoi diagrams for room segmentation in 2D grid map
  • Mapped large, unstructured office environment using Fetch's Freight robot
Summer 2014

Summer Intern at OLogic, Inc.

ROS
Java

Augmented Android app for early-access dev release of Google's Project Tango to publish point-cloud and odometry data via ROS

Summer 2013

Summer Intern at OLogic, Inc.

ROS
Python

  • Brought up and calibrated Willow Garage Turtlebot, replacing XBox Kinect with Hokuyo LIDAR
  • Developed ROS node and customer demo for a prototype LIDAR

My Projects

Screenshot of gazebo showing output of map2gazebo

map2gazebo

ROS
Gazebo
Python

map2gazebo is a tool that converts 2D maps to STL/DAE files for use in Gazebo environments by extruding all the occupied cells in the map upward. In addition to map conversion, it can also be used to easily create Gazebo worlds by drawing a map in a 2D image editor.

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Photo of Sting Operation

Sting Operation

ROS
MicroPython

Sting Operation is a homebrew telepresence robot, which I use to attend the Homebrew Robotics Club of Silicon Valley while away at MIT.

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H-NAV Screenshot

H-NAV

C
AVR
gEDA

The H-NAV is a LIDAR-based haptic navigational aid for visually impaired people. (See project page for video.)

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Typewriter Keyboard Screenshot

Typewriter Keyboard

OnShape
QMK
Soldering

I built a mechanical keyboard that uses as its keycaps real keys from old typewriters.

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Google Calendar Time Tracker Screenshot

Google Calendar Time Tracker

Python

A simple command-line utility that displays time breakdowns for the tasks on your Google Calendar. Find it on my github here.

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Contact

I'll be graduating from MIT with my MEng degree in 2021, and am searching for full-time post-graduation employment. If you're interested in working with me, please get in touch through shilohc@mit.edu.