I am a roboticist based in the San Francisco Bay Area with over a decade of experience in robotics as a researcher and engineer. I am currently at Zipline, where I work on behavior planning for a fleet of drones that deliver life-saving medical supplies around the world. I was previously at Nuro and Zoox, building key elements of prediction and planning for self-driving cars, and at the United Technologies Research Center, leading projects on formal verification of jet engine control logic and disaster management for smart buildings.

I specialize in behaviour and motion planning algorithms for autonomous systems, and in scalable methods for guaranteeing correctness with respect to formal specifications. I am driven by safety-critical systems performing complex tasks in interactive environments. I enjoy fusing technical and creative perspectives from formal methods for software verification, hybrid systems, robotics, control and game theory.

I earned a Ph.D. in 2013 from the Department of Computer Science at Cornell University, where I was advised by Hadas Kress-Gazit and affiliated with the Autonomous Systems Lab and the LTLMoP Project. My dissertation addressed challenges in the synthesis of provably correct control for robotics. I was a Computing and Mathematical Sciences postdoctoral scholar at the California Institute of Technology, where I worked with Richard Murray and Sanjit Seshia. I also hold a B.A. in Computer Science and Mathematics from Wellesley College.


News

  • Sept 19: Women in Robotics Tech Talk at Nuro HQ in Mountain View, CA, USA.
Recent:
    June 17: Invited talk at the DThree19 workshop at CVPR 2019 in Long Beach, CA, USA.


Key Academic Research Projects

Journal Articles

Conference Publications

2017

2016

  • S. Jha, V. Raman, S. A. Seshia, On ∃ ∀ ∃! Solving: A Case Study on Automated Synthesis of Magic Card Tricks, FMCAD 2016.
  • S. Jha, V. Raman, Towards Automated Synthesis of Stochastic Linear Hybrid Systems Controllers, FORMATS 2016. [pdf]
  • R. Ehlers, V. Raman, Slugs: Extensible GR(1) Synthesis (Tool Paper), CAV 2016. [pdf]
  • Y. Wu, V. Raman, S. Lafortune, S. A. Seshia, Obfuscator Synthesis for Privacy and Utility, NFM 2016. [pdf]
  • S. Jha, V. Raman, Automated Synthesis of Safe Autonomous Vehicle Control Under Perception Uncertainty, NFM 2016. [pdf]
  • S. Ghosh, D. Sadigh, P. Nuzzo, V. Raman, A. Donzé, A. Sangiovanni-Vincentelli, S. S. Sastry, S. A. Seshia, Diagnosis and Repair for Synthesis from Signal Temporal Logic Specifications, HSCC 2016. [pdf]

2015

  • J. DeCastro, J. Alonso-Mora, V. Raman, D. Rus, H. Kress-Gazit, Collision-Free Reactive Mission and Motion Planning for Multi-Robot Systems, ISRR 2015. [pdf]
  • S. Farahani, V. Raman, R. M. Murray Robust Model Predictive Control for Signal Temporal Logic Synthesis, ADHS 2015. [pdf]
  • V. Raman, M. Fält, T. Wongpiromsarn, R. M. Murray, Online Horizon Selection in Receding Horizon Temporal Logic Planning, IROS 2015. [pdf]
  • J. DeCastro, V. Raman, H. Kress-Gazit, Dynamics-Driven Adaptive Abstraction for Reactive High-Level Mission and Motion Planning, ICRA 2015. [pdf]
  • M. Fält, V. Raman, R. M. Murray, Variable Elimination for Scalable Receding Horizon Temporal Logic, ACC 2015. [pdf]
  • V. Raman, A. Donzé, D. Sadigh, R. M. Murray, S. A. Seshia, Reactive Synthesis from Signal Temporal Logic Specifications, HSCC 2015. [pdf] [slides]

2014

  • V. Raman, A. Donzé, M. Maasoumy, R. M. Murray, A. Sangiovanni-Vincentelli, S. A. Seshia, Model Predictive Control with Signal Temporal Logic Specifications, CDC 2014. [pdf] [slides]
  • V. Raman, Reactive Switching Protocols for Multi-Robot High-Level Tasks, IROS 2014. [pdf] [slides] [interactive presentation]
  • V. Raman, H. Kress-Gazit, Synthesis for Multi-Robot Controllers with Interleaved Motion, ICRA 2014. [pdf] [slides]

2013

  • V. Raman, H. Kress-Gazit, Toward Minimal Explanations of Unsynthesizability for High-Level Robot Behaviors, IROS 2013. [pdf] [slides]
  • V. Raman, C. Lignos, C. Finucane, M. Marcus, H. Kress-Gazit, Sorry Dave, I'm Afraid I Can't Do That: Explaining Unachievable Robot Tasks Using Natural Language, RSS 2013. [pdf] [slides] [poster]
  • V. Raman, N. Piterman, H. Kress-Gazit, Provably Correct Continuous Control for High-Level Robot Behaviors with Actions of Arbitrary Execution Durations, ICRA 2013. [pdf]

2012

  • V. Raman, C. Finucane, H. Kress-Gazit, Temporal Logic Robot Mission Planning for Slow and Fast Actions, IROS 2012. [pdf] [slides]
  • V. Raman, B. Xu, H. Kress-Gazit, Avoiding Forgetfulness: Structured English Specifications for High-Level Robot Control with Implicit Memory, IROS 2012. [pdf] [slides]
  • V. Raman, H. Kress-Gazit, Automated feedback for unachievable high-level robot behaviors, ICRA 2012. [pdf] | [slides] [video]

2011 and prior

  • V. Raman, H. Kress-Gazit, Analyzing Unsynthesizable Specifications for High-Level Robot Behavior Using LTLMoP, CAV 2011. [pdf] [slides]
  • J. Halpern, R. Pass, V. Raman, An Epistemic Characterization of Zero Knowledge, TARK 2009. [pdf] [slides] [poster]

Workshop Publications

  • V. Raman, A. Donzé, M. Maasoumy, Model Predictive Control from Signal Temporal Logic Specifications: A Case Study (Work in Progress), CyPhy 2014. [pdf] [slides]
  • R, Ehlers, V. Raman, Low-effort Specification Debugging and Analysis, SYNT 2014. [pdf]

Teaching and Advising

I enjoy teaching and mentoring undergraduates, and have actively sought out relevant opportunities in and out of the classroom.

Service

I was Conference Co-Chair and Fundraising Chair for the 2013 Cornell Expanding Your Horizons Conference. EYH aims to stimulate the interest of young girls in math and science, provide them with female scientist role models, and foster awareness of math and science career opportunities. This is a cause dear to me, and I have been involved since my first year in grad school, in a number of capacities.

In the summer of 2011, I ran a communication skills summer course at the MacCormick Secure Center in Brooktondale, NY. MacCormick is a maximum security correctional facility for young men aged 16-21 who have committed violent crimes. Topics covered included techniques for thought organization, and job interview preparation. We worked primarily with young men close to being released, and focused on preparing them to take full advantage of their employment opportunities.

I was a founding member of the Cornell University Computer Science Graduate Organization, and served as its Social Chair from 2009-2011, coordinating department-wide graduate student social events several times a semester.

Misc. Interests

I enjoy dancing of all sorts, including several forms of partner dancing. I am also trained in Bharatanatyam, and performed with Cornell Sitara throughout graduate school; our style is best, if somewhat nebulously, described as South Asian fusion.

In college, I was a volunteer and instructor for Girls' Lifetime Empowerment and Awareness Program (LEAP), an education program in the Greater Boston area that blends physical skills with self-reflective activities, to foster safety, self-defense and courage in girls, women and their families.

I also have a somewhat significant history with College Mock Trial.