aa...h2@wisc-edu
Hi! I am Aakash Yadav (legal: FNU Aakash), a fifth-year Ph.D. student in the Neuroergonomics Lab at University of Wisconsin–Madison. I am advised by Dr. Ranjana Mehta. My research interests span human-robot interaction, disaster robotics, machine learning, human factors, cognition, and affective computing. I work towards understanding multi-human-robot collaboration to improve teaming, system performance, and safety.
I received my bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Indian Institute of Technology Tirupati. Previously, I have worked on optimizing thermoelectric efficiency, neural architecture search for robotics, and monocular SLAM. I maintain a list of my publications and projects under the publications tab.
The best way to reach me is via email or X.
Updates
| Oct 2025: |  I attended the HFES ASPIRE and presented my two projects on physiological synchrony in human robot teams and machine learning considerations for trust prediction. |
| Sep 2025: | Presented updates from our team working on construction inspection robot design at NSF NRT INTEGRATE symposium at Cleveland State University! |
| Apr 2025: |  Undergraduate researchers Olivia and Evan from my team presented their work at UW-Madison undergraduate research symposium. I am so proud of them! |
| Mar 2025: | I attended NSF NRT INTEGRATE symposium at Clemson University, South Carolina where I participated in 3MT, pitched startup ideas, and networked with other NRT students and faculty. |
| Jan 2025: | I will be serving as the webmaster for HFES Human AI Robot Teaming (HART) Technical Group website! |
| Jan 2025: | Excited to be TA'ing ISYE602 Human-AI Teaming at UW-Madison this Spring 2025! |
| Nov 2024: |  I got admitted to INTEGRATE (Integrating Robots into the Future of Work) - a NSF Research Traineeship (NRT) |
| Oct 2024: | I recieved the HFES Augmented Cognition Technical Group (ACTG) Student Grant Award (Honorable Mention) |
| Sep 2024: |  Paper titled 'Human-Robot Team Vulnerabilities under Fatigue during sUAS Disaster Response Simulations' accepted at IEEE SSRR 2024 |
| Sep 2024: | I am attending the HFES 68th AM (ASPIRE) conference in Phoenix, Arizona! |
| Sep 2024: | Paper titled Inter-Brain Synchrony Signals Shifts in Multi-Human Robot Team Dynamics Amidst Uncertainties published |
| Aug 2024: |  Super excited to be teaching ISYE348 Intro to Human Factors Lab Fall 2024 at UW-Madison, new exciting experiments coming up! |
| Aug 2024: | I have been awarded the prestigious Antoinette Derjani-Bayeh Scholarship by UW-Madison College of Engineering |
| May 2024: | I have joined Honda Research Institute's Human Centered Intelligence team as a summer research intern |
| Mar 2024: | Work on multi-human robot teaming recieved an honorable mention at the ACM/IEEE HRI 2024 Best Late Breaking Report Award |
| Mar 2024: | I am attending the ACM/IEEE HRI 2024 conference in Boulder, Colorado |
| Jan 2024: | Paper titled "Beyond Dyadic Interactions: Assessing Trust Networks in Multi-Human-Robot Teams" accepted at ACM/IEEE HRI 2024 |
| Oct 2023: | I am presenting my work at the HFES 67th AM in Washington, D.C. |
| Jun 2023: | I am moving to the University of Wisconsin-Madison this Fall! |
| Jun 2023: | Paper titled "Robot Adaptation Under Operator Cognitive Fatigue Using Reinforcement Learning" accepted at IEEE RO-MAN 2023 Busan |
| May 2023: | Paper titled "All Human Versus Human-Robot Teaming: Measuring Neurophysiological Synchrony, Team Performance, and Trust during Search and Rescue" accepted at HFES 67th AM |
| Mar 2023: | Paper titled "Brain-Behavior Relationships of Trust in Shared Space Human-Robot Collaboration" accepted at ACM THRI |
| Mar 2023: | I am attending the 2023 Florida Public Safety Drone Operations Conference (FLOCON) |
| Jan 2023: |  I now serve as a member of the HFES Membership Committee |
| Dec 2022: |  Passed my Ph.D. Qualifying Exam!! |
| Oct 2022: | HFES Human AI Robot Teaming (HART) TG 2022 Video Contest Winner |
| Jul 2022: | I have been selected to receive the Abbott Emerging Scientist Award at 2022 Neuroergonomics conference |
| Jun 2022: | Abstract titled "Neural Signatures of Trust in Human-Robot Collaboration: A Tale of Two Use-Cases" accepted for presentation at 2022 Neuroergonomics conference, in New York City. |
| May 2022: | Paper titled "Interplay of Cognitive Fatigue and Trust in Human-Robot Collaboration" accepted at HFES 66th AM, see you all in Atlanta in October. |
| Mar 2022: | I'll be presenting at the 4th Annual Workshop on Novel and Emerging Test Methods & Metrics for Effective HRI at IEEE HRI 2022. |
| Aug 2021: | Joined Neuroergonomics Lab at TAMU as a Ph.D. candidate. |
| Jul 2021: | I will be starting my Ph.D. this fall with Dr. Mehta at TAMU focusing on Human-Robot-Interaction, Human factors, and ergonomics. |
| Jan 2021: | Started working (remotely) on a research project at Computational Interaction and Robotics Lab (CIRL) |
| Nov 2020: | I have been awarded the prestigious INAE Innovative Student Project Award |
| Aug 2020: | Started working (remotely) on a research project with Prof. Shuhui Bu focused on vision-based geometric and deep SLAM |
| Apr 2020: | Paper on image-based flight control of UAVs for material handling accepted in JMS |
| Oct 2019: | My first ever paper on thermoelectric materials got published in the Journal of Physics Communications |
| Jun 2019: | Joined Texas A&M University as a summer research intern |
| May 2018: | Started summer internship at Ford Motor Company in Ahmedabad |
| Mar 2018: | Started working as an undergraduate researcher at Pranawa C Deshmukh's Lab |
| Aug 2016: | Joined IIT Tirupati as an undergraduate student in the mechanical engineering department |