Om Kumar

Well, Hi There! I am Om Kumar, a pre-final Mathematics and Computing student at MIT Manipal. I am deeply passionate about Robotics and Machine Learning, and over the past two years, have come to know and love all the ways in which they can solve a large array of problems.

I am an active member of the AI Subsystem at Project MANAS, the official AI and Robotics Research Team of Manipal Academy of Higher Education. Currently, I serve as the Team Manager of our 30-member team, where I lead research initiatives, oversee project management, and coordinate our participation in national and international competitions like NIDAR and IGVC. Under my leadership, our team has achieved remarkable results, including 3rd place globally at IGVC 2025.

Beyond competition, I have a strong commitment to mentoring and education. I have mentored batches of 20+ students in deep learning and robotics for two consecutive years and have led workshops on advanced topics like Reinforcement Learning and Style Transfer using CycleGANs. I’ve also been teaching Computer Science and Mathematics to students online since I was in 9th standard, currently through platforms like Gurukul and GuruATHome.

My research and project work currently revolves around:

• Quadruped Locomotion using Reinforcement Learning
• 3D Reconstruction and Gaussian Splatting
• Medical Imaging and Foundation Models
• Agentic Site Reliability Engineering
• Autonomous Vehicles

I am excited to share that I will be joining the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Tübingen, Germany, as a Research Intern, and I am also the Expansion Manager for the Tübingen Chapter of DEGIS.