BITS R&D spoke to Akash Chaudhary, a dual degree student of Physics and EEE from the 2016 batch. Akash did a remote thesis on Underwater Robotics and Simulation at the Acoustic Research Lab at NUS for 12 months!
The Application Process
What motivated you to pursue a thesis? How did you decide which field you would like to study, and how did you build experience in it?
When I came to BITS in 2016, I was fortunate enough to work alongside some awesome seniors in various clubs. SEDS Celestia and SAE Baja had the most impact on my professional life. Most of the seniors were inclined towards research, and I guess my fascination with this life started with them.
I was interested in pursuing physics in my first year. I read books and even did a study oriented project in cosmology during my second year. But I quickly realized that I don’t remain interested in something for long if I cannot work on it physically. I enjoyed building the car in SAE Baja and various projects in Celestia. Out of the blue, at the end of my second year, I decided that I will shift my field to robotics and build a mars rover as a start. Quite a giant leap, I know.
I had the luxury of changing my intended field deep into the program because I was a dual degree student. For the readers, I would suggest working on a wide variety of things in your first year to figure your interests out so that you are not left without any experience once you do decide to apply in a particular field. Once you zero in an area of interest, indulge in it as much as possible. Do projects, either independently or with a professor. Read about stuff, read the active research being done in that area. That will slowly build up your knowledge, which will make it easier to apply when the time comes.
To choose my field of interest for the thesis, I read a lot of research papers in robotics. After a month or so, I decided that I will apply to Bio-robotics and Underwater Robotics. I started searching for labs working in this domain and the projects that they are working on. I made a list of the labs that I wanted to apply to.
When should one begin applying? What factors can help in getting an acceptance?
Applying for the thesis is relatively straightforward, but successfully converting a thesis offer requires knowledge, luck, and correct timing. You can’t apply too early, as the professor won’t even know if they will need an intern in the far future. At the same time, delays in applying can lead to rejections due to most of the vacancies being filled up. I believe the perfect time is to start in November of Year X if you are planning to start your thesis in the August of Year X+1. This is obviously not a hard deadline, and with a bit of luck, you can get an offer even if you apply earlier or later than my “perfect” time window.
There is a luck factor involved in securing a thesis. When you are applying with a professor, for them to accept you, your skills must match their requirement, their organization should allow bachelor research interns, and there should be a requirement for a research intern in a project. This is why, sending out emails is a lot like playing dice. You might get an acceptance from your first mail, or you might have to wait quite a while before your first positive reply comes.
So, apply as much as you can. Read their research and write well-composed mails highlighting your interest in their works. Sooner or later, you will get a reply. I applied to 8 labs, which is quite less, but that was because I stopped applying after I got a reply from my top priority early on.
What was the interviewer looking for before taking you on? To what extent does one’s CGPA affect a thesis application?
My interview mainly focused on Project Kratos, the Mars Rover project that I was working on, and some other small projects. He wanted to gauge my interest in the field and my skill level.
Fortunately, he didn’t care about my CGPA, which is quite low to this day, even after completing my thesis. In research, you will meet all kinds of people, and they understand if your grades are low. But you should always have something to show for the lack of grades. To be on the safe side, maintain an above-average CGPA. If you want to apply for a master’s, it is always recommended to have a high one.
The Research Experience
What was the duration of your thesis? Did the Covid-19 pandemic affect your thesis?
My thesis started in July 2020. I started a month early because I wanted to work for 12 whole months.
Given the Covid-19 situation, the work was online, but that played in my favor as my project was mainly software-related.
What work did you do in your thesis? How was the learning experience in your lab at NUS?
I worked in the Acoustic Research Lab at NUS (Website). My work focused on building a Unity3D-ROS based simulator for an underwater environment. The project was quite exciting to work on! My task was to develop a simulator for underwater vehicles, which will allow researchers to test their algorithm before hardware deployment. It will also be used to train AUV operators and to educate new students entering the field of underwater robotics.
The best part about working in a well-established lab is the plethora of knowledge that the lab members bring to the table. Every time we met online, it was a learning experience. Everyone brings experience from various fields, and their perspective helps a lot. I can easily say that this has been the single most rewarding experience of my life and is why I remain confident to this day that I will pursue the research life as my career.
What next?
As I mentioned before, I have always known that I will go for research. My experience in NUS just strengthened my resolve. I am currently working as a Researcher with Multi-Robot Systems Group, CTU in Prague, and will join the Ph.D. program in February 2022. The lessons I learned during my thesis are helping me immensely, both in terms of the technical know-how and the way a researcher is supposed to work.
For any budding researchers, I have a message. Foster that spark in your eyes and do something good for the world. Someone once told me, “Doing a Ph.D. is not just doing research on a topic you love; it is also about contributing something useful to the pool of human knowledge,” and this teaching has been my driving force since then.
All the best for your Ph.D, Akash!
BITS R&D 
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