Portrait

Stavya Datta

PhD Researcher, Monash University. Human–Robot Interaction, Agentic AI, Multimodal Systems.

Social Robotics Multimodal Learning Agentic AI Social World Models

About

I study long‑term human‑robot social interactions. My work integrates speech, vision, and action with social world‑model graphs, towards creating anthropomorphic humanoids. We call this project GINNY at Monash University, under which we will be publishing more work in future.

I have over two years of combined research and industry experience as a Computer Vision and AI Engineer. At Monash University, I contributed to the DARPA ANSR Project as a Research Assistant, developing autonomous perception and tracking modules for aerial simulation environments. My research focuses on social robotics and multimodal reasoning, where I work on building agentic AI systems for long-term human–robot interaction.

Prior to this, I engineered computer vision solutions at Awiros (Awidit Systems) and Aditya Infotech, deploying deep learning models for facial recognition and video analytics for Bangalore's Safe City Project. I also serve as a Teaching Associate, mentoring students in Artificial Intelligence (FIT3080) , Python programming (FIT9136) , and Software Projects (FIT3161 / FIT3162 / FIT3163 / FIT3164).

News

Recent updates and highlights.

Publications

NEUSIS: A Compositional Neuro-Symbolic Framework for Autonomous Perception, Reasoning, and Planning in Complex UAV Search Missions

Z. Cai, C.R. Cardenas, K. Leo, C. Zhang, K. Backman, H. Li, B. Li, M. Ghorbanali, S. Datta, L. Qu, J.G. Santiago (2024)
RA-L

JRDB-PanoTrack: An Open-world Panoptic Segmentation and Tracking Robotic Dataset in Crowded Human Environments

D.T. Le, C. Gou, S. Datta, H. Shi, I. Reid, J. Cai, H. Rezatofighi (2024)
CVPR 2024

Experience

PhD Researcher

Monash University · 2025—Present

Working on developing agentic AI systems for social robots. Focused on long-term human–robot interactions, social reasoning, and embodiment using Pepper robot.

Teaching Associate & Sessional Academic

Monash University · 2024—Present

Teaching Artificial Intelligence (FIT3080) and Python Programming (FIT9136). Currently teaching Software Projects (FIT3161/62/63/64). Managed tutors, designed assessments, and maintained a high student satisfaction score of 93/100.

Research Assistant — DARPA ANSR Project

Monash University · 2024

Contributed to NEUSIS framework under DARPA’s ANSR collaboration. Integrated computer vision modules and simulation environments for autonomous aerial perception and tracking.

Deputy Manager (Computer Vision)

Aditya Infotech · 2023—2024

Led the development of a no-code computer vision analytics platform smarth Dynamic AI. Oversaw annotation pipelines and designed system architectures for on-prem deployment.

Computer Vision Engineer

Awidit Systems Pvt Ltd · 2022—2023

Engineered facial recognition, PPE detection, and AutoML solutions deployed across major warehouses in India. Achieved 99.4% accuracy on LFW and trained multiple vision models for Awiros platform.

Short Stint — KPMG India

KPMG India · 2021

Worked briefly on analytics and reporting automation tasks, gaining early exposure to enterprise workflows and data systems for Cyber Security.