Meet the CAST Team

Dr. Swaminathan Gopalswamy

Lab Director

Dr. Gopalswamy’s research is largely driven by end-user applications such as teamed autonomy (multiple autonomous air and ground vehicles) on off-road terrain, physically cooperating robotic vehicles for smart platooning and extreme terrain operations, infrastructure enabled autonomy and high efficiency powertrains. His research interests span perception, planning and control development, algorithm and mechanical system co-design, multi-abstraction modeling of system behavior.

Michiel "Mike" Ashley

PhD Candidate

Michiel (Mike) Ashley is a Mechanical Engineering Ph.D. candidate who joined the Connected Autonomous Safe Technologies (CAST) Laboratory in 2020. His doctoral research is intensely focused on the Hard Platooning project, where he designs and implements physical coordination frameworks and control algorithms for autonomous ground vehicles. Leveraging the deep theoretical and technical expertise cultivated during his Ph.D., Mike founded a technology startup in the same space to deploy advanced platooning systems for the Department of War (DoW) and commercial sectors. His academic contributions to the field include the co-authored papers "Physically Cooperating Autonomous Ground Vehicles" presented at GVSETS (2023) and "Application of Nonlinear Control for Hard Truck Platooning" presented at IEEE ICCVE (2022). Furthermore, his innovative approach to vehicle coordination during his academic tenure resulted in the issuance of US Patent 12,518,633, secured through the Texas A&M University system. Outside of his rigorous academic and professional commitments, Mike is a passionate automotive mechanic and enjoys taking extended motorcycle trips.

Yash Raj Sharma

PhD Student

Yash Sharma is a PhD student in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M University. He joined the CAST Lab in Spring 2025 and currently serves as a Graduate Research Assistant. His research focuses on integrating semantic reasoning with probabilistic modeling to support decision-making in complex and uncertain environments. He develops Semantic World Model (SWM)-based frameworks for representing and reasoning over structured domain knowledge, integrated with probabilistic methods to handle uncertainty. This work supports efficient planning and adaptive decision-making for multi-agent systems, with applications in robotics and autonomous navigation. He has published in IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems and Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part G: Journal of Aerospace Engineering, along with contributions to international conferences. His current research interests include robotics, planning and reasoning, control and guidance, and multi-agent systems. Outside of his research, he enjoys cooking, listening to music, and reading books.

Yi Ling Wu

PhD Student

Yi Ling Wu is a Mechanical Engineering PhD Student who joined the CAST Lab in Fall 2025. Her research focuses on developing high-precision state-estimation frameworks through sensor fusion for autonomous vehicles. She is also a recipient of the Texas A&M Aviles-Johnson Doctoral fellowship.

Atharva Pravin Bilgi

Masters Student

Atharva Pravin Bilgi is a Mechanical Engineering, M.S. Thesis candidate who joined CAST Laboratory in 2025. His research is focused on developing control algorithms, autonomy algorithms and model based systems engineering for ground vehicles.

Matthew Hancock

Masters Student

Matthew Hancock is a Mechanical Engineering Master of Science student with a research focus on autonomous ground vehicle control systems. He joined the Connected Autonomous Safe Technologies (CAST) Laboratory as an undergraduate in 2022, assisting Mike Ashley with his Ph.D. research on Hard Platooning, which has now become the focus of his own graduate research. Matthew has also made contributions to the Physically Cooperating Robots (PCR) research project in the CAST Lab, designing and simulating the hydraulic system to actuate a robotic arm for inter-vehicle linking. In 2024, Matthew was selected for the Los Alamos Dynamics Summer School (LADSS) at Los Alamos National Laboratory. During the program, he investigated nonlinear vibration damping methods and co-authored "Design of a Tuned Vibration Absorber with Friction Contact for High Location Ratio Application," which was presented at the 2025 IMAC Conference. In addition to his academic pursuits, Matthew has served for over 6 years as an Engineer Equipment Mechanic (1341) in the United States Marine Corps Reserve.

Diego Macias

Masters Student

Jordan Runyan

Masters Student

Jordan Runyan is a Graduate Student in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University. He joined the CAST Lab in Spring 2025. In addition to his academic research, Jordan serves as a Technologist II for the Air Ground Coordination Autonomy team at the Bush Combat Development Complex (BCDC). Before pursuing his graduate studies at Texas A&M, he gained extensive technical expertise as a full-time gunsmith, working heavily within the firearm industry. Jordan’s research centers on the development of Crash Safe Robots. His work integrates generative design and advanced material creation to optimize robotic components for extreme durability. By engineering structures specifically designed to survive high-impact falls and crashes, his research supports the reliability of autonomous systems in unpredictable or hazardous operational environments.

Jacob Roberson

Masters Student

Jacob Roberson is a Masters student in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University.  He joined the CAST lab Spring 2026 and currently serves a Graduate Research Assistant.  His research focuses on quadcopter dynamics and target tracking.  Jacob has worked in the manufacturing sector as engineer specializing in in mechatronics systems, advanced troubleshooting of automated equipment, and designing / validating new equipment.  Jacob served in the Army for five years as an engineer officer, and he received his undergraduate mechanical engineering degree from the University of Colorado Boulder.