# Rahul Chipalkatty

> Rahul Chipalkatty is a Boston-based roboticist, founder, and CEO of Southie Autonomy whose career has followed one persistent question: how can sophisticated robots remain useful when the job keeps changing? After studying mechanical engineering at Carnegie Mellon and the University of Illinois and earning a Ph.D. in robotics at Georgia Tech, he worked on autonomous systems at Draper Laboratory before co-founding Southie. The company applies AI, augmented reality, and no-code interfaces to robot arms used in packaging, kitting, and palletizing, with the aim of letting ordinary operators teach new tasks in minutes.

- **Role:** Founder and CEO at Southie Autonomy
- **Organizations:** Southie Autonomy, Draper Laboratory, GE Aviation, Georgia Institute of Technology, MassRobotics
- **Education:** B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, M.S. in Mechanical Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Ph.D. in Robotics, Georgia Institute of Technology
- **Known for:** Earned a Ph.D. in Robotics from Georgia Tech for research on human-in-the-loop control., Co-authored a 2010 paper that tied for Best Student Paper at the 29th Digital Avionics Systems Conference., Co-founded Southie Autonomy to develop no-code software for industrial robot arms.

## Career timeline

- **Before 2008** — Worked as a controls engineer at GE Aviation.
- **2008-2012** — Conducted doctoral research at Georgia Tech on human-in-the-loop control for cooperative human-robot tasks.
- **2010** — Co-authored a paper that tied for the Best Student Paper Award at the 29th Digital Avionics Systems Conference.
- **2012** — Earned a Ph.D. in Robotics from Georgia Tech.
- **2012-2017** — Worked on autonomy and robotics for defense research applications at Draper Laboratory.
- **2017** — Co-founded Southie Autonomy with former Draper colleague Jay M. Wong.
- **2018** — Southie Autonomy won the RoboBusiness Pitchfire startup competition.
- **2020** — Southie joined the Air Force Accelerator Powered by Techstars cohort.
- **2021** — Southie partnered with Nulogy on robotics for contract packaging and received an Air Force contract for automated aviation-kit assembly.
- **2022** — Southie announced $2.5 million in seed funding and a $5 million robot-leasing facility.
- **2023** — Southie was selected for a MassVentures START grant and published a Mitsubishi Electric case study on code-free task changeovers.
- **2025** — Listed by MassRobotics as a mentor and expert in its robotics community.

## Achievements

- Earned a Ph.D. in Robotics from Georgia Tech for research on human-in-the-loop control.
- Co-authored a 2010 paper that tied for Best Student Paper at the 29th Digital Avionics Systems Conference.
- Co-founded Southie Autonomy to develop no-code software for industrial robot arms.
- Led Southie Autonomy when it won the 2018 RoboBusiness Pitchfire competition.
- Led Southie through the 2020 Air Force Accelerator Powered by Techstars cohort.
- Secured a 2021 Air Force contract worth up to $1.499 million for automated aviation-kit assembly.
- Announced a $2.5 million seed round and $5 million robot-leasing facility in 2022.
- Helped establish commercial partnerships with Nulogy and Mitsubishi Electric Automation.
- Serves in the MassRobotics community as a mentor and expert.

## Latest updates

- **2025-05** — Appeared in the MassRobotics community as a mentor for its accelerator showcase.
- **2023-12** — Southie and Mitsubishi Electric published a case study describing code-free robot task changeovers and flexible CapEx or Robot-as-a-Service options.
- **2023-05** — Southie was named among 16 recipients in the MassVentures START grant program.
- **2022-06** — Southie announced $2.5 million in seed funding plus a $5 million venture-leasing facility for robot deployments.

## Links

- Website: https://southie.ai
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahul-chipalkatty
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/SouthieAutonomy
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@southieautonomy6495
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/southie.ai/
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/southieai

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/rahul-chipalkatty
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-08-26