Keshav Bimbraw
केशव बिम्बरा | ਕੇਸ਼ਵ ਬਿੰਬਰਾ
I am a Machine Learning Research and Development Engineer at OnPoint Surgical, Inc., based in Concord, Massachusetts. I apply advances in AI/ML to medical imaging modalities to support the next generation of surgical robotics. I completed my PhD in Robotics at WPI's Medical FUSION Lab, where my research focused on applying deep learning to ultrasound and other biosignal data for real-time unimodal and multimodal biosignal-based prediction. My work has applications across robotic teleoperation, AR/VR, surgical robotics, rehabilitation robotics, and gaming.
During my PhD, I interned at Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories in Cambridge, Massachusetts during the summers of 2023 and 2024, where I worked on improving robustness of multimodal biosignal-based gesture estimation and using large vision-language models for biosignal-based human-machine interfacing. In Summer and Fall 2022, I worked as an Augmented Human Sensing Researcher at Nokia Bell Labs, where I worked on multimodal biosignal processing and low-latency robotic teleoperation.
Prior to starting my PhD, I interned in Active Noise Control Engineering at Bose and worked as an Audio DSP Engineer. I hold a Master's in Music Technology from Georgia Tech, where I worked on AI-based human-machine interfacing and robotic musicianship. I completed a research internship at IIT Delhi during my undergraduate studies in Mechatronics Engineering at Thapar University.
News
Recent research updates, publications, invited talks, and professional milestones.
My PhD thesis is now publicly available
My PhD thesis is now out of embargo and available through WPI Digital Collections. The one-year embargo began on May 13, 2025, and the thesis can now be read online.
GPT Sonography accepted to IEEE Access
Our paper GPT Sonography: Hand Gesture Decoding from Forearm Ultrasound Images via a Large Vision-Language Model has been accepted to be published in IEEE Access.
Acoustic reflector ultrasound paper accepted to IEEE Sensors Journal
Our paper Acoustic Reflector Based Forearm Ultrasound for Hand Gesture Classification was accepted to be published in IEEE Sensors Journal.
Presented edge AI work at MIDL 2025
Presented our paper Transfer Learning and Quantization for Efficient AP vs. LA X-Ray View Classification on an Edge Device at the Medical Imaging with Deep Learning Conference held at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.
Graduated with a PhD in Robotics Engineering
Graduated with a PhD in Robotics Engineering. I was one of the first PhDs to graduate from my adviser Dr. Haichong K. Zhang's lab.
Passed my PhD thesis defense
Passed my thesis defense. Huge thanks to my committee, with members from Harvard University, Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, and WPI.
More updates from 2024 and earlier
Invited talk at IEEE BHI 2024
Delivered an invited talk titled Integrating AI with Ultrasound for Enhanced Human-Machine Interfacing at the AI in Tele-echography workshop at IEEE BHI 2024.
GPT Sonography accepted to NeurIPS AIM-FM workshop
The GPT Sonography paper based on work done at MERL in Summer 2024 was accepted to the AIM-FM workshop at NeurIPS 2024.
Started full-time work at OnPoint Surgical
Started full-time work at OnPoint Surgical to advance surgical robotics.
Presented acoustic reflector ultrasound work at NERC 2024
Presented and gave a live demonstration of our acoustic-reflector-based forearm ultrasound system for hand gesture classification with Yichuan Tang at Northeast Robotics Colloquium at UMass Amherst.
Accepted full-time ML offer at OnPoint Surgical
Accepted a full-time Machine Learning Software Engineer offer at OnPoint Surgical, starting work in October 2024.
Forearm ultrasound edge work accepted as oral presentation at IEEE BSN
Forearm Ultrasound Based Gesture Recognition on Edge was accepted as an oral presentation at IEEE BSN 2024.
Two papers accepted to IEEE IUS 2024
Two out of two papers were accepted to IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium 2024.
Started second research internship at MERL
Started a research internship at Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories under Dr. Toshiaki Koike-Akino.
Passed my PhD thesis proposal
Passed my PhD thesis proposal.
Won IEEE EMBC NextGen Scholar Award
Won the IEEE EMBC NextGen Scholar Award.
Multimodal biosignal robustness paper accepted to IEEE EMBC
A paper on improving robustness of multimodal biosignals for gesture classification based on my Summer 2023 internship at MERL was accepted to IEEE EMBC 2024.
Mirror-based ultrasound work accepted to SPIE Medical Imaging
Mirror-based forearm ultrasound for hand gesture classification using CNNs and Vision Transformers was accepted for presentation at SPIE Medical Imaging 2024 in San Diego, CA.
Ultrasound-based virtual object manipulation presented at IEEE BSN
Ultrasound-based virtual object manipulation work was presented at IEEE EMBS BSN 2023 at the MIT Media Lab in Cambridge, MA.
Finger force estimation paper presented at IEEE IUS
Ultrasound-based finger force estimation was presented at IEEE IUS 2023 in Montreal, Canada.
Ultrasound-based virtual object manipulation accepted to IEEE BSN
Our work on ultrasound-based virtual object manipulation was accepted to IEEE BSN 2023, held at the MIT Media Lab.
Finger force estimation work accepted to IEEE IUS
My work on ultrasound-based finger force estimation was accepted to IEEE IUS 2023.
Started research internship at MERL
Started work as a Research Intern at Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Passed my PhD qualifiers
Gave my PhD qualifiers and passed.
Presented biosignal-controlled HMI work at IEEE SII
Presented Towards the Development of a Low-Latency, Biosignal-Controlled Human-Machine Interaction System at IEEE SII 2023 at Georgia Tech.
Completed a productive Co-Op at Nokia Bell Labs
Ended a very productive Co-Op at Nokia Bell Labs, producing deliverables including published and future papers, patents, and demonstrable videos.
Hand configuration and joint-angle paper accepted to IEEE T-MRB
The paper Simultaneous Estimation of Hand Configurations and Finger Joint Angles Using Forearm Ultrasound was accepted to IEEE Transactions on Medical Robotics and Bionics.
Biosignal-controlled HMI paper accepted to IEEE SII
The paper Towards the Development of a Low-Latency, Biosignal-Controlled Human-Machine Interaction System was accepted to IEEE SII 2023.
Nokia Bell Labs Co-Op extension accepted
Based on my summer internship performance, the Data and Devices Group in the Artificial Intelligence Research Labs at Nokia Bell Labs extended a Co-Op offer, which I accepted.
Joined Nokia Bell Labs as an Augmented Human Sensing Intern
Joined the Data and Devices Group in the Artificial Intelligence Research Labs at Nokia Bell Labs in New Providence, NJ.
ASL ultrasound poster accepted to ICRA workshop
The poster Forearm Ultrasound Images Can Be Classified to Predict Static American Sign Language Letters was accepted to the IEEE ICRA 2022 Workshop on Human-Centered Autonomy in Medical Robotics.
ICRA paper accepted
My recent paper was accepted to IEEE ICRA 2022.
Completed PhD qualifier coursework
Completed all courses required for my PhD qualifier.
Accepted to Google CSRMP
Accepted to the 2021B class of Google's CS Research Mentorship Program.
Robotic lung ultrasound paper published
My ultrasound image capture code was useful for Ryosuke's robotic lung ultrasound paper, which was published.
Augmented reality lung ultrasound guidance published in LNCS
Augmented Reality-Based Lung Ultrasound Scanning Guidance was published in LNCS / Image Processing, Computer Vision, Pattern Recognition, and Graphics.
Started PhD in Robotics Engineering at WPI
Started my PhD in Robotics Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
AR lung ultrasound guidance accepted to MICCAI ASMUS
Augmented Reality-Based Lung Ultrasound Scanning Guidance was accepted to MICCAI ASMUS 2020.
Sonomyography prosthesis control paper accepted to IEEE EMBC
Towards Sonomyography-Based Real-Time Control of Powered Prosthesis Grasp Synergies was accepted to IEEE EMBC 2020.
Accepted PhD offer from WPI
Received PhD offers from Georgia Tech and WPI. Accepted the WPI offer and started working in the Medical FUSION Lab.
Ultrasound prosthetics work featured in The Age of A.I.
My project and code for controlling prosthetics with ultrasound were featured in the first episode of The Age of A.I.
Sonomyography soft robotic gripper work presented at ISMR/SSMR
Presented Sonomyography-Based Real-Time Hand Grasp Configuration Identification via Supervised Learning to Control a Soft Robotic Gripper at ISMR/SSMR 2019.
Selected for Georgia Tech Diversity and Inclusion Fellowship
Selected for Georgia Tech's Diversity and Inclusion Fellowship Program.
Presented robotic musicianship work at Georgia Tech 3MT
Presented Imparting Expressivity and Dynamics to Percussive Musical Robot Shimon at Georgia Tech 3MT 2018.
Presented SMG and EMG work at BMES
Presented Comparison and Integration of SMG and EMG at BMES Annual Meeting 2018.
Selected for Georgia Tech ARMS traineeship
Selected for Georgia Tech's Accessibility, Rehabilitation, and Movement Science traineeship.
Selected Papers





Prediction of MCP Joint Angles and Classification of Hand Configurations from Forearm Ultrasound
IEEE ICRA 2022 and IEEE Transactions on Medical Robotics and Bionics · Philadelphia, PA

Forearm Ultrasound Images Can Be Classified to Predict Static American Sign Language Letters
IEEE ICRA 2022 Workshop on Human-Centered Autonomy in Medical Robotics · Philadelphia, PA

Volunteer Advising / Mentorship
Please feel free to contact me for advice on graduate school, research versus industry, life as an international student, and career guidance. As someone who has mentored and guided students since my undergraduate years, I am particularly interested in supporting individuals from traditionally underrepresented communities in STEM, including LGBTQIA+, POC, and first-generation college students. Do not hesitate to reach out; I will be happy to assist in any way I can.
