Shivoh Chirayil Nandakumarmy
Shivoh admits his journey to achieving a PhD was challenging both intellectually and emotionally, having meet some incredible and inspiring people from different walks of life. Shivoh is today celebrating the successful completion of his PhD.
Profile
After earning a Master's in Mechatronics at the University of Glasgow, the pandemic soon put a stop to Shivoh’s plan to secure a PhD scholarship. That is until he secured the prestigious James Watt PhD scholarship from Heriot-Watt.
Shivoh admits his journey to achieving a PhD was challenging both intellectually and emotionally, having meet some incredible and inspiring people from different walks of life.
Having secured the Innovator Founder UK Visa, Shivoh founded and launched the AI robotics startup RideScan, with partnership and trials planned for customers from the UK, USA, Europe, China, Africa, Singapore and India.
Most importantly, Shivoh is today celebrating the successful completion of his PhD.
How has the University aided your professional and personal development?
Professionally it gave me the opportunity to interact with bright minds in my field, pushed me to my own intellectual limits and enabled me to build research breakthroughs. I am especially grateful for Professor David Flynn and my PhD supervisors, Theodore Lim and Suphi Mustafa Erden, for trusting my capabilities.
Personally, I learned more about myself, and my passions and interests through this diverse experience. I also ticked off some impressive personal achievements, such as climbing the tallest mountain in the UK, running a half marathon in London, and being part of the Touchlab Limited team's $10M ANA XPRIZE finals in California.
How has the James Watt PhD scholarship enabled you to develop your career ambitions?
The scholarship gave me the freedom to think deeply about hard and complex scientific questions without worrying about the financial aspects of daily life. That financial freedom enabled me to take bold risks in scientific endeavours, leading to interesting research outcomes.
Can you tell us more about your journey to found the AI robotics startup RideScan?
During a random experiment in my PhD, I realised that robots make very stupid mistakes. However, these silly mistakes can have harmful effects if they occur in the real world. So, I started building the RideScan in parallel with completing my scientific research. Navigating the complexities of building a startup and the uncertainties of scientific research was a challenging rollercoaster. However, I luckily had a happy ending in 2024, receiving the UK government endorsement and Innovator Founder Visa, investment for the RideScan startup and writing my 220-page thesis for my PhD.
What’s your favourite / most memorable moment from your time as a Heriot-Watt student?
Playing with my Boston Dynamics Spot Robot buddy and having deep philosophical debates with my PhD supervisors and occasionally remembering there is a world outside of my PhD!
What are you planning to do after you graduate?
I am working full-time on my startup as the CEO of RideScan, building a super exciting team and aiming to put a RideScan sticker on all robots around the world.