Teeratham {TJ} Vitchutripop

Robotics x Machine Learning Ph.D. Student
📍 Yale University

tj.vitchutripop@yale.edu
Google Scholar
@Vitchutripop
linkedin.com/in/tj-vitchutripop
github.com/tjvitchutripop

Hello 👋 I'm a first-year PhD student in Computer Science at Yale University performing research in the Applied Planning, Learning, and Optimization (APOLLO) Lab, where I am advised by Daniel Rakita.

My research revolves around developing machine learning algorithms for robot perception, reasoning, and control grounded within the contexts of robotic manipulation, reinforcement + imitation learning, and continual learning. I'm especially interested in exploring how ideas from cognitive science, neuroscience, and philosophy can aid us in developing intelligent embodied systems. Additionally, I also collaborate with the Yale School of Medicine on projects surrounding computer vision for robotic surgery.

Previously, I have worked in the Collaborative Robotics Lab at the University of Virginia led by Tariq Iqbal, developing reinforcement learning algorithms for dynamic object manipulation. Additionally, I performed computer vision research centered around unsupervised instance segmentation for robotic manipulation at the Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute with the Robots Perceiving and Doing (R-PAD) Lab led by David Held.

Aside from my research, I have explored the intersection of technology & society as a 2025 FASPE Design & Technology Fellow and through the UVA-MIT Policy Internship Program, where I interned at the National Science Foundation TIP directorate working on open-sourcing and analyzing data from the first iteration of the NSF Engines program. I also have industry experience in software engineering and test-driven development through an internship with interop.io.

📢 News

March 2025

Selected as 2025 FASPE Design & Technology Fellow

I'm excited to share that I have been selected as a 2025 FASPE Design & Technology Fellow! FASPE is a fully-funded intensive program in professional ethics and ethical leadership held over two weeks in Germany and Poland, with a network of over 900 alumni worldwide across six professional disciplines. I look forward to learning a lot and exchanging ideas on ethical decision-making as a fellow!

August 2024

Starting Ph.D. at Yale!

I begin my Ph.D. in Computer Science at Yale University, where I'll be working in the APOLLO Lab led by Daniel Rakita. I'm excited to continue working on research in robot learning for manipulation!

May 2024