Hanumant Singh
Professor,
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Jointly Appointed,
Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
Program Director,
Master of Science in Robotics
Office
- 727 EXP
- 617.373.7286
Lab
- High Bay, EXP
Research Focus
Machine Learning for Fisheries, SLAM in the presence of Dynamic Moving Objects, Counter UAS methodologies , Manipulation Underwater, and Imaging in Visually Degraded Environments including underwater and in polar regions
About
Hanumant Singh is a Professor at Northeastern University. He received his Ph.D. from the MIT WHOI Joint Program in 1995 and then worked on the Staff at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution until 2016 when he joined Northeastern. His research interests are in the area of field robotics, with an emphasis on SLAM, imaging, and mapping, particularly in the marine, polar and aerial domains.
His group has designed and built the Seabed AUV and the Jetyak Autonomous Surface Vehicle, dozens of which are in use for scientific and academic research across the globe. He also has strong interests in small Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS). He has participated in 60 expeditions in all of the world’s oceans in support of Marine Geology, Marine Biology, Deep Water Archaeology, Chemical Oceanography, Polar Studies, and Coral Reef Ecology. In collaboration with his students his awards include the ICRA Best Student Paper Award, the Sung Fu Memorial Best IEEE Transactions on Robotics Paper Award and Best Paper Awards at the Oceans Conference and at AGU.
Education
- Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Joint Program, 1995
Honors & Awards
Professional Affiliations
- Senior Member, IEEE
- Member, American Geophysical Union
- Member, Eta Kappa Nu, National Honor Society for Electrical Engineering
- Member, Alpha Chi, National Honor Society
Research Overview
Machine Learning for Fisheries, SLAM in the presence of Dynamic Moving Objects, Counter UAS methodologies , Manipulation Underwater, and Imaging in Visually Degraded Environments including underwater and in polar regions
Field Robotics Lab
Our group of students, faculty, and collaborators work on diverse interests including photomosaicking, visual-based navigation, 3D image reconstruction, image segmentation and classification, and chemical sensors. We work with manned submersibles, remotely operated and tethered vehicles, and autonomous underwater vehicles on different aspects of these systems including docking, navigation, manipulation and software for autonomous operations.
Research Centers and Institutes
Department Research Areas
Selected Publications
- Strycker, Noah, Borowicz, Alex, Wethington, Michael, Forrest, Steven, Shah, Vikrant, Liu, Yang, Singh, Hanumant, Lynch, Heather J. (2021). Fifty-year change in penguin abundance on Elephant Island, South Shetland Islands, Antarctica: results of the 2019–20 census. Polar Biology, 44(1),45-56. 10.1007/S00300-020-02774-4
- Mei, M. Jeffrey, Maksym, Ted, Weissling, Blake, Singh, Hanumant (2019). Estimating early-winter Antarctic sea ice thickness from deformed ice morphology. The Cryosphere, 13(11),2915-2934. 10.5194/TC-13-2915-2019
- Mei, M. Jeffrey, Maksym, Ted, Singh, Hanumant (2019). Estimating Early-Winter Antarctic Sea Ice Thickness From Deformed Ice Morphology. The Cryosphere Discussions, ,1-33. 10.5194/TC-2019-140
- Wagner, Till J. W., Straneo, Fiamma, Richards, Clark G., Slater, Donald A., Stevens, Laura A., Das, Sarah B., Singh, Hanumant (2019). Large spatial variations in the flux balance along the front of a Greenland tidewater glacier. The Cryosphere, 13(3),911-925. 10.5194/TC-13-911-2019
- H. Singh, W. Freeman, et al., Camouflaging an Object from Many Viewpoints, Proceedings of the 2014 Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition Conference, 1-8
- C. Murphy, J. Walls, T. Schneider, H. Singh, et al. CAPTURE: A Communications Architecture for Progressive Transmission via Underwater Relays with Eavesdropping, IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering, 39(1), 2014, 1-13
- K.E. Smith, H. Singh, et al., Discovery of a Recent, Natural Whale Fall on the Continental Slope Off Anvers Island, Western Antarctic Peninsula, Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers, 90, 2014, 76-80
- G. Williams, J. Wilkinson, T. Maksym, H. Singh, C. Kunz, et al., Mapping Ice Thickness and Extreme Deformation of Antarctic Sea Ice from an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle, Nature Geoscience, 8, 2014, 61-67
- M. Yi Cheung, J. Leighton, U. Mitra, H. Singh, F.S. Hover Performance of Bandit Methods in Acoustic Relay Positioning, Proceedings of the 2014 Automatic Control Conference, 2014, 4708-4714
- C. Kunz, H. Singh, Map Building Fusing Acoustic and Visual Information Using Autonomous Underwater Vehicles, Journal of Field Robotics, 30(5), 2013, 1556-4967
- H. Singh, K. Nakamura, M. Jakobssen, T. Shank, et al. Effusive and Explosive Volcanism on the Ultraslow- Spreading Gakkel Ridge, 85°E, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 13(10), 2012
Aug 06, 2025
Report on Titan Submersible Implosion Released
ECE/MIE Professor Hanumant Singh discusses the report issued by the U.S. Coast Guard about the implosion of OceanGate’s submersible “Titan” in 2023.
Jun 02, 2025
Student Builds Robotics Career Through Hands-On Learning
Srinidhi Pattala, MS’25, robotics, gained confidence in robotics through Northeastern’s hands-on curriculum, industry co-op, and mentorship, preparing her for a career in autonomous systems.
May 27, 2025
Robotics Research Earns IEEE King-Sun Fu Best Paper Award
ECE Postdoctoral Research Associate Alan Papalia and ECE/COS Assistant Professor David Rosen are recipients of the 2024 IEEE Transactions on Robotics King-Sun Fu Memorial Best Paper Award for their paper “Certifiably Correct Range-Aided SLAM,” which introduces a fundamental advance in reliable autonomous navigation for robots operating without GPS.
Mar 17, 2025
Robotics PhD Student on Research Expedition Aboard Submersible
Dennis Giaya, PhD’27, computer engineering, journeyed with scientists aboard the submersible Alvin as part of an expedition to study hydrothermal vents in the East Pacific Rise, an area of strong volcanic activity located along the seafloor of the Pacific Ocean.
Jan 30, 2025
Faculty and Staff Awards 2025
Faculty and staff were recognized at the 27th Annual College of Engineering Faculty and Staff Awards for their exceptional service and dedication in support of students, the COE community, and the university during the 2024-2025 academic year.
Aug 30, 2024
The Necessary Risks of Space Exploration
ECE/MIE Professor Hanumant Singh says the stranding of astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams aboard the International Space Station reflects the inevitable risks of space travel that are necessary to endure to learn more about the universe.
Jun 10, 2024
Northeastern Researchers Participate in Inaugural ClimaTech Conference
ECE/Khoury Professor Jennifer Dy, ECE/MIE Professor Hanumant Singh, and CEE Assistant Professor Julia Hopkins took part in the inaugural ClimaTech conference, joining hundreds of energy and technology experts from around the world who gathered to explore how protecting the environment can contribute to economic growth.
Jun 06, 2024
Ensuring Safety and Evaluating Risks for Deep-Sea Missions
ECE/MIE Professor Hanumant Singh outlines the safety certifications and risk evaluations that go into deep-sea research missions in autonomous underwater vehicles. Despite last year’s OceanGate tragedy, another manned deep dive is planned to take place in the summer of 2026.
Apr 24, 2024
Using Robots To Map Icy Frontiers
ECE/MIE Professor Hanumant Singh uses his team of sea-diving robots to collect data in extreme environments, helping us better understand climate change.
Nov 30, 2023
New Robotics Lab To Lead Innovative Research
The newly opened space in EXP for the Institute of Experiential Robotics will allow for interdisciplinary collaboration in the advancement of robotics.