Shivam Aarya

CS + AMS + Robotics @ Johns Hopkins

Developing embodied AI for domestic robotics

SCAI Lab, Johns Hopkins
CoCoSci Lab, MIT
3x Startup Co-Founder (JHU-backed)

About

Hey there! I'm Shivam, an undergraduate researcher with a deep passion for robotics and AI.

My research focuses on embodied AI and domestic robotics - specifically, how general-purpose household robots can correctly interpret human commands and reliably complete their tasks. I aim to equip robots with the cognitive ability to build comprehensive world models that are tightly synchronized with the mental models of the humans they assist, understand the physical environments they inhabit, and deeply model the objects they manipulate. Ultimately, I want to enable intuitive cooperation between people and robots so that robots can help everyone live better lives.

To pursue this vision, I began my research journey as a Freshman at Johns Hopkins University in January'24 with Prof. Tianmin Shu's SCAI Lab in collaboration with Prof. Josh Tenenbaum at MIT. I also recently joined the Computational Cognitive Science (CoCoSci) Lab at MIT as a Research Assistant to develop Cog-Gym, a platform to standardize and host hundreds of online human-agent interaction studies. I'm looking forward to continuing my research journey as a PhD student in Fall'26.

Beyond research, I really enjoy building interactive and intuitive systems, which often pulls me into the startup world. Right now, I'm involved with three student-led startups, two of which are being funded by JHU's Spark Accelerator, and the third is supported by the Johns Hopkins Office of Undergraduate Research (HOUR).

If you're into AI, robotics, or just want to chat about cool projects, feel free to reach out!

I believe the future of robotics lies in systems that can seamlessly integrate into our homes, understanding both the physical environment and human intent through multimodal AI.

Shivam Aarya

Publications

Google Scholar
2025
FEATURED

SIFToM: Robust Spoken Instruction Following through Theory of Mind

Lance Ying, Xinyi Li, Shivam Aarya, Yizirui Fang, Jason Xinyu Liu, Yifan Yin, Stefanie Tellex, Joshua B. Tenenbaum, Tianmin Shu

arXiv preprint arXiv:2409.10849· 5 citations

arXiv
2025
FEATURED

PartInstruct: Part-level Instruction Following for Fine-grained Robot Manipulation

Yifan Yin, Zhengtao Han, Shivam Aarya, Shuhang Xu, Jianxin Wang, Jiawei Peng, Angtian Wang, Alan Yuille, Tianmin Shu

Robotics: Science and Systems (RSS)· 4 citations

2024
FEATURED

GOMA: Proactive Embodied Cooperative Communication via Goal-Oriented Mental Alignment

Lance Ying, Kunal Jha, Shivam Aarya, Joshua B. Tenenbaum, Antonio Torralba, Tianmin Shu

2024 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS)· 19 citations

arXiv

Building

Developing technology for real-world impact

Aspire logo

Aspire

AI-driven tools for pre-medical students

Building intelligent study companions and application prep tools for students pursuing medical careers.

Incubated by JHU Spark Accelerator
Dayli logo

Dayli

Scheduling catchups with friends and making memories

A social platform for coordinating hangouts and preserving shared moments with the people who matter most.

Incubated by JHU Spark Accelerator

Stealth Project

In development

More details coming soon.

In Development

Experience

Talks, teaching, and service contributions

ACADEMIC POSITION
EN.601.463/663Course Assistant

Algorithms for Sensor-Based Robotics

Johns Hopkins University

ACADEMIC POSITION
Research Assistant

CoCoSci Lab

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Developing Cog-Gym, a platform to standardize and host hundreds of online human–agent interaction studies in Prof. Josh Tenenbaum's research group

ACADEMIC POSITION
EN.601.463/663Course Assistant

Algorithms for Sensor-Based Robotics

Johns Hopkins University