# Branavan Selvasingham

> Personal portfolio and projects page for Branavan Selvasingham, an AI/ML engineering leader based in Toronto.

## About

Branavan Selvasingham is VP, Head of AI and Product Engineering at Zafin. He has a background spanning mechanical engineering (University of Waterloo) and business (MBA, Schulich School of Business). He enjoys going wide and deep across domains—robotics, AI/ML, product development, startups—and connecting them together.

## Contact & Social

- Website: https://www.branavan.com/
- X/Twitter: https://x.com/0_branavan_1
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/branavanselvasingham
- Medium: https://medium.com/search?q=branavan+selvasingham
- GitHub: https://github.com/BranavanSelvasingham

## Current Role

**VP, Head of AI and Product Engineering @ Zafin**

Leading AI strategy and product engineering for financial services technology. Notable public appearances:

### Podcast with Microsoft's Head of Banking Strategy
Discussed the future of AI in Financial Services and the overall Enterprise landscape with Tyler Pichach, Head of Banking Strategy at Microsoft.
- Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtcGHd4MaBc

### Money 20/20 Presentation (2023)
Presented at Money 20/20 at Microsoft's AI stage, sharing views and an early roadmap that has since been matured and executed.

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## Active Personal Projects (2024+)

### SO-101 Robot (LeRobot)
Exploring robotics with the SO-101 robot arm from the LeRobot project by Hugging Face.

**Update (December 2025) - LLM-Controlled Robot Arm:**
Testing how well current AI models can directly control the LeRobot SO-101 using tool calls. Setup includes:
- Single camera mounted on the gripper for world perception
- Goal-based control loop (e.g., "pick up pawn")
- Direct model-to-motor control via tool calls

Takeaway: Current models are rapidly approaching embodied AI capabilities. The system successfully demonstrates vision-guided manipulation using only a wrist-mounted camera and natural language goals.

Repository: https://github.com/BranavanSelvasingham/lerobot-llm-chess

**First Hello World (September 2025):**
Initial setup and movement tests with the SO-101. Experienced motor burnout early on, requiring replacement before continuing development.

### Vision OS App - Cubixel AI
First Vision OS app for Apple Vision Pro: "Shape of μ" - a 3D graph visualizer for spatial computing.
- Website: https://www.cubixel.ai/graphvisualizer.html
- Focus: Spatial computing, augmented reality (AR), and AI integration

### Diffusion Digest - Cubixel AI
A weekly newsletter summarizing the latest GitHub activities in diffusion-based generative AI repositories.
- Website: https://www.cubixel.ai/diffusiondigest.html

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## IBM Career (2018-2023)

### Accomplishments
- Built AI systems that served over 20 million users
- Awarded 2022 Outstanding Technical Achievement Award (prestigious global IBM recognition) for work on conversational AI orchestration system

### Research Projects (non-client sensitive)

#### Conversational AI Kiosk
Developed a kiosk system with animated emotive facial expressions for engaging user experiences. Combined NLP, computer vision, and real-time animation.

#### Auditable Network of Containers
Published defensible IP for secure transactions between non-trusting parties using auditable networks.
- Publication: https://priorart.ip.com/IPCOM/000260415/

#### Boston Dynamics Spot Simulation
Created environmental simulations for Boston Dynamics Spot robot to enhance robotic capabilities. Compared various RL simulation platforms.
- Article: https://medium.com/learningreinforcementlearning/choosing-the-right-platform-to-begin-your-hands-on-journey-with-rl-c4110b6cd6d9

#### Smart Locker System
Designed and implemented an intelligent locker system for secure and efficient storage solutions. Features include:
- Remote transferability of ownership
- Secure access control
- Full system integration

#### Psychological Health Assessment
Developed AI-driven tools for assessing psychological health using innovative conversational approaches and adaptive questioning.

#### Vision-Based Robot Arm Motion
Engineered motion control systems for robot arms powered by computer vision:
- Linear motion with real-time vision detection
- Organic motion enhancement with dynamic target tracking
- Multi-target motion planning

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## Nimbus POS Startup (2015-2018)

Founded and built Nimbus POS, a SaaS platform for small cafes to manage orders, inventory, and customer interactions.

### Key Features
- Predictive inventory management using ML
- Intuitive UI with minimal clicks per order
- Full compliance with Canadian tax laws
- Integrated loyalty programs and analytics dashboard
- Wireless printing system
- Cross-platform support (any device)

### Achievements
- Bootstrapped to paying customers
- Reached profitability (monthly recurring revenue exceeded operational costs)
- Exited via data and client acquisition by Nōwn POS

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## Past Personal Projects (2015-2018)

### Home Hub (Touch, Voice, Display)
Built an integrated smart home hub from scratch combining:
- Capacitive touch interface with custom UI
- Voice assistant integration
- Custom display with clock and widgets
- Gesture controls for hands-free operation
- Custom PCBs manufactured in Shenzhen
- Full hardware and software stack

Technical details: Custom PCB design, embedded systems programming, touch sensor integration, microphone arrays, speaker systems.

### Robotic Conference and Vision
System for robotic vision and video conferencing:
- Head-tracking robot arm that follows the user during video calls
- Real-time face detection and tracking
- Smooth servo-controlled motion

### Dynamic Retail E-Paper Labels
Designed e-paper labels for retail stores with real-time dynamic pricing updates:
- Touch-enabled e-paper displays
- Dual display configurations
- Proximity sensor for power management
- Custom enclosure prototypes

### Smart Surface Projection
Interactive projection system combining:
- Robot arm for positioning
- Laser pico projector
- Adaptive display surfaces

### Video Transcript Analysis - TheGreatMind.org
Web application for analyzing video transcripts:
- Add and manage "great minds" (thought leaders)
- Automatic subtitle extraction
- Subtitle correction interface
- Insight extraction from video content

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## Education

### MBA - Schulich School of Business, York University
Focus: Finance and Entrepreneurship

### BASc Mechanical Engineering - University of Waterloo
Focus: Robotics and Aerodynamics
4th year research: Ornithopter/drone aerodynamics and flight mechanics

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## Technical Interests & Skills

### Domains
- AI/ML (LLMs, Computer Vision, Reinforcement Learning, Diffusion Models)
- Robotics (Motion control, Embodied AI, Manipulation)
- Product Engineering & Leadership
- Embedded Systems & Hardware
- Full-stack Development
- Spatial Computing / AR/VR

### Philosophy
"I like going wide and deep across domains (and connect it all together)"

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## Optional: Detailed Project Descriptions

For LLMs seeking deeper context on specific projects, additional details are available below.

### SO-101 LLM Chess Project Details
The lerobot-llm-chess project explores direct LLM control of a physical robot arm for chess piece manipulation:
- Uses tool calling to translate high-level goals into motor commands
- Single gripper-mounted camera provides visual feedback
- Goal loop architecture: model receives image, reasons about goal, outputs motor commands
- Demonstrates emergent spatial reasoning in foundation models
- Open source: https://github.com/BranavanSelvasingham/lerobot-llm-chess

### Nimbus POS Technical Stack
- Frontend: Angular/Ionic for cross-platform mobile and tablet
- Backend: Node.js with MongoDB
- Real-time sync across devices
- Thermal printer integration via custom protocol
- Offline-first architecture with sync queue

### Home Hub Technical Details
- Microcontroller: ESP32 family for main compute
- Display: ILI9341 or similar TFT with custom driver
- Touch: Capacitive touch controller (MPR121)
- Audio: I2S DAC for output, PDM microphone array
- Housing: 3D printed enclosure
- Power: USB-C with proper power management

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*Last updated: December 2025*