Dr Kartikeya Walia

Senior Lecturer

Department of Engineering

Staff Group(s)

Engineering

Email: kartikeya.walia@ntu.ac.uk
Phone: +44 115 84 83069
Publications: Go to Dr Kartikeya Walia's publications

Role
Research areas
External activity
Sponsors and collaborators
Publications
Press
Course(s) I teach on
UN Goals

Role

Kartikeya teaches 'Innovation and Engineering Solutions', a module dedicated to shaping the mindset of future engineering designers. Recognizing that true innovation begins in the mind, he focuses his Level 4 teaching on spatial visualization, teaching students to conceptually build and refine 3D models long before engaging with digital tools. While the module employs Autodesk Fusion 360, the core design philosophy transcends any single software. By placing students in collaborative projects with real-world constraints, he fosters a creative resilience. Students learn to navigate limitations not as roadblocks, but as parameters that drive elegant, optimized, and ultimately sustainable engineering solutions.

Research areas

Kartikeya's research is driven by a central vision: the democratisation of robotics to address critical, rapidly approaching real-world challenges. On the hardware front, he tackles the problem of overengineered automation by developing flexible, modular architectures. These reconfigurable, easily repairable robotic platforms are designed to be accessible, resilient, and sustainable.

In parallel, his work directly addresses the human impact of automation. To combat workforce displacement and staff shortages, he is developing Augmented and Extended Reality (AR/XR) platforms designed to seamlessly integrate workers into these new modular ecosystems. By leveraging psychological frameworks to understand how cognitive learning effectively occurs, he aims to optimise these AR/XR tools for intuitive workforce upskilling.

Rounding out this vision, his research also explores innovative additive manufacturing techniques. This includes utilizing direct ink writing for liquid crystal elastomers (4D printing) and studying liquid rope coiling toolpaths to advance material efficiency. Design optimization remains a guiding principle across all his work, driving sustainable practices that minimize waste, reduce resource consumption, and prioritize thoughtful end-of-life material considerations.

Research Funding

£17.5, ICURe Exploit, Innovate UK, 2026
£37.5k, ICURe Explore, Innovate UK, 2026
£8.5k, UK Research Partnership Fund, 2026
£2.5k, ICURe Discover, Innovate UK, UKRI, 2025
£13.5k, International Partnership Fund, NTU, 2024-25
£2k, UK-RAS Network+ AdHoc Funding, UKRI, 2024-25
£2.5k, Connected Everything 'Early Career Researcher Placement Scheme', 2022-23

External activity

Member of Institure of Mechanical Engineers (CEng)
Fellow of Higher Education Academy (FHEA)
REMAP Engineering Maker
Entrepreneurial Lead - ICURe (Innovate UK)
Robotics Expert/Author for The Conversation

Sponsors and collaborators

Innovate UK
UKRI (UK Research and Innovation)

Publications

Ali, F., Kanwal, K., Walia, K., Ali, S. M., Liu, H., & Khalid, S. G. (2026). An Overview of Emerging Wearable Sensors in the Management of Chronic Diseases. Advanced Wearable Sensing in Clinical Practice Towards Healthcare 5.0, 201-225.

Walia, K., & Breedon, P. (2025). Assembly Complexity Index (ACI) for modular robotic systems: validation and conceptual framework for AR/VR-assisted assembly. Machines, 13(10), 882.

Walia, K., Navaraj, W., & Breedon, P. (2025). Generatively optimised compact 3-DoF spherical parallel manipulator with tightly integrated actuators. Frontiers in Mechanical Engineering, 11, 1629405.

Walia, K., & Bradford, C. (2025). Automated low-cost monitoring and ventilation: enhancing Bag-Valve-Mask (BVM) use in emergency response. Transactions on Additive Manufacturing Meets Medicine, 7(1), 2065-2065.

Sanghera, B. K., & Walia, K. (2025, April). FUZZ-PPO: Fuzzy-Proximal Policy Optimisation for enhanced robotic control in dynamic environments using meta-reinforcement learning. In 2025 3rd International Conference on Control and Robot Technology (ICCRT) (pp. 21-29). IEEE.

See all of Dr Kartikeya Walia's publications...