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Meet the Team

Deeply rooted in robotics user experience, we create robotic solutions that fit within your current operations - making robots easy.

We work collaboratively, helping your team view robots in a new light.

Deeply rooted in robotics user experience, we create robotics solutions that fit within your current operations - making robots easy. We work collaboratively, helping your team view robots in a new light.

Deeply rooted in robotics user experience, we create robotics solutions that fit within your current operations - making robots easy. We work collaboratively, helping your team view robots in a new light.

Southie Autonomy Team

Rahul Chipalkatty, PhD

Founder, CEO

A true robotics visionary with over 15 years of leading technical and business teams, Rahul is a deep robotics leader in understanding and transforming how humans and robots work together. Prior to founding Southie, he oversaw autonomous and mobile manipulation robotics projects at Draper Labs, leading MIT-Harvard R&D initiatives.

Meredith Owen, MBA

Head of Business Operations

An innovative strategist inspired by game-changing technology, Meredith leads the business team to drive sales, marketing, and external partnerships. With strengths in building relationships and developing teams, Meredith wears whatever hat necessary to ensure Southie’s success. Prior to joining Southie through Air Force Techstars, she consulted and led projects in the entrepreneurial ecosystem for entrepreneurs, startups, and venture capital.

Harish Sampathkumar

Principal Architect

A novel, inventive developer, Harish crafts cutting-edge software, working above and beyond to go any length necessary to ensure success for the end user, making communication with robots seamless. He excels at full-stack, system-level software and productization. Having been with Southie since the early days, he steers the team through his development crucial to end user success.



Caitlyn Briggs

Marketing and Hiring Manager

A process builder and executor, Caitlyn gets the job done for the Southie team. With impressive organizational skills, she tracks and drives inbound marketing efforts, recruitment and hiring processes, and administrative activities. When not working with robots, Caitlyn is a passionate coach for college tennis at Wentworth Institute of Technology.



Alex Ardelean

Web & Robotics Applications Engineer




Max Murphy

Solutions Engineer




Mike Ellison

Senior Perception Engineer


Jorgette Grosso



Rahul Chipalkatty, PhD

Rahul Chipalkatty, PhD

Founder, CEO

A true robotics visionary with over 15 years of leading technical and business teams, Rahul is a deep robotics leader in understanding and transforming how humans and robots work together. Prior to founding Southie, he oversaw autonomous and mobile manipulation robotics projects at Draper Labs, leading MIT-Harvard R&D initiatives.

Meredith Owen

Meredith Owen, MBA

Head of Business Operations

An innovative strategist inspired by game-changing technology, Meredith leads the business team to drive sales, marketing, and external partnerships. With strengths in building relationships and developing teams, Meredith wears whatever hat necessary to ensure Southie’s success. Prior to joining Southie through Air Force Techstars, she consulted and led projects in the entrepreneurial ecosystem for entrepreneurs, startups, and venture capital.

Harish Sampathkumar

Harish Sampathkumar

Principal Architect

A novel, inventive developer, Harish crafts cutting-edge software, working above and beyond to go any length necessary to ensure success for the end user, making communication with robots seamless. He excels at full-stack, system-level software and productization. Having been with Southie since the early days, he steers the team through his development crucial to end user success.

Caitlyn Briggs

Caitlyn Briggs

Marketing and Hiring Manager

A process builder and executor, Caitlyn gets the job done for the Southie team. With impressive organizational skills, she tracks and drives inbound marketing efforts, recruitment and hiring processes, and administrative activities. When not working with robots, Caitlyn is a passionate coach for college tennis at Wentworth Institute of Technology.

One of our team members

Alex Ardelean

Web & Robotics Applications Engineer


Max Murphy

Max Murphy

Solutions Engineer


One of our team members

Mike Ellison

Senior Perception Engineer


One of our team members

Jorgette Grosso


Southie Autonomy Advisors

One of our team members

John Zarbus

Operations, 3PL, Contract Packaging

• 30+ years in 3PL, contract packaging, global manufacturing

• Lean manufacturing expert and consultant

• Previous work as executive at FedEx, GENCO, TE Connectivity, Tyco International

Warren Katz

Warren Katz

DoD, Air Force Technology

• Noted industry advocate for dual-use technology

• Managing Director of Air Force Accelerator powered by Techstars

• Co-founded MAK Technologies acquired by VT Systems

Jim Holland

Jim Holland

Contract Packaging, Strategic Partnerships

• Contract packaging expert and executive 

• Deep industry network across contract packaging, 3PL, and manufacturing

• Director of Contract Packaging and Fulfillment at Outlook Group, LLC

Peter Vicars

Peter Vicars

Technology Company Development, Growth

• CEO with deep VC-backed start up experience

• Startup, growth, and mid stage technology company development

• Successes in publicly traded firm, VC-backed later stage, VC-backed start ups

 Nicholas Roy

Nicholas Roy

Technology, Robotics, Autonomous Systems

• Leading expert in robotics, machine learning, autonomous systems

• MIT CSAIL Professor, Director of Engineering at MIT Quest for Intelligence

Tom Libby

Tom Libby

Sales, Business Development, Marketing

• Seasoned sales VP and business development executive

• 18+ years developing sales for startups to Fortune 500 companies

• Co-Founder of Smarketing CONNECT and CEO of Diversified Sales Solutions, Inc.

John Zarbus

Operations, 3PL, Contract Packaging

• 30+ years in 3PL, contract packaging, global manufacturing

• Lean manufacturing expert and consultant

• Previous work as executive at FedEx, GENCO, TE Connectivity, Tyco International


Warren Katz

DoD, Air Force Technology

• Noted industry advocate for dual-use technology

• Managing Director of Air Force Accelerator powered by Techstars

• Co-founded MAK Technologies acquired by VT Systems


Jim Holland

Contract Packaging, Strategic Partnerships

• Contract packaging expert and executive 

• Deep industry network across contract packaging, 3PL, and manufacturing

• Director of Contract Packaging and Fulfillment at Outlook Group, LLC


Peter Vicars

Technology Company Development, Growth

• CEO with deep VC-backed start up experience

• Startup, growth, and mid stage technology company development

• Successes in publicly traded firm, VC-backed later stage, VC-backed start ups


Nicholas Roy

Technology, Robotics, Autonomous Systems

• Leading expert in robotics, machine learning, autonomous systems

• MIT CSAIL Professor, Director of Engineering at MIT Quest for Intelligence


Tom Libby

Sales, Business Development, Marketing

• Seasoned sales VP and business development executive

• 18+ years developing sales for startups to Fortune 500 companies

• Co-Founder of Smarketing CONNECT and CEO of Diversified Sales Solutions, Inc.


OUR PHILOSOPHY

"The goal has always been to reduce the barriers for using robots - to be able to work with robots like you work with people...Making complex technology easy to use flows through everything we do at Southie"


- Dr. Rahul Chipalkatty, CEO, Visionary

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