About me

Namal Rathnayake is a passionate machine learning researcher and engineer with more than four years of experience in research, development, and machine learning practices. He received his doctoral degree at Kochi University of Technology in Japan under the guidance of Prof. Yukinobu Hoshino. Namal’s primary research has focused on proposing a novel machine learning and artificial intelligence algorithm called the Cascaded Adaptive Network-based Fuzzy Inference system, which has significantly improved the accuracy of results in his PhD study, achieving up to 99.9%.

Namal holds a Master’s degree in Robotics and Automation from the University of Salford in the United Kingdom, where he graduated with the highest distinction. His thesis focused on “An Effective and Efficient Approach Towards 3D Reconstruction.” He also obtained a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Electronics and Telecommunication from the University of Wolverhampton, UK, graduating with Second Class Upper Division. His undergraduate thesis was on an Auto-Piloting System for a UAV.

Namal has diverse work experiences, including freelancing at Upwork.com since 2019, where he has been working on Arduino-based projects like a chatbot and autonomous car parking system and developing tutorials for the non-technical audience about robotics and programming. He has also consulted on sensor selection for an organic waste industrial project in Saudi Arabia, worked on a science project on warp drive, conducted research data collection and keeping logs, and developed applications for toys using different microcontrollers. Namal has conducted lectures on C++ and Python coding and designed and implemented an automatic parachute deployment system on a drone. He has also designed PCBs for educational satellites and surface-mounted PCBs, researched vehicle control and dynamics and studied developing hydropower forecasting algorithms.

Namal has experience in education, working as a visiting lecturer at Open University in Sri Lanka in the Faculty of Engineering Technology. He conducted lectures on artificial intelligence for bachelor’s degree students. He has also worked as an assistant lecturer in the Department of Electrical and Electronics in the Faculty of Engineering at the Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology, where he conducted experiments and tutorials on electronic engineering, embedded systems, programming, and robotics. Namal has supervised and mentored research groups as an assistant lecturer.

Namal has published several research papers, including “An Efficient Automatic Fruit-360 Image Identification and Recognition Using a Novel Modified Cascaded-ANFIS Algorithm,” “A Cascaded Adaptive Network-Based Fuzzy Inference System for Hydropower Forecasting,” “A Novel Optimization Algorithm: Cascaded Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System,” and “Performance Comparison of the ANFIS based Quad-Copter Controller Algorithms.” Namal has also presented a paper on “A comparison of the fuzzy logic controller and PID controller for differential drive wall-following mobile robot.”