Pankaja Balasooriya

Education

• BSc Eng (Hons) in Electronic & Telecommunication Engineering

  University of Moratuwa

  February 2023 — Present

  • CGPA: 3.73 / 4.00
  • Key courses: Robotics, Computer Vision, Electronic Control Systems Design, Circuits and Systems Design, Linear Algebra, Signals and Systems

• G.C.E. Advanced & Ordinary Level

  Bandaranayake College

  May 2014 — September 2022

  • Advanced Level, Physical Sciences (May 2019 – Sep 2022): Z-score 2.5230 — Combined Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry
  • Ordinary Level (May 2014 – Dec 2018): 9 A grades — Mathematics, Science, English Literature, Business Studies, ICT

• Pearson Assured Diplomas in Software Engineering and Information Technology

  ESOFT Metro Campus

  December 2018 — October 2019

  • Diploma in Software Engineering (Dec 2018 – Oct 2019): OOP, databases, software engineering principles
  • Diploma in Information Technology (Dec 2018 – Aug 2019): batch top grade honours

Experience

• Human–Computer Interaction Research Intern

  Monash University · Exertion Games Lab · Clayton, VIC, Australia

  December 2025 — June 2026

  • Designed embedded systems around STM32 and custom PCBs, and developed the firmware and full-stack software around them.
  • Conducted user studies and co-authored papers for ACM UIST and ACM DIS 2026.

• Undergraduate Teaching Assistant — EN2533 Robot Design and Competition

  University of Moratuwa · Moratuwa, Sri Lanka

  May 2025 — November 2025

  • Designed competition tasks and mentored student teams.
  • Ran lab sessions and graded coursework.

• Software Development Intern

  Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation Limited · Colombo, Sri Lanka

  August 2022 — October 2022

  • Enterprise web development and database management.
  • Software testing across internal systems.

Research

• CoPSense: Improving control over user's Center of Pressure using passive vibrotactile feedback

  Pathirana, R.O., Balasooriya, P., Ravishan, N., Warushavithana, N.D., Mueller, F., Sabnis, N., Elvitigala, D.S.

  ACM CHI · paper

  2027

• SymbioSip: Towards Understanding the Design of Human-Plant Mutual Care through a Bidirectional Hydration System

  Luo, H., Wang, X., Balasooriya, P., Pathirana, R.O., Wang, H., Yan, Z., Elvitigala, D.S., Mueller, F.

  ACM CHI · paper

  2027

• Listen to the Plant: Exploring the Design of Plant Care as an Auditory Interface to Promote Caregiving Behavior

  Luo, H., Balasooriya, P., Pathirana, R.O., Wang, H., Elvitigala, D.S., Mueller, F.

  ACM DIS Companion (Provocation / Work-in-Progress) pp. 315-319 · paper · doi:10.1145/3802974.3809437

  2026

• SymbioSip: Human-Plant Symbiosis through a Bidirectional Hydration System

  Luo, H., Perera, K., Montoya, M.F., Pathirana, R.O., Balasooriya, P., Patibanda, R., Elvitigala, D.S., Toups Dugas, P.O., Mueller, F.

  ACM DIS Companion (Interactivity) pp. 566-570 · demo · doi:10.1145/3802974.3808024

  2026

• Demonstrating VibeCoP: Guiding Balance Exercises through a Center of Pressure encoded Vibrotactile Waistband

  Pathirana, R.O., Balasooriya, P., Warushavithana, N.D., Ravishan, N., Sabnis, N., Mueller, F., Elvitigala, D.S.

  SportsHCI · demo

  2026

Awards

• Robofest 2025 — Open Category — 1st Runner Up

  Robofest

  Vision-based autonomous drone navigation.

  October 2025

• GENESIZ'25 — 2nd Runner Up

  KDU, Sri Lanka

  Open-theme idea pitching challenge: omnidirectional robots for industry.

  August 2025

• Sri Lanka Robotics Challenge — 1st Runner Up

  Sri Lanka Robotics Challenge

  An STM32 and vision-based autonomous robot built to complete the given task.

  April 2025

• IESL Robogames 2024 — 2nd Runner Up

  IESL

  Autonomous navigation for Kobuki robots using OpenCV, Webots simulation, and Raspberry Pi.

  April 2025

• EN2533 Robot Design and Competition — 1st Place

  University of Moratuwa

  A robot with autonomous navigation built to complete the given task.

  December 2024

• Robofest 2024 — Finalist

  Robofest

  A micromouse robot solving a 16 × 16 maze.

  October 2024

• Batch Top Honours — Information Technology — 1st of 200+

  ESOFT Metro Campus

  Awarded to the best performer out of more than 200 students.

  December 2019

Certificates and courses

• Embedded Machine Learning for Edge Computing

  University of Moratuwa

  On-device ML model development and optimisation for microcontrollers

  2025

• Microcontroller Embedded C Programming

  Udemy

  Low-level programming for ARM Cortex-M and peripheral interfacing

  2025

Volunteering

• Finance and Industrial Relations Committee Lead

  IEEE Student Branch, University of Moratuwa

  January 2025 — December 2025

• Co-Chair — IEEE Robotics Day 2025

  IEEE Student Branch, University of Moratuwa

  March 2025 — April 2025

• Industrial Relations Committee Member

  Electronic Club, University of Moratuwa

  January 2024 — December 2024