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Vivek Natarajan

Publications and source records attributed to Vivek Natarajan.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Accelerating Scientific Research with Gemini in the Real-World

We present an extension and comprehensive real-world validation of Co-Scientist, a Gemini-based multi-agent system designed to accelerate end-to-end scientific research across hypothesis generation, experimentation, and manuscript generation. Moving beyond in silico hypothesis generation, this specialized configuration transitions Co-Scientist into an execution-grounded research partner advancing closed-loop scientific workflows across materials science, biology, and computer science. In materials science, Co-Scientist interfaced with a semi-automated chemical vapor deposition reactor to design a safe precursor route for MXenes; experimental execution produced a lamellar 2D material sharing key structural similarities with the Ti3C2Tx MXene lattice, although further experiments are needed to confirm the atomic structure. Leveraging Gemini 3 Deep Think for rapid, lab-in-the-loop execution, it also tailored growth recipes to laboratory constraints in minutes, enabling single-attempt growth of monolayer MoS2, MoSe2, and WS2 semiconductors. In biology, Co-Scientist predicted emergent swarming phenotypes of engineered E. coli across inducer (IPTG) gradients from sparse imaging data, quantitatively matching unpublished wet-lab morphological measurements. In computer science, Co-Scientist autonomously discovered an inference-time scaling architecture that outperformed six frontier models on HealthBench (Hard and Professional) while reducing potential clinical harm under blinded physician evaluation. Finally, a double-blind study of end-to-end generated papers with 30 domain experts across 450 reviews demonstrates that Co-Scientist's reliability modules reduce hallucination and plagiarism while improving research safety. Together, these results demonstrate progress toward closed-loop multi-agent scientific AI systems capable of accelerating real-world scientific discovery.

cs.AI

LQR based stabilization of an 1D heat equation with advection and memory effects

We derive a one-dimensional model for heat transfer in a moving fluid incorporating Fourier conduction, an exponentially decaying memory term, and advection under thermally insulated boundary conditions. We numerically construct a bounded state feedback law driving the closed-loop solution to zero exponentially with decay rate at least $\omega>0$ for every initial state, i.e., we solve the $\omega$-stabilization problem. We explicitly describe the eigenvalues of the state operator $A$, a subset of which converges to a finite negative accumulation point that sets the upper bound on the achievable decay rate. Since $A$ lacks compact resolvent, we show that the spectrum is the closure of its eigenvalues, each of finite algebraic multiplicity, and use this to verify stabilizability. For $\omega$ below the accumulation bound, the problem is solvable provided the control operator $B$ satisfies a non-orthogonality condition. To compute gains, we formulate an LQR problem and solve finite-dimensional approximations: for each $n$ we construct $A_n$, $B_n$ approximating $A$, $B$ and solve the associated algebraic Riccati equation for a gain $K_n$. We show that, for all sufficiently large $n$, $K_n$ can be chosen so every eigenvalue of $A_n+B_nK_n$ satisfies $\operatorname{Re}\lambda<-\omega$, and we establish stabilizability of $(A_n+\omega I,B_n)$ uniformly in $n$. Hence, for large $n$, these gains solve the $\omega$-stabilization problem for the original system. We validate the results numerically with an example.

eess.SY

On the Dynamics and State Dependent Multiple Equilibria of a Post-Buckled Ultra-Flexible Inverted Pendulum on a Rotating Hub

Compliant element systems with ultra-large deformation display rich nonlinear dynamics and pose challenging control problems, which, when solved, could enable enhancements in several mechatronics applications, such as soft robotics, MEMS, and biomedical applications. This paper considers post-buckled dynamic analysis of an inverted ultra-flexible pendulum actuated by a rotary hub. We first derive a complete set of equations capturing the dynamics of the system, essential for control development, using the assumed modes method framework, considering ultra-large deformations. Constrained Lagrange formulation is used for the same. In the perfect inverted configuration with zero hub angle, the buckled beam would display two symmetric stable equilibria and one unstable. However, as the hub angle changes on either side, the equilibrium positions shift, and eventually two of them vanish, and we are left with only one stable equilibrium. We use the dynamic equations to characterize this interesting phenomenon, demonstrating the continuous state dependence of multiple equilibria. Furthermore, experimental counterparts of the equilibrium results are meticulously obtained and discussed. Moreover, simulation results capture the nonlinear dynamics of this system. Overall, the work establishes a solid mathematical foundation with a control-amenable model for futuristic ultra-compliant mechatronic systems.

eess.SY

Towards Conversational Medical AI with Eyes, Ears and a Voice

The practice of medicine relies not only upon skillful dialogue but also on the nuanced exchange and interpretation of rich auditory and visual cues between doctors and patients. Building on the low-latency voice and video processing capabilities of Gemini, we introduce AI co-clinician, a first-of-its-kind conversational AI system utilizing continuous streams of audio-visual data from live patient conversations to inform real-time clinical decisions. Its dual-agent architecture balances deep clinical reasoning with the low latency required for natural dialogue. To assess this system, we implemented a video-based interface emulating telemedicine consultations. We crafted 20 standardized outpatient scenarios requiring proactive real-time auditory and visual reasoning and designed "TelePACES" evaluation criteria alongside case-specific rubrics. In a randomized, interface-blinded, crossover simulation study (n = 120 encounters) with 10 internal medicine residents as patient actors, we compared AI co-clinician with primary care physicians (PCPs), GPT-Realtime, and a baseline agent. AI co-clinician approached PCPs in key TelePACES dimensions, including management plans and differential diagnosis, while significantly outperforming GPT-Realtime across all general criteria. While our agent demonstrated parity with PCPs in case-specific triage measures, physicians maintained superior overall performance in case-specific assessments. Although AI co-clinician marks a significant advance in real-time telemedical AI, gaps remain in physical examination and disease-specific reasoning. Our work shows that text-only approaches fail to capture the true challenges of medical consultation and suggests that high-stakes real-time diagnostic AI is most safely advanced in collaborative, triadic models where AI can be a supportive co-clinician for doctors and patients.

cs.AI

An AI Co-Data-Scientist for Prioritizing Candidate Biomarkers from Wearable Sensor Data

Wearable devices generate continuous physiological and behavioral data, but converting these signals into clinically reviewable biomarker hypotheses remains labor-intensive. We introduce CoDaS, an AI co-data-scientist that integrates multi-agent hypothesis generation, deterministic statistical analysis, adversarial validation and literature-grounded interpretation under human oversight. Across three wearable cohorts comprising 9,279 participant-observations, CoDaS prioritized candidate associations for mental-health and metabolic endpoints after internal checks for replication, stability, robustness and leakage. The system identified related circadian-instability signals associated with depression, including sleep-duration variability in DWB ($\rho$ = 0.252, $p$ < 0.001) and sleep-onset variability in GLOBEM ($\rho$ = 0.126, $p$ < 0.001), and derived a wearable cardiovascular-fitness index associated with insulin resistance (steps/resting heart rate; $\rho$ = -0.374, $p$ < 0.001). Adding these features to demographic models produced modest gains ($\Delta R^2$ = 0.040 for depression, 0.021 for insulin resistance). In a 12-clinician review totaling approximately 25 active hours, clinician validity judgments aligned with CoDaS confidence tiers ($\rho$ = 0.67, $p$ = 0.005), whereas added clinical value and confidence to act were rated lower. CoDaS supports traceable, hypothesis-generating prioritization of wearable candidate biomarkers.

cs.AI

Motion planning and approximate controllability of a moving cantilever beam with a tip-mass

Consider a non-uniform Euler-Bernoulli beam with a tip-mass at one end and a cantilever joint at the other end. The cantilever joint is not fixed and can itself be moved along an axis perpendicular to the beam. The position of the cantilever joint is the control input to the beam. The dynamics of the beam is governed by a coupled PDE-ODE model with boundary input. On a natural state-space, there exists a unique state trajectory for this beam model for every initial state and each twice continuously differentiable control input which is compatible with the initial state. In this paper, we study the motion planning problem of transferring the beam model from an initial state to a final state over a prescribed time-interval and then employ the results obtained to establish the approximate controllability of this model. We address these problems by extending and applying the generating functions approach to flatness-based control to the beam model. We prove that the transfer described above is feasible if the initial and final states belong to a certain set, which also contains the steady-states of the beam model. We then establish that this set contains all the eigenfunctions of the beam model, which form a Riesz basis for the state-space, and thereby conclude the approximate controllability of the beam model over all time intervals. We illustrate our theoretical results on motion planning using simulations and experiments.

eess.SY

A prospective clinical feasibility study of a conversational diagnostic AI in an ambulatory primary care clinic

Large language model (LLM)-based AI systems have shown promise for patient-facing diagnostic and management conversations in simulated settings. Translating these systems into clinical practice requires assessment in real-world workflows with rigorous safety oversight. We report a prospective, single-arm feasibility study of an LLM-based conversational AI, the Articulate Medical Intelligence Explorer (AMIE), conducting clinical history taking and presentation of potential diagnoses for patients to discuss with their provider at urgent care appointments at a leading academic medical center. 100 adult patients completed an AMIE text-chat interaction up to 5 days before their appointment. We sought to assess the conversational safety and quality, patient and clinician experience, and clinical reasoning capabilities compared to primary care providers (PCPs). Human safety supervisors monitored all patient-AMIE interactions in real time and did not need to intervene to stop any consultations based on pre-defined criteria. Patients reported high satisfaction and their attitudes towards AI improved after interacting with AMIE (p < 0.001). PCPs found AMIE's output useful with a positive impact on preparedness. AMIE's differential diagnosis (DDx) included the final diagnosis, per chart review 8 weeks post-encounter, in 90% of cases, with 75% top-3 accuracy. Blinded assessment of AMIE and PCP DDx and management (Mx) plans suggested similar overall DDx and Mx plan quality, without significant differences for DDx (p = 0.6) and appropriateness and safety of Mx (p = 0.1 and 1.0, respectively). PCPs outperformed AMIE in the practicality (p = 0.003) and cost effectiveness (p = 0.004) of Mx. While further research is needed, this study demonstrates the initial feasibility, safety, and user acceptance of conversational AI in a real-world setting, representing crucial steps towards clinical translation.

cs.HC

Lie Group Variational Integrator for the Geometrically Exact Rod with Circular Cross-Section Incorporating Cross-Sectional Deformation

In this paper, we derive the continuous space-time equations of motion of a three-dimensional geometrically exact rod, or the Cosserat rod, incorporating planar cross-sectional deformation. We then adopt the Lie group variational integrator technique to obtain a discrete model of the rod incorporating both rotational motion and cross-sectional deformation as well. The resulting discrete model possesses several desirable features: it ensures volume conservation of the discrete elements by considering cross-sectional deformation through a local dilatation factor, it demonstrates the beneficial properties associated with the variational integrator technique, such as the preservation of the rotational configuration, and energy conservation with a bounded error. An exhaustive set of numerical results under various initial conditions of the rod demonstrates the efficacy of the model in replicating the physics of the system.

eess.SY

Complementary Human-AI Clinical Reasoning in Ophthalmology

Vision impairment and blindness are a major global health challenge where gaps in the ophthalmology workforce limit access to specialist care. We evaluate AMIE, a medically fine-tuned conversational system based on Gemini with integrated web search and self-critique reasoning, using real-world clinical vignettes that reflect scenarios a general ophthalmologist would be expected to manage. We conducted two complementary evaluations: (1) a human-AI interactive diagnostic reasoning study in which ophthalmologists recorded initial differentials and plans, then reviewed AMIE's structured output and revised their answers; and (2) a masked preference and quality study comparing AMIE's narrative outputs with case author reference answers using a predefined rubric. AMIE showed standalone diagnostic performance comparable to clinicians at baseline. Crucially, after reviewing AMIE's responses, ophthalmologists tended to rank the correct diagnosis higher, reached greater agreement with one another, and enriched their investigation and management plans. Improvements were observed even when AMIE's top choice differed from or underperformed the clinician baseline, consistent with a complementary effect in which structured reasoning support helps clinicians re-rank rather than simply accept the model output. Preferences varied by clinical grade, suggesting opportunities to personalise responses by experience. Without ophthalmology-specific fine-tuning, AMIE matched clinician baseline and augmented clinical reasoning at the point of need, motivating multi-axis evaluation, domain adaptation, and prospective multimodal studies in real-world settings.

cs.HC

A global log for medical AI

Modern computer systems rely on syslog, a universal protocol that records critical events across heterogeneous infrastructure. Medicine's rapidly growing AI stack has no equivalent. As medicine deploys AI tools at scale, there is no standard way to record how, when, by whom, and for whom these models are used. Without such records, it is difficult to measure real-world performance and outcomes, detect adverse events, or identify bias and dataset drift. Here we introduce MedLog, a protocol for event-level logging of medical AI. Each time an AI model interacts with a human, another algorithm, or an automated workflow, MedLog creates a record. Each record contains nine core fields: header, model, user, target, inputs, artifacts, outputs, outcomes, and feedback. We apply MedLog across four deployments in the US, Switzerland, and Vietnam: ICU deterioration prediction, tetanus progression monitoring from wearable signals, automated sepsis quality reporting, and patient attendance prediction. MedLog records capture model behavior, workflow interactions, and downstream outcomes, including AI performance degradation during severe weather events in patient attendance prediction and increased laboratory testing after ICU deterioration alerts. MedLog limits the data footprint through risk-based sampling, lifecycle-aware retention policies, and write-behind caching, enabling deployment in low-resource settings. It also supports detailed traces for complex, agentic, or multi-stage workflows, creating a foundation for continuous monitoring, auditing, and improvement of medical AI.

cs.AI

On the convergence of a numerical scheme for a boundary controlled 1D linear parabolic PIDE

We consider an 1D partial integro-differential equation (PIDE) comprising of an 1D parabolic partial differential equation (PDE) and a nonlocal integral term. The control input is applied on one of the boundaries of the PIDE. Partitioning the spatial interval into $n+1$ subintervals and approximating the spatial derivatives and the integral term with their finite-difference approximations and Riemann sum, respectively, we derive an $n^{\rm th}$-order semi-discrete approximation of the PIDE. The $n^{\rm th}$-order semi-discrete approximation of the PIDE is an $n^{\rm th}$-order ordinary differential equation (ODE) in time. We establish some of its salient properties and using them prove that the solution of the semi-discrete approximation converges to the solution of the PIDE as $n\to\infty$. We illustrate our convergence results using numerical examples. The results in this work are useful for establishing the null controllability of the PIDE considered.

eess.SY

Towards physician-centered oversight of conversational diagnostic AI

Recent work has demonstrated the promise of conversational AI systems for diagnostic dialogue. However, real-world assurance of patient safety means that providing individual diagnoses and treatment plans is considered a regulated activity by licensed professionals. Furthermore, physicians commonly oversee other team members in such activities, including nurse practitioners (NPs) or physician assistants/associates (PAs). Inspired by this, we propose a framework for effective, asynchronous oversight of the Articulate Medical Intelligence Explorer (AMIE) AI system. We propose guardrailed-AMIE (g-AMIE), a multi-agent system that performs history taking within guardrails, abstaining from individualized medical advice. Afterwards, g-AMIE conveys assessments to an overseeing primary care physician (PCP) in a clinician cockpit interface. The PCP provides oversight and retains accountability of the clinical decision. This effectively decouples oversight from intake and can thus happen asynchronously. In a randomized, blinded virtual Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) of text consultations with asynchronous oversight, we compared g-AMIE to NPs/PAs or a group of PCPs under the same guardrails. Across 60 scenarios, g-AMIE outperformed both groups in performing high-quality intake, summarizing cases, and proposing diagnoses and management plans for the overseeing PCP to review. This resulted in higher quality composite decisions. PCP oversight of g-AMIE was also more time-efficient than standalone PCP consultations in prior work. While our study does not replicate existing clinical practices and likely underestimates clinicians' capabilities, our results demonstrate the promise of asynchronous oversight as a feasible paradigm for diagnostic AI systems to operate under expert human oversight for enhancing real-world care.

cs.AI

Design, fabrication and control of a cable-driven parallel robot

In cable driven parallel robots (CDPRs), the payload is suspended using a network of cables whose length can be controlled to maneuver the payload within the workspace. Compared to rigid link robots, CDPRs provide better maneuverability due to the flexibility of the cables and consume lesser power due to the high strength-to-weight ratio of the cables. However, amongst other things, the flexibility of the cables and the fact that they can only pull (and not push) render the dynamics of CDPRs complex. Hence advanced modelling paradigms and control algorithms must be developed to fully utilize the potential of CDPRs. Furthermore, given the complex dynamics of CDPRs, the models and control algorithms proposed for them must be validated on experimental setups to ascertain their efficacy in practice. We have recently developed an elaborate experimental setup for a CDPR with three cables and validated elementary open-loop motion planning algorithms on it. In this paper, we describe several aspects of the design and fabrication of our setup, including component selection and assembly, and present our experimental results. Our setup can reproduce complex phenomenon such as the transverse vibration of the cables seen in large CDPRs and will in the future be used to model and control such phenomenon and also to validate more sophisticated motion planning algorithms.

cs.RO

Advancing Conversational Diagnostic AI with Multimodal Reasoning

Large Language Models (LLMs) have demonstrated great potential for conducting diagnostic conversations but evaluation has been largely limited to language-only interactions, deviating from the real-world requirements of remote care delivery. Instant messaging platforms permit clinicians and patients to upload and discuss multimodal medical artifacts seamlessly in medical consultation, but the ability of LLMs to reason over such data while preserving other attributes of competent diagnostic conversation remains unknown. Here we advance the conversational diagnosis and management performance of the Articulate Medical Intelligence Explorer (AMIE) through a new capability to gather and interpret multimodal data, and reason about this precisely during consultations. Leveraging Gemini 2.0 Flash, our system implements a state-aware dialogue framework, where conversation flow is dynamically controlled by intermediate model outputs reflecting patient states and evolving diagnoses. Follow-up questions are strategically directed by uncertainty in such patient states, leading to a more structured multimodal history-taking process that emulates experienced clinicians. We compared AMIE to primary care physicians (PCPs) in a randomized, blinded, OSCE-style study of chat-based consultations with patient actors. We constructed 105 evaluation scenarios using artifacts like smartphone skin photos, ECGs, and PDFs of clinical documents across diverse conditions and demographics. Our rubric assessed multimodal capabilities and other clinically meaningful axes like history-taking, diagnostic accuracy, management reasoning, communication, and empathy. Specialist evaluation showed AMIE to be superior to PCPs on 7/9 multimodal and 29/32 non-multimodal axes (including diagnostic accuracy). The results show clear progress in multimodal conversational diagnostic AI, but real-world translation needs further research.

cs.CL

LQR based $ω-$stabilization of a heat equation with memory

We consider a heat equation with memory which is defined on a bounded domain in $\mathbb{R}^d$ and is driven by $m$ control inputs acting on the interior of the domain. Our objective is to numerically construct a state feedback controller for this equation such that, for each initial state, the solution of the closed-loop system decays exponentially to zero with a decay rate larger than a given rate $ω>0$, i.e. we want to solve the $ω$-stabilization problem for the heat equation with memory. We first show that the spectrum of the state operator $A$ associated with this equation has an accumulation point at $-ω_0<0$. Given a $ω\in(0,ω_0)$, we show that the $ω$-stabilization problem for the heat equation with memory is solvable provided certain verifiable conditions on the control operator $B$ associated with this equation hold. We then consider an appropriate LQR problem for the heat equation with memory. For each $n\in\mathbb{N}$, we construct finite-dimensional approximations $A_n$ and $B_n$ of $A$ and $B$, respectively, and then show that by solving a corresponding approximation of the LQR problem a feedback operator $K_n$ can be computed such that all the eigenvalues of $A_n + B_n K_n$ have real part less than $-ω$. We prove that $K_n$ for $n$ sufficiently large solves the $ω$-stabilization problem for the heat equation with memory. A crucial and nontrivial step in our proof is establishing the uniform (in $n$) stabilizability of the pair $(A_n+ωI, B_n)$. We have validated our theoretical results numerically using two examples: an 1D example on a unit interval and a 2D example on a square domain.

eess.SY

Towards Conversational AI for Disease Management

While large language models (LLMs) have shown promise in diagnostic dialogue, their capabilities for effective management reasoning - including disease progression, therapeutic response, and safe medication prescription - remain under-explored. We advance the previously demonstrated diagnostic capabilities of the Articulate Medical Intelligence Explorer (AMIE) through a new LLM-based agentic system optimised for clinical management and dialogue, incorporating reasoning over the evolution of disease and multiple patient visit encounters, response to therapy, and professional competence in medication prescription. To ground its reasoning in authoritative clinical knowledge, AMIE leverages Gemini's long-context capabilities, combining in-context retrieval with structured reasoning to align its output with relevant and up-to-date clinical practice guidelines and drug formularies. In a randomized, blinded virtual Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) study, AMIE was compared to 21 primary care physicians (PCPs) across 100 multi-visit case scenarios designed to reflect UK NICE Guidance and BMJ Best Practice guidelines. AMIE was non-inferior to PCPs in management reasoning as assessed by specialist physicians and scored better in both preciseness of treatments and investigations, and in its alignment with and grounding of management plans in clinical guidelines. To benchmark medication reasoning, we developed RxQA, a multiple-choice question benchmark derived from two national drug formularies (US, UK) and validated by board-certified pharmacists. While AMIE and PCPs both benefited from the ability to access external drug information, AMIE outperformed PCPs on higher difficulty questions. While further research would be needed before real-world translation, AMIE's strong performance across evaluations marks a significant step towards conversational AI as a tool in disease management.

cs.CL

Accelerating scientific discovery with Co-Scientist

Scientific discovery is driven by scientists generating novel hypotheses for complex problems that undergo rigorous experimental validation. To augment this process, we introduce Co-Scientist, a multi-agent AI system built on Gemini for structured scientific thinking and hypothesis generation. Co-Scientist aims to help scientists discover new original knowledge. Conditioned on their research objectives and prior scientific evidence, it formulates demonstrably novel research hypotheses for experimental verification. The system's design involves agents continuously generating, critiquing and refining hypotheses accelerated by scaling test-time compute. Key contributions include: (1) a multi-agent architecture with an asynchronous task execution framework for flexible compute scaling; (2) a tournament evolution process for self-improving hypotheses generation. Automated evaluations show continued benefits of test-time compute scaling, improving hypothesis quality over time. While general purpose, we focus the validation in three biomedical applications: drug repurposing, novel target discovery, and explaining mechanisms of anti-microbial resistance. Specifically, Co-Scientist helped identify new drug repurposing candidates and synergistic combination therapies for acute myeloid leukemia, which were validated through in vitro experiments. These real-world validations demonstrate the potential of Co-Scientist to accelerate scientific discovery and usher in an era of AI empowered scientists.

cs.AI

Exploring Large Language Models for Specialist-level Oncology Care

Large language models (LLMs) have shown remarkable progress in encoding clinical knowledge and responding to complex medical queries with appropriate clinical reasoning. However, their applicability in subspecialist or complex medical settings remains underexplored. In this work, we probe the performance of AMIE, a research conversational diagnostic AI system, in the subspecialist domain of breast oncology care without specific fine-tuning to this challenging domain. To perform this evaluation, we curated a set of 50 synthetic breast cancer vignettes representing a range of treatment-naive and treatment-refractory cases and mirroring the key information available to a multidisciplinary tumor board for decision-making (openly released with this work). We developed a detailed clinical rubric for evaluating management plans, including axes such as the quality of case summarization, safety of the proposed care plan, and recommendations for chemotherapy, radiotherapy, surgery and hormonal therapy. To improve performance, we enhanced AMIE with the inference-time ability to perform web search retrieval to gather relevant and up-to-date clinical knowledge and refine its responses with a multi-stage self-critique pipeline. We compare response quality of AMIE with internal medicine trainees, oncology fellows, and general oncology attendings under both automated and specialist clinician evaluations. In our evaluations, AMIE outperformed trainees and fellows demonstrating the potential of the system in this challenging and important domain. We further demonstrate through qualitative examples, how systems such as AMIE might facilitate conversational interactions to assist clinicians in their decision making. However, AMIE's performance was overall inferior to attending oncologists suggesting that further research is needed prior to consideration of prospective uses.

cs.HC