Caleb M. Powell
Ph.D. Student, Building Construction · Auburn University
Construction Automation, Robotics & Visualization Lab
I am a Ph.D. student at Auburn University's McWhorter School of Building Science and a Graduate Research Assistant in the Construction Automation, Robotics & Visualization Laboratory (CARV Lab). I research how to make robotics more affordable, reliable, and safe for construction. My dissertation focuses on the reliability and safety of autonomous mobile robots in dynamic construction environments.
Projects
Tunnel Inspection Robot
A skid-steer platform that drives through utility tunnels, mapping them and streaming inspection footage back to the field team — keeping workers out of enclosed spaces that would otherwise be dangerous or impossible to inspect.
ReflectID
A reflectivity-based method for tracking construction vests when visual detection fails on identical PPE — light enough for real-time use on low-cost construction robots.
LiDARSecurity
A system that monitors inactive construction sites after hours and triggers automated deterrence, running fully offline on a low-cost, portable 2D LiDAR unit — guarding against theft and vandalism, which are common and underreported across the industry.
PiSentry
A low-cost network security camera built on a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W and camera module — streaming live footage over the network to a web platform and archiving it to any networked storage.
COTVIS
A wearable Core Temperature Visualization System (COTVIS) that monitors biometrics and visibly alerts nearby crew when a wearer is experiencing heat stress — turning a hidden risk into peer awareness on site.
RFID Inventory Localization
An RFID localization algorithm deployed on a Boston Dynamics Spot to pinpoint RFID-tagged materials across a construction laydown yard for inventory tracking and management.
PixelFrame
A monochrome OLED display driven by an ESP32, letting users submit images to a web server that encodes them into a binary bitmap for the screen to render.
Defend the Mall
A Game Boy Advance SP game programmed in C using the Tonclib library — where the player defends the Wabash College campus from a squirrel invasion.
Brinicle Growth Tank
A water-cooled fish tank fed by a steady brine stream, physically simulating oceanic brinicle formation to validate an earlier point-model fluid simulation written in Python.
Arduino Oscilloscope
A low-voltage oscilloscope built from an Arduino Uno and a series of operational amplifiers, programmed in C++.
PiReminder
A Raspberry Pi and LCD character display that puts desk reminders on-screen, queued from a Discord bot and cleared with a single button press.
Sound Localization
A setup that triangulates a sound source's position in open space using the phase difference between two microphones placed a known distance apart.
Education
Ph.D. in Building Construction
Auburn University
Exp. May 2028
M.S. in Computer Science and Software Engineering
Auburn University | Specialization: Data Engineering
May 2024
B.A. in Physics and Computational Mathematics
Wabash College | Minor: Computer Science
May 2022
Experience
Graduate Research Assistant | Auburn University CARV Lab
System design, development, and implementation for robotic and autonomous systems that address affordability, reliability, and safety challenges in construction.
May 2023 – Present
Innovation Intern | Brasfield & Gorrie
Designed, programmed, and assembled an autonomous skid-steer robot for tunnel inspection. Helped develop an RFID system to improve warehouse inventory management.
May 2026 – Aug 2026
ECET Laboratory Operations Specialist | Purdue University
Managed repair and procurement of equipment for Electrical Engineering Technology (ECET) Laboratories. Programmed and maintained robotic systems for Purdue University's Smart Manufacturing Laboratories.
Jun 2024 – May 2025
Graduate Research Assistant | Auburn University RFID Lab
Implemented an autonomous inventory tracking system on a Boston Dynamics Spot that fuses LiDAR, RFID, and RGB-D cameras to map construction sites and pinpoint tool locations.
May 2023 – May 2024
Publications
Powell, C. M., Wetzel, E. M., & Sands, K. (2026). Automated Construction Site Intrusion Deterrence Through 2D LiDAR and Passive Infrared Sensing. In W. Collins, A. Perrenoud, & J. Posillico (Eds.), Proceedings of Associated Schools of Construction 62nd Annual International Conference (Vol. 7, pp. 733–742). EasyChair. https://doi.org/10.29007/thlx
Wetzel, E. M., Umer, M., Powell, C. M., & Sands, K. (2026). COTVIS: A Novel Core Temperature Visualization Device for Enhanced Peer Awareness. In W. Collins, A. Perrenoud, & J. Posillico (Eds.), Proceedings of Associated Schools of Construction 62nd Annual International Conference (Vol. 7, pp. 1262–1271). EasyChair. https://doi.org/10.29007/13zw
Umer, M., Wetzel, E. M., & Powell, C. M. (2026). Advancing toward Automated Material Counting and Localization Using RFID, a Boston Dynamics Spot Robot, and a Bayesian Filter Algorithm. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 152(1), 04025213. https://doi.org/10.1061/JCEMD4.COENG-17199
Ma, J., Wang, X., Powell, C. M., Zhang, J., Mao, S., Periaswamy, S. C., & Patton, J. (2024). Digital Twin of Retail Stores with RFID Tags Localization. 2024 9th International Conference on Smart and Sustainable Technologies (SpliTech), 01–06. https://doi.org/10.23919/SpliTech61897.2024.10612514