Ongoing Projects
1. Project Name: Design & Development of AI based Human interactive Active Side Haptic Control Stick (ASCS) for A Fly-By-Wire Supersonic Aircraft
Period: 2023 – 2024
Role: Principal Investigator (PI)
Funding Agency: Research Consultancy Grant SR/CSIC/MHRD/22-0038 for Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), Govt. of India.
2. Project Name: Human-Robot Collaboration with Multi-Robot System for Smart Manufacturing
Period: 2023 – 2024
Role: Principal Investigator (PI)
Funding Agency: Brunel University London (UK) –IISc Bangalore (India) International Collaboration Programme 2023 and Brunel Academy Fellowship
3. Project Name: Usability Assessment and Review of Design and Manufacturing of Automated Utility Pole Inspection Robot and its Safety features
Period: 2022 – 2023
Role: Co- Principal Investigator (PI)
Funding Agency: Research Consultancy Grant SR/CSIC/22-0191 for British Telecom UK (through Wipro Ltd. India)
4. Project Name: A Low-Cost Bio-inspired Autonomous Multi-modal Mobile Collaborative Robotic System for Inspection & Surveillance Work in Constrained Conditions.
Period: 2021 – 2024
Role: Co- Principal Investigator
Funding Agency: Core Research Grant CRG/2021, Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India. It is one of the prestigious career grants in India & provides core research support to active researchers to undertake research and development in frontier areas of Science and Engineering.
5. Project Name: Set up a state-of-the-art Robotics Innovations (research) Lab and Robot Makers (teaching) Lab at CPDM, IISc Bangalore.
It supports CPDMs new programme in Advanced manufacturing (Robotics, Autonomous Systems & Controls) to expand on existing research, teaching and manufacturing activities in the Industry 4.0. Establish research record and teaching curriculum in the following areas: Autonomous mobile system controls (including drones and land vehicles), Human collaborative robotics, Robotic perception, Cognition & navigation, Real time AI, Continuous Machine learning, Long-term autonomy, Robotic product development.
Period: 2019 – 2021
Role: Principal Investigator (PI)
Funding Agency: Startup Grant SR/MHRD/19-0052, Ministry of Education and Department of Heavy Industries, Govt. of India.
Completed Projects
1. Project Name: Monocopters (MONOCO)
Monocopters are a class of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) where the entire air-frame is continuously rotated to provide lift during flight. This nature inspired mode of flight can be adapted for controlled powered flight with desired maneuverability and degrees of freedom. Goal is to design and develop a compact monocopter that can be easily transported and deployed remotely to assist a range of civilian and defense applications. It is desired that this platform (THOR) will incorporate transformative capabilities to allow it to seamlessly transit between fixed-wing (speed & range) and monocopter (maneuverability & hover) flight modes during mid-flight and feature intelligent ruggedization to support maritime-based operations. Period: 02/2018 – 09/2019
Role: Senior Research Fellow. Design and develop algorithms for nonlinear optimal control system and aerial path-planning of transformable UAVs. Active participation in planning & execution of field trials.
Funding Agency: Jointly supported by the Future Systems and Technology Directorate (FSTD), under the Ministry of Defense, Government of Singapore, Singapore-MIT Design Center (IDC) and Temasek Laboratories (TL) for Systems Technology for Autonomous Reconnaissance and Surveillance (STARS) project.
2. Project Name: Systems Technology for Autonomous Reconnaissance & Surveillance (STARS)
Develop intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) robotic platforms for urban settings at greatly reduced scales and with transformative and swarming capabilities. Prototype a spherical robotic platform that can emulate the locomotion, adaptive, learning and co-operative capabilities of small animals and insects, maintaining a similar form factor and size, while still being energy efficient, enabling continuous operation for several days or months.
Period: 01/2016 – 01/2018
Role: Postdoc Research Fellow
Funding Agency: Jointly supported by the Future Systems and Technology Directorate (FSTD), under the Ministry of Defense, Government of Singapore, Singapore-MIT Design Center (IDC) and Temasek Laboratories (TL) for Systems Technology for Autonomous Reconnaissance and Surveillance (STARS) project.
3. Project Name: Modeling and Control of a Bio-inspired Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (STARFISH)
Develop the component technologies for an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) and demonstrate a multi-AUV team mission in the field. The project involved exploration in the following areas: online system identification for self-learning control, improved autonomy and obstacle avoidance, use of vectored thrusters for combined propulsion and control, biomimetic technologies for efficient and maneuverable AUVs, energy efficient mission planning, cooperative positioning in teams of AUVs, target tagging for re-acquisition and emergent behavior in multiple teams of AUVs.
Period: 01/2011 – 02/2015
Role: PhD Scholar. Develop and implement algorithms for dynamics and control of bioinspired AUV propulsion. Active participation in execution of engineering solutions, planning & execution of field trials.
Funding Agency: Jointly supported by NATO Undersea Research Center (NURC) and the Defense Science and Technology Agency (DSTA), under the Ministry of Defense (Singapore), Government of Singapore MINDEF-DSTA for Underwater Vehicle Technology Project STARFISH.