Sumukha Udupa

University of Michigan–Ann Arbor, Maharaj Vijayaram Gajapathi Raj College of Engineering, University of Florida

Papers

Total Citations

H-Index

About

Sumukha Udupa’s research lies at the intersection of assistive robotics, autonomous systems, and cybersecurity, with a focus on making intelligent machines both more responsive to human needs and more resilient against threats. His most cited work, a comprehensive review on shared autonomy in assistive mobile robots (33 citations), synthesizes decades of control paradigms to show how robots can dynamically balance user intent with autonomous decision-making—a critical challenge for wheelchair-mounted arms, rehabilitation aids, and service robots. This review has become a foundational reference for researchers designing adaptive human-robot interfaces. Udupa also contributed to underwater robotics with his work on an autonomous surveillance robot (5 citations), addressing the practical challenges of search and recovery in murky, unstructured environments. More recently, he has ventured into security-aware control, developing opacity-enforcing perception and control strategies (2 citations) that prevent eavesdropping attacks on robotic systems. This work bridges the gap between control theory and cybersecurity, ensuring that autonomous agents can operate safely even when adversaries monitor their sensor data. Udupa’s career demonstrates a rare ability to move from foundational reviews to applied, safety-critical systems—a trajectory that positions him as a rising voice in trustworthy autonomy.