Arun D. Mahindrakar

About

Arun D. Mahindrakar is a prominent researcher in nonlinear control systems, with deep expertise in underactuated mechanical systems, nonholonomic robotics, and passivity-based control. His work sits at the intersection of control theory and robotics, addressing some of the most mathematically challenging problems in stabilization and motion planning. Mahindrakar's most influential contribution — his 2009 paper on sliding mode control for underactuated mechanical systems (121 citations) — tackled systems that resist conventional linear control approaches and violate Brockett's necessary condition, a notoriously difficult theoretical hurdle. Complementing this, his constructive advances in Interconnection and Damping Assignment Passivity-Based Control (IDA-PBC), exemplified through the Acrobot system (58 citations), have enriched the toolkit available for stabilizing complex mechanical systems with Hamiltonian structures. His robotics contributions are equally compelling, spanning formation control of mobile inverted pendulum robots (62 citations), spherical robot geometric controllability (49 citations), and hardware-efficient Voronoi-diagram-based navigation (38 citations). These works bridge rigorous mathematical theory and practical implementation, making his research valuable to both theoreticians and engineers. With over 450 cumulative citations, Mahindrakar has established himself as a significant voice in modern control engineering, particularly for researchers grappling with the complexities of underactuated and nonholonomic robotic systems.

Research Focus

Key Achievements

Top Papers

1. 1
   Control of a Class of Underactuated Mechanical Systems Using Sliding Modes

   121 citations · 2009
2. 2
   Formation Control and Trajectory Tracking of Nonholonomic Mobile Robots

   62 citations · 2017
3. 3
   Further constructive results on interconnection and damping assignment control of mechanical systems: the Acrobot example

   58 citations · 2006
4. 4
   Switched control of a nonholonomic mobile robot

   53 citations · 2008
5. 5
   Geometric Controllability and Stabilization of Spherical Robot Dynamics

   49 citations · 2015
6. 6
   Mobile Robot Navigation Through a Hardware-Efficient Implementation for Control-Law-Based Construction of Generalized Voronoi Diagram

   38 citations · 2010
7. 7
   Position Stabilization and Waypoint Tracking Control of Mobile Inverted Pendulum Robot

   25 citations · 2014
8. 8
   Further constructive results on interconnection and damping assignment control of mechanical systems: the acrobot example

   21 citations · 2006
9. 9
   Extending interconnection and damping assignment passivity-based control (IDA-PBC) to underactuated mechanical systems with nonholonomic Pfaffian constraints: The mobile inverted pendulum robot

   15 citations · 2009
10. 10
    Configuration Constrained Stabilization of a Wheeled Mobile Robot— Theory and Experiment

    10 citations · 2012

Key Collaborators

Contact & Links