Pooya Sekhavat

University of Manitoba, Naval Postgraduate School

Papers

Total Citations

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About

Pooya Sekhavat is a robotics and control theorist whose work bridges the gap between rigorous mathematical stability analysis and practical autonomous manipulation. His primary research areas include nonlinear control theory, Lyapunov-based feedback design, and collision-free trajectory planning for multi-robot systems. Sekhavat’s most influential contribution is his work on continuous Lyapunov feedback control (2005, 18 citations), which provides a systematic framework for designing smooth, stabilizing controllers for complex nonlinear systems. This foundational work has been cited by researchers developing robust control strategies for robotic and aerospace applications. He also made significant advances in multi-robot motion planning with his 2009 paper on smooth proximity computation (11 citations), which introduced an elegant method using Karush-Kuhn-Tucker (KKT) conditions to compute distances between line-swept sphere bounding volumes, enabling optimal, collision-free control of multiple manipulators in cluttered environments. Earlier, he explored contact task stability through Lyapunov exponents (2003, 2 citations), offering a novel approach to analyze the stability of robotic systems during physical interaction with bouncing dynamics. Sekhavat’s work is characterized by its mathematical depth and direct applicability to real-world robotic systems, making him a respected figure in the control and robotics communities.