Max Robotics — Global Service Robot Directory + US Certification

About

Prasanna Velagapudi is a robotics and human-robot interaction researcher whose work has fundamentally advanced our understanding of how humans effectively supervise and collaborate with multi-robot systems. His research centers on scalable human-robot teaming, autonomous control allocation, and the cognitive demands placed on operators managing large robotic teams in complex environments such as urban search and rescue (USAR). Velagapudi's most influential contribution, "How search and its subtasks scale in N robots" (2009, 61 citations), rigorously examined how operator performance changes as team size grows from 4 to 12 robots, laying empirical groundwork for designing scalable supervisory control systems. His subsequent work explored optimal autonomy modes for multirobot search (2010, 42 citations) and investigated how human team organization interacts with automation to maximize performance (2010, 34 citations), collectively shaping a broader theory of human control over robot teams. Beyond operational robotics, Velagapudi demonstrated creative range through his collaboration with Carnegie Mellon's School of Drama to stage live robot theater featuring HERB (2014, 23 citations), showcasing robotics in entirely novel social contexts. His research on video modalities and asynchronous control further refined best practices for remote robot operation. Across his career, Velagapudi's work has provided both theoretical frameworks and practical insights essential for deploying multi-robot systems in real-world, high-stakes scenarios.