Welcome to the Controls and Automation group in the Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT Kanpur. The stream offers M.Tech. and PhD programs.
On the control systems front, the research interests of the group include applications of control theories such as robust control, linear and non linear control, intelligent techniques (fuzzy logic and neural networks), adaptive control, sliding mode control, etc, to modern areas such as robotics, mobile robots, consensus and cooperation among multiple agents, quadrotors, and all-wheel independent drive electric vehicles.
On the instrumentation front, the research interests of the group include smart and intelligent sensors, virtual instrumentation, intelligent systems and modeling, soft-computing, data mining, machine learning, brain-computer interface, computer vision, intelligent informatics, intelligent condition-based monitoring, computational intelligence, business intelligence, and related applications in various domains.
The faculty members have multiple projects funded by government and private agencies, and are working on them with active support from students.
We use system theoretic and experimental approaches to address the control issues in engineering systems, primarily in the biomolecular systems, robotics, and smart grids.
At present, we are focusing on Models, Dynamics, and Control of Biomolecular Systems, Design, Develop, and Control of Robots in Healthcare, Stability Improvement in Power Systems using Controllers, Developing Control Theory for Robustness Design and Faster Adaptions, Applications of AI, ML, and other Data Driven Approaches for Circuit Design, Estimation and Control of Electrical Vehicles and Aircraft, and Developing Space Probiotics for Gaganyaan Mission. In summary, we are a multidisciplinary research group focusing on developing control engineering frameworks for systems of real world applications that serve technology and benefit mankind.
Faculty
Publications
- Krishan K Gola, Abhilash Patel, Shaunak Sen, Tradeoffs in the Design of RNA Thermometers, Physical Biology, 2024, Vol. 21(4), 044001, doi: 10.1088/1478-3975/ad5d6b
- Neeta Yadav, Abhilash Patel, Bidyadhar Subuddhi, Time Delayed Control for Maneuvering of Magnetic Micro/Nanorobots in Drug Delivering Applications, Accepted for Indian Control Conference 2024, IISER Bhopal
- Shikha S Chauhan, Abhilash Patel, Lyapunov characterization of Fold Change Detection and Adaptation in Biomolecular Systems, IFAC Advances in Control and Optimization of Dynamical Systems 2024, SNU Delhi
- Abhilash Patel, Guy-Bart Stan, Exploiting Resource Constraints for Controlling Biomolecular Circuits, IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, 2023, Singapore, Singapore
- Bhabani S Dey, Anirudh Nath, Abhilash Patel, Indra Narayan Kar, A Contraction Theory Approach to Observer-based Controller Design for Glucose Regulation in Type 1 Diabetes, Indian Control Conference, 2022, IIT Hyderabad, Hyderabad
- Abhilash Patel, Shaunak Sen, Indra N Kar, A Contraction Theory-based Framework for the Design of Robustness to Global Perturbations in Biomolecular Circuits, IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, 2022, Cancun, Mexico
- Abhilash Patel, Sandip Ghosh, An Unknown Input Observer Based Framework for Wide-Area Control of Inter-Area Oscillations with Local Measurement, Advances in Control and Optimization of Dynamical Systems, 2022, NIT Silchar and IIT Guwahati, India
- Abhilash Patel, Spandan Roy, Simone Baldi, Wide-Area Damping Control Resilience towards Cyber-Attacks: A Dynamic Loop Approach, IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid, 2021, Vol. 12(4), P. 3438 - 3447, doi: 10.1109/tsg.2021.3055222
- Praodsh R Sahoo, Abhilash Patel, Sandip Ghosh, Asim K Naskar, Selection of Overlapping Interaction Through Approximate Decentralized Fixed Mode Measure, 2021, Vol. 52(9), P. 1882-1893, International Journal of System and Science, doi: 10.1080/00207721.2021.1872115
- Abhilash Patel, Richard M Murray, Shaunak Sen, Assessment of Robustness to Temperature in a Negative Feedback Loop and a Feedforward Loop, ACS Synthetic Biology, 2020, Vol. 9(7), P. 1581-1590, doi: 10.1021/acssynbio.0c00023
- Abhilash Patel, Shaunak Sen, Experimental Evidence for Constraints in Amplitude-Timescale Co-variation of a Biomolecular Pulse Generating Circuit Design, IET Systems Biology, 2020, Vol. 15(4), P. 217-222, doi:10.1049/iet-syb.2019.0123
- Abhilash Patel, Shaunak Sen, Computational Framework for Design of a Pulse Generating Biomolecular Circuit, Advances in Control and Optimization of Dynamical Systems, 2020, IIT Madras, India
- Abhilash Patel, Soumyadeep Banerjee, Pranjal Gupta, Nishant K Sharma, Shaunak Sen, Characterization of Gene Expression Regulated by Combined Action of a Chemical Inducer and Temperature, Synthetic Biology: Engineering, Evolution and Design, 2019, New York, USA
- Spandan Roy, Abhilash Patel, Indra N Kar, Analysis and Design of a Wide-Area Damping Controller for Inter-Area Oscillation with Artificially Induced Time Delay, IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid, 2019, Vol. 10(5), P. 3654 - 3663, doi:10.1109/tsg.2018.2833498
- Abhilash Patel, Shaunak Sen, Non-normality Can Facilitate Pulsing in Biomolecular Circuits, IET Systems Biology, 2018, Vol. 12(5), P. 199-204, doi: 10.1049/iet-syb.2018.0008
- Abhilash Patel, Sandip Ghosh, Komla A. Folly, Inter-Area Oscillations Damping with Non-Synchronized Wide-Area Power System Stabilizer, IET Generation, Transmission & Distribution, 2018, Vol. 12 (12), P. 3070-3078, doi: 10.1049/iet-gtd.2017.0017
- Sandip Ghosh, Komla A. Folly, Abhilash Patel, Synchronized Versus NonSynchronized Feedback for Speed-Based Wide-Area PSS: Effect of Time-Delay, IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid, 2018, Vol. 9(5), P. 3976 - 3985, doi:10.1109/tsg.2016.2645453
- Abhilash Patel, Shaunak Sen, On Amplitude-Timescale Constraints in a Pulse Generating Biomolecular Circuit, Indian Control Conference, 2018, IIT Kanpur, India
- Abhilash Patel, Mithu Sarkar, Sandip Ghosh, Bidyadhar Subudhi, H infinity Design of Wide-Area Controller for Damping Inter-Area Oscillations in Power System, 1st International Conf. Emerging Trends in Engineering, Technology and Science, 2017, Delhi, India
- Abhilash Patel, Sudhansu Samal, Sandip Ghosh, Bidyadhar Subudhi, A Study on Wide Area Controller Design for Inter-Area Oscillation Damping, 2nd International Instrumentation, Energy and Communication, 2016, Kolkata, India
Facilities
- Biological Safety Cabinet Class II (1300 Series A2 Class II BSC, Thermofisher)
- Benchtop Refrigerated Centrifuge (Sorvall™ Legend™ Micro 17R, Thermofisher)
- Multimode Microplate Reader (Cytation5, BioTek)
- Varioskan LUX Microplate Reader (Thermofisher)
- Live-Cell Fluorescence Microscopy (Lionheart FX, BioTek)
- Nucleic Acid Quantification (Take 3 Plate, BioTek)
- Fluorescence Digital Microscope (EVOS M5000, Thermofisher)
- Real Time PCR (CFX Opus 96, BIO-RAD)
- Thermocycler (T100, BIO-RAD)
- Microbiology Orbital Incubator Shaker (Orbitek)
- Temperature Incubator (iTherm CH25, Accumax)
- Visi Laboratory Refrigerator (FKG400) X 2 (Cellfrost)
- Deep Freezer -20 degree, (BFS 345 S, Cellfrost)
- Ultra-Low deep freezer (-86 degree, Thermofisher)
- Analytical Balance (Sartorious)
- Microspin (iFUGE-M08, Accumax)
- Vortex (iSix-vt) X 2 (Accumax)
- Microplate Washer (BioTek 50TS, BioTek)
- Dry Bath (DBI10, Labman)
- Hot Air Oven (RDHO 80, Remi)
- pH Meter (pH 2700, Eutech [Thermo])
- Double Distillation (DDU4000, Borosil)
- Vertical Autoclave (Labline)
- Ice Flake Machine (BRIF 100, BR Biochem)
- 3D Printer (Pratham 3.0, MAKE3D)
- Programmable Coil Winding Machine (MWT01)
- Microrobotic Actuation Setup (Neeta Yadav)
- Optical Zoom Microscope (MSZ, Magnus)
- Computational Facility
- 5 DOF Robotic Manipulator with Programming Board (DOFBOT)
We are open to share all these facilities to IITK as well as NON-IITK Users following the norms of the institute.
Projects
- Development and Characterization of Regulatory Biomolecular Circuits in Synthetic Biology, Sponsoring Agency: DBT, Sep)t 2024-Sept 2027, PI
- Design of Synthetic Genetic Circuits: Robustness towards Change in the Growth Rate, Sponsoring Agency: MoE, May 2024-May 2027, PI
- Design and Development of a Tether System for Drone Application, Sponsoring Agency: DRDO, May 2024-Nov 2025, co-PI
- Design and Development of Ground Robots for Autonomous Navigation Systems, Sponsoring Agency: TIH Foundation IITB, Dec 2023- July 2025, co-PI
- Mitigating Resource Burden of Heterologous Biomolecular Circuits in Escherichia Coli, Sponsoring Agency: DBT/Wellcome Trust India Alliance, Jan 2024- Dec 2029, PI
- AI Based Pose Estimation and Tracking of Uncooperative Airborne Vehicle, Sponsoring Agency: ARDB DRDO, Nov 2023- Nov 2025, co-PI
- Design And Development of Autonomous Stairs/Escalator Climbing & Self-Navigating Smart Wheelchair, Sponsoring Agency: IIT Kanpur, June 2023- June 2025, co-PI
- Nanorobotic Drug Delivery System & Lab-On-Chip Platform Development, Sponsoring Agency: IHFC Delhi, March 2023- March 2026, PI
- Investigation And Design of Robustness in Pulse Generating Biomolecular Circuits, Sponsoring Agency: IIT Kanpur, March 2022- March 2024, PI
- Complex Defense Object Recognition and Autonomous Handling in Unstructured and Noisy Outdoor Environment (Phase-I), Sponsoring Agency: DRDO, Aug 2019- Dec 2023, Co-PI
Team
- Shikha Singh Chahuan, PhD Student
- Akshay Jaiswal, PhD Student
- Neeta Yadav, PhD Student
- Utkarsh Singh Solanki, PhD Student
- Saikat Majumdar, PhD Student
- Lisa Naik, PhD Student
- Prakhar Bajpai, PhD Student
- Arvind Trivedi, PhD Student
- Arun Thapa, Postdoctoral Research Associate
- Aditi Srivastava, Postdoctoral Research Associate
- Paramhans Yadav, Project Technical Supervisor
- Cdr. Faraz Ahmad, MTech Student
- Vamsi Krishna Kusmi, MTech Student
- Sneha Nalluri, MTech Student
- Ann Mary S, Project Associate
- Soumya, Project Associate
- Esha Singh, Project Assistant
- Vivek Kumar Kharwar, Multiskilled Worker
Contact Person
Dr. Abhilash Patel
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Office Address: 610, ESB2, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Kanpur-208016, UP, India
Office Phone: +91-512-679-2322
Location: ACES 107
Faculty Incharge: Dr.K.Nishchal Verma
Lab Contact No: 7032
Research Areas: Intelligent Data Mining Algorithms, Health Monitoring and Intelligent Fault Diagnosis Systems, Soft-Computing in, Modeling and Control, Machine Learning Algorithms, Computer Vision, Bioinformatics, Intelligent Informatics, Fuzzy Controllers
Facilities
- A seven degrees of freedom Robot Manipulator from Schunk, Germany with visual feedback loop both in eye-to-hand and eye-in-hand configurations
- A six degrees of freedom robot manipulator from ABB with visual feedback loop in eye-in-hand configuration
- A Patrolbot from Active Media for navigation experiments
- An Exo-skeleton hand set-up controlled by EMG signal
- An Inverted Pendulum Set up for testing nonlinear control algorithms using intelligent techniques
- Silicon Graphics Prism Server
Faculty
Research:Robotics and Control
- Intelligent Control
System identification and control of nonlinear systems can be efficiently carried out using intelligent control schemes. In this framework, our research work primarily focus on direct, indirect and model predictive control schemes using T-S fuzzy model, neural and fuzzy-neural networks. These control algorithms are being tested in real-time systems such as 7DOF Power-cube robot manipulator and inverted pendulum - Visual Servoing
Visual-motor coordination, also referred to as hand-eye coordination, in the context of robotics is the process of using visual information to control a robot manipulator to reach a target point in its workspace. The task requires learning the mapping that exists between camera output and desired end-effector location. Biological organisms have demonstrated their superior adaptive capabilities in motion control over present-day robotic systems. Inspired by this fact, various neural network models based on biological systems have been developed for robot control tasks. We have been working on various self-organizing schemes such as Kohonen SOM, Quantum clustering SOM and parametrized SOM to learn this map using minimum learning example. Simultaneously we are extending these approaches to the redundant manipulator system which involves optimization of multiple objective functions. Current research includes development of redundancy preserving SOM network and adaptive critic based visual servo control - Neural Networks
Research in this area focuses on efficient training schemes that would provide faster convergence, better generalization and least computational effort. Research work concerning quantum neural networks is also being carried out; some of these works have generated keen interest among peers - Visual Navigation of a Mobile Robot
Navigation is the process of planning and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another. Navigation in the context of robot includes three basic tasks
(1) object tracking
(2) estimation of depth and angle of object from the robot
(3) obstacle avoidance.
Various intelligent techniques such as TS fuzzy networks are used to develop higher-level sensory-motor coordination algorithms. Besides novel approaches for formation control and coordination of multi-robot systems are being developed - Assistive Robotics - Optimal Hand Exoskeleton
An optimal hand exoskeleton device for the impaired hand of the stroke patients is being developed. Each link in the finger is replicated by a four-bar mechanism which takes care of the instantaneously varying joint centres. The developed exoskeleton will generate flexible human like motion based on biological signals derived from the muscle/brain signals that directly reflect the subjects intension. The developed device can be used for the following cases
(i) To support the fingers of elderly persons who have reduced control over their finger force
(ii) Active hand prosthetics who have lost their fingers
(iii) Rehabilitation of patients with finger injury or neuro-muscular diseases
Publications
- Laxmidhar Behera and Indrani Kar, Intelligent Systems and Control: Principles and Applications, Oxford University Press, Nov 2009
- Indrani Kar and Laxmidhar Behera,Direct adaptive neural control for affine nonlinear systems, Applied Soft Computing, Vol. 9, pp.756-764, 2009
- K. Srinivas, and Laxmidhar Behera, Swing Up Control Strategies for a Reaction Wheel Pendulum, International Journal of Systems Science, Vol 39, No 12, 1165-1177, 2008
- Prem Kumar P., Indrani Kar and Laxmidhar Behera Variable gain controllers for nonlinear systems using T-S Fuzzy model, IEEE Trans Systems, Man and Cybernetics, Part B,Vol. 36, No. 6, pp1442-1449,2006
- Laxmidhar Behera, Query based model learning and stable tracking of a robot arm using radial basis function network, Computers and Electrical Engineering 29 (2003) 553-573
- Swagat Kumar, Laxmidhar Behera and TM McGinnity, Kinematic control of a redundant manipulator using inverse-forward adaptive scheme with a KSOM based hint generator, Robotics and Autonomous Systems,doi:10.1016/j.robot.2009.12.002, 2009
- Indrani Kar and Laxmidhar Behera, Visual Motor Control of a 7 DOF Robot Manipulator Using a Fuzzy SOM Network, Intelligent Service Robotics, Vol 3, No 1, pp 49-60, 2010
- Swagat Kumar, Prem Kumar, Ashish Dutta and Laxmidhar Behera,Visual Motor Control of a 7DOF Redundant Manipulator using Redundancy Preserving Learning Network, Robotica, doi:10.1017/S026357470999049X, 2009
- Swagat Kumar and Laxmidhar Behera, Visual Motor Control of a 7DOF Robot Manipulator Using Function Decomposition and Sub-clustering in Configuration Space, Neural Processing Letters. Vol. 28, No. 1, pp 17-33, 2008
- Nimit Kumar and Laxmidhar Behera, Visual Motor Coordination Using a Quantum Clustering Based Neural Control Scheme, Neural Processing Letters,Volume 20: 11-22, 2004
- Laxmidhar Behera, Swagat Kumar and Awhan Patnaik, On adaptive learning rate that guarantees convergence in feed-forward networks, (To be published) IEEE Trans Neural Networks, Vol. 17, No. 5 September 2006
- Laxmidhar Behera, Indrani Kar and Avshalom C. Elitzur, Recurrent Quantum Neural Network Model to Describe Eye Tracking of Moving Target, Foundations of Physics Letters, Vol. 18, No. 4, 357-370, 2005
- Laxmidhar Behera and Bharat Sundaram, Stochastic filtering and and Speech Enhancement using a Recurrent Quantum Neural Network, Proceedings Int. Conf. Int. Sensors and Inf. Processing, ICISIP-2004, Chennai, 165-170;Received Best Paper Award
- Laxmidhar Behera, Indrani Kar and A.C. Elitzur, Chapter 9: Recurrent Quantum Neural Network and Its Applications, in The Emerging Physics of Consciousness, Jack Tuszynski (Ed), Springer Verlag, 2005
- Anjan Kumar Ray, Patrick Benavidez, Laxmidhar Behera and Mo Jamshidi, Decentralized Motion Coordination for a Formation of Rovers, IEEE Systems Journal, Vol 3, No. 3, pp369-381, Sept 2009
- Anjan K Ray, Laxmidhar Behera and Mo Jamshidi, Sonar Based Rover Navigation for a Single or Multiple Platforms: Forward Safe Path and Target Switching Approach, IEEE Systems Journal, Vol 2, No. 2, pp. 258-272, 2008
- Meenakshi Gupta, T Naveen Kumar, Laxmidher Behera, K S Venkatesh and Ashish Dutta, Environment Modelling in Mobile Robotics through Takagi-Sugeno Fuzzy Model, Irish Signal and Systems Conference (ISSC), 2009, Dublin
Projects
- DST Sponsored Project on Intelligent Visual Control of Redundant Manipulator Systems for Grasping 3-D Objects, Rs 32 Lakhs, 2000
Status: Ongoing - DRDO Sponsored Project on Visual Motor Control of a Seven Degrees of Freedom Robot Manipulator, Rs. 50 lakhs at IIT Kanpu
Status: Ongoing - UKIERI Standard Research Award of GBP 144,000.00 on Innovations in Intelligent Assistive Robotics
Status: Ongoing - Quantum Neural Network Models - Applications of Quantum Learning to Health Care System and Visual Tracking System, Funded by Ministry of Human Resource and Development, India from 2005-2008, Rs 20.00 lakhs
Status: Completed - Intelligent Control Schemes and Application to Dynamic and Visual Control of Redundant Manipulator Systems, Funded by Department of Science and Technology, India from 2006-2008, Rs 20.00 lakhs
Status: Completed - Infrastructure development in Intelligent Sensors and Control, FIST grant from Department of Science and Technology, India, 2005-2007, Rs 65.00 lakhs
Status: Completed - MHRD Sponsored project, Adaptive nonlinear control - A foundational framework using classical and quantum algorithms, Rupees 6.00 lakhs, IIT, Kanpur
Status: Completed
PhD Students
- Awhan Patnaik
- Prem Kumar P
- Felix Orlando
- Meenakshi Gupta
- Vipul Arora
MTech Students
- Himansu Singh
- Benami Singh
- Chandrajit Choudhury
Contact Person
Dr. Laxmidhar Behera
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Phone: 91 512 259 7198
Location: WL213
Research
- Practical applications of control system theory that will have significant positive impact on India and mankind
- Motion control of a four-wheel independent-steering four-wheel independent-drive electric vehicle
Facilities
- Yokogawa DSO with CAN analyzer software
- ezDSP kits (F2808 and F2812)
- 8051 microcontrollers, dsPIC microcontrollers
- USB-CAN converters
- Lonworks' miniEVK
- EZDSK91C111 Ethernet network daughter boards for ezDSP kits
- PMDC motor control kits developed in-house
Projects
- Developed a digital automatic voltage regulator for BHEL Bhopal, jointly with Dr. P. Sensarma of the EE department, IITK (2007-2010)
- Developed a new Control systems Laboratory for EE department IIT Kanpur (2009)
- Developed feedback control strategies for coordination of the 10 motors that drive and steer ISRO's Moon Rover (2009-2015)
- Developed a path-tracking control strategy for a four-wheel independent-steering four-wheel-drive electric vehicle (Funded by DST SERC, 2012-2016)
Publications
- Ramprasad Potluri, Pushpak Bhole, and Abhishek Verma. "Disturbance Observer for Speed-Dependent Disturbance in Motor Control". Indian Control Conference. IEEE. IIT Madras, Chennai, India. January 2015.
- Manavaalan Gunasekaran, Ramprasad Potluri, and Ashish Dutta. "Path Tracking Control of a Moon Rover". Indian Control Conference. IEEE. IIT Madras, Chennai, India. January 2015.
- Ramprasad Potluri and Arun Kant Singh. "Path-Tracking Control of an Autonomous 4WS4WD Electric Vehicle Using its Natural Feedback Loops". IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology, Vol 23, Number 5, September 2015.
- Arun Kant Singh and Ramprasad Potluri. "Comments on “Model-Independent Adaptive Fault-Tolerant Output Tracking Control of 4WS4WD Road Vehicles”." IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, Vol 16, Number 3, June 2015.
- Manavalan Gunasekaran and Ramprasad Potluri, "Low-Cost Undergraduate Control Systems Experiments Using Microcontroller-Based Control of DC Motor." IEEE Transactions on Education, Vol 55, issue 4, pp 508-516, November 2012.
- Potluri, Ramprasad; Singh, Arun Kant, "Path-Tracking Control of an Autonomous 4WS4WD Electric Vehicle Using its Natural Feedback Loops," 2013 IEEE Multi-Conference on Systems and Control (MSC 2013), Hyderabad, India. 28 - 30 August 2013.
- Saurav, Kumar; Potluri, Ramprasad, "Sensorless speed control of a permanent magnet DC motor by compensating the plant nonlinearities," 2013 IEEE International Symposium on Industrial Electronics (ISIE), pp.1 - 4. Taipei, Taiwan. 28-31 May 2013.
- Manavaalan Gunasekaran and Ramprasad Potluri. "Kinematics Modeling and Design of Motion Controller for a Moon Rover," 11th International Symposium on Advanced Vehicle Control (AVEC'12). Sept. 9 - 12, 2012, Seoul, Korea.
- Ramprasad Potluri and Arun Kant Singh. "Path-tracking control of an autonomous 4WS4WD electric vehicle using driving motors' dynamics," 7th IEEE International Conference on Industrial and Information Systems (ICIIS), 2012, pp.1-6, 6-9 Aug. 2012, IIT Madras, Chennai, India.
- Ramprasad Potluri. Comments on “Chattering Free Robust Control for Nonlinear Systems.” IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology, Vol. 20, Issue 2, pp. 562 -- 562, March 2012
- Ramprasad Potluri. Comments on “Optimal Fault-Tolerant Path-Tracking Control for 4WS4WD Electric Vehicles”. IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, Volume: 12, Issue: 2, 2011, Page(s): 622 - 623.
- Manavaalan Gunasekaran and Ramprasad Potluri. Cooperative control of a dual-motor ball and beam system. INDICON 2008. IEEE, 2008.
- Ramprasad Potluri, et al. Networked Control Systems and a Mixed Open-Loop/Closed-Loop Control. Advances in Control and Optimization of Dynamical Systems (ACODS), IISc, Bangalore, India, February 2007
Faculty
PhD Students
- Manavaalan Gunasekaran (Graduated in May 2015)
Thesis Title: Path tracking control of a Moon rover: modeling, design, and implementation - Arun Kant Singh
- Arunava Karmakar
- Dileep Kumar
Contact Person
Ramprasad Potluri
Telephone: +91-512-2597735
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Location: Western Labs 217 B