Proposed a new model-free extremum seeking approach for controlled vibrational stabilization of mechanical systems.
Conducted pioneering research on how flapping insects and hummingbirds stabilize their hovering in real-time, featured in Physics magazine by the American Physical Society (APS).
Co-authored a paper with Ahmed Elgohary demonstrating robust stabilization using natural oscillations of wing motion and simple feedback sensations.
Received approximately $700k from DARPA to further investigate and experiment with characterizing dynamic soaring as a natural, real-time, model-free extremum seeking system.
Team members Rohan Palanikumar and Ahmed Elgohary successfully demonstrated model-free, real-time stable hovering and source seeking.
Research highlighted by MSN, earth.com, and other media outlets.
Presented papers and co-organized mini-symposia at IFAC NOLCOS 2025 and SIAM Conference on Control and its Application 2025.
Research Experience
Serves as the Principal Investigator of MDCL (Modeling, Dynamics and Control Lab).
Leads research projects focused on mimicking dynamic soaring, funded by DARPA.
Collaborates with industrial teams and other academic institutions to test and validate latest breakthroughs.
Participated in and organized sessions at multiple international conferences.
Mentored graduate student Ahmed Elgohary through his candidacy exam to become a PhD candidate.
Invited to visit the Institute of Mathematics at the University of Klagenfurt, Austria, for exploring future collaborations.
Background
Advancements in dynamic and control theory and their novel use in a fundamental way to solve major problems/applications/phenomena in science and engineering.
Miscellany
Welcomed new team members including Dr. Martini as a postdoctoral fellow and Rolf for summer co-op research.