Welcome!
Thanks for visiting my page!
I am Nagamanikandan Govindan, working as an assistant professor at Robotics Research Center, IIIT Hyderabad. I obtained my Ph.D. degree in Robotics from Robotics Lab, Department of Engineering Design, Indian Institute of Technology Madras. For my Ph.D. thesis, I worked with Prof. Asokan Thondiyath.
My interest lies broadly in the area of robotics and control. More specifically, designing mechanisms for multimodal capabilities and the development of control strategies for various manipulation and locomotion modes. The central focus is on synergizing locomotion and manipulation at the design level and increasing the functional capabilities of mechanically less-complex robotic systems.
Research interest: Robot design, Mobile manipulation, Hybrid robots, Grasper, Redundant and Underactuated robots, Optimal control, Mechatronic system design
Project vacancies: I am looking for a project assistant with an interest in the areas of mechanism design, drones, and control. Interested can mail me.

Nagamanikandan Govindan
MS/PhD: Motivated students for full-time positions are encouraged to contact me.

Recent News:
-
25th May 2023 - Patent Granted: A VERSATILE HYBRID ROBOTIC SYSTEM FOR MULTIMODAL LOCOMOTION AND GRASPING. IN Patent No.: 432862
-
28th Apr 2023 - Throwing gripper featured in IEEE spectrum Friday Videos
-
Our manuscript has been accepted for publication in the IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics (TMECH) - Mar 2023. [Link]
-
IROS 2022 (Presented Online) and OCEAN2022- Paper accepted.
-
IROS 2021 and AIM2021 - Paper accepted.
-
Feb 2021 - Joined as Assistant Professor at RRC, IIIT H
-
Jan 2021 - Successfully defended my PhD thesis.
-
May 2019 - GraspMan hand has featured in the timeline covering 106 years (1912–2018) of Research & Development of robotic hands - Annual Review of Control, Robotics, and Autonomous Systems - A Century of Robotic Hands.
-
Aug 2019 - "A robot grasper that can climb pipes" - a research highlight appeared in https://www.nature.com/articles/nindia.2019.113 (doi:10.1038/nindia.2019.113)
-
Our project "GraspMan" - A multimodal robotic platform for various industrial and service applications has appeared in various news portals: IndiaToday, Livemint, Techiexpert, and many more.
Courses
-
Robotics: Dynamics and Control (Monsoon 2021, 2022)
-
Mechatronics System Design (Spring 2022, 2023)
-
IoT Workshop (Monsoon 2022)
Professional Activities:
-
Member, IEEE Robotics and Automation society.
-
Reviewer for
-
Journals - IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics, IEEE RA-Letters, IEEE Access, Robotica, Mechanics Based Design of Structures and Machines, Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics
-
Conferences - IROS 2021 to 2023, ICRA-2021
-
Invited Talks:
-
A session on "Control of mobile manipulators' as a part of FDP on "Research trends and Control of Robotic Systems," at Govt. Engineering College, Palakkad (Nov 2022).
-
A session on 'Mobile manipulators' as a part of FDP on "Mobile Robotics " at SRM University (June 2016).