Leena Vachhani of Indian Institute of Technology Bombay

Self-navigation in crowded environments poses a significant challenge for multi-agent systems with non-holonomic robots relying on local sensing. The talk covers a fast, sensor-driven navigation controller that computes control commands for safe maneuvering among non-cooperating agents. Our approach introduces an input-constrained feedback controller specifically designed for non-holonomic robots, with a focus on invariant sets to ensure stability and safety. These invariant sets guide the robots toward their target while allowing for direct computation of safe control inputs, eliminating the need for pre-planned paths. 

Biography:

Leena Vachhani is a Professor at the Center of Systems and Control Engineering and the Professor-in-Charge of the Technology Innovation Hub (TIH) for IoT & IoE at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai. She has made notable contributions in embedded control and robotics, focusing on multi-agent mapping, exploration, patrolling, and coverage. Recently, she published an IEEE-Wiley book titled Embedded Control for Mobile Robot Applications, and developed a Swayam course on "Intelligent Feedback and Control" to emphasize practical control techniques. A technology transfer of spherical robot shows her determination towards translational research. She has also established innovative laboratories on embedded control systems, autonomous robots, and multi-agent systems. Her current research interests include perception modeling for single and multi-agent systems, edge computing for IoT, and multi-agent applications within the IoT framework.