About me

I am an Associate Senior Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in the Robotics and AI group at Luleå University of Technology, Sweden. I received my M.S and Ph.D dual degree from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM), Chennai, India. I was a postdoctoral researcher in the Robotics and AI group at LTU for four year, before being promoted to the Associate Senior Lecturer position.

My current research focuses on Multi-agent Robotics, Mobile Manipulation, Control Barrier Functions-based safety guarantees in Robotics. I am also interested in distributed control of multi-agent systems and control under resource constraints.

Projects

SPEAR: A four-year Horizon Europe project in artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics. Title: Spatial Perception and Embodied Autonomy Research.
https://www.spear-robotics.com/
Duration: Ongoing.  Start date: November 2023.

Arctic Edge: A three-year Interreg-NPA project. https://www.interreg-npa.eu/projects/arctic-edge/
Duration: Ongoing. Start date: September 2024.

AIDIHN Program: Management of three projects granted to the Robotics and AI group at LTU. Project information and subsequent link to AIDIHN: https://www.ltu.se/en/research/research-subjects/robotics-and-ai/research-projects/the-project-archive/2023-12-07-applied-ai-dih-north---aparait.
Duration: Completed. January 2022 - February 2023.

‍ ‍

• Scott Fredriksson: A relook at classical robotics from a semantic lens.
  Licentiate Seminar and Thesis: Human Inspired Approach for Navigation and Environment Understanding Using Structural Semantic Topometric Maps

• Niklas Dahlquist: Reactive macrocoordination for Multi-robot system
  Licentiate Seminar and Thesis: Towards Reactive Multi-agent Task Allocation for Large-scale Field Deployments

• Fausto Lagos: Reinforcement Learning based Navigation for novel drone designs

• Taxiarchis Blounas: Reconfiguration of dynamic indoor environments using interactive mobile manipulation.

Publications

Peer-reviewed Journal articles

[J1] A. Saradagi, V. Muralidharan, A. D. Mahindrakar and P. Tallapragada, "Event-Triggered Control for Nonlinear Systems With Center Manifolds," in IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, doi: 10.1109/TAC.2024.3388912.

[J2]  A. Saradagi, V. Muralidharan, V. Krishnan, S. Menta and A. D. Mahindrakar, "Formation Control and Trajectory Tracking of Nonholonomic Mobile Robots," in IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology, vol. 26, no. 6, pp. 2250-2258, Nov. 2018.
doi: 10.1109/TCST.2017.2749563

[J3] S. Fredriksson, A. Saradagi and G. Nikolakopoulos, "Voxel Map to Occupancy Map Conversion Using Free Space Projection for Efficient Map Representation for Aerial and Ground Robots," in IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, doi: 10.1109/LRA.2024.3495575.

[J4] Fredriksson, S., Saradagi, A. & Nikolakopoulos, G. GRID-FAST: A Grid-based Intersection Detection for Fast Semantic Topometric Mapping. J Intell Robot Syst 110, 154 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10846-024-02180-6

[J5]   S. Markkassery, A. Saradagi, A. D. Mahindrakar, N. Lakshminarasamma and R. Pasumarthy, "Modeling, Design and Control of Non-isolated Single-Input Multi-Output Zeta–Buck–Boost Converter," in IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications, vol. 56, no. 4, pp. 3904-3918, July-Aug. 2020. doi: 10.1109/TIA.2020.2984190

[J6]  V. Muralidharan, A. D. Mahindrakar and A. Saradagi, "Control of a Driftless Bilinear Vector Field on n-Sphere," in IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, vol. 64, no. 8, pp. 3226-3238, Aug. 2019. doi: 10.1109/TAC.2018.2880412

[J7] N. Dahlquist, S. Nordström, N. Stathoulopoulos, B. Lindqvist, A. Saradagi and G. Nikolakopoulos, "Deployment of an Aerial Multiagent System for Automated Task Execution in Large-Scale Underground Mining Environments," in IEEE Transactions on Field Robotics, vol. 2, pp. 465-484, 2025, doi: 10.1109/TFR.2025.3580068.

[J8] Akshit Saradagi, Viswa Narayanan Sankaranarayanan, Avijit Banerjee, Sumeet Satpute, George Nikolakopoulos, "Switched control barrier functions-based safe docking control strategy for a planar floating platform," Control Engineering Practice, Volume 158, 2025, 106274, ISSN 0967-0661. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conengprac.2025.106274.

Peer-reviewed Conference Contributions

[C1]     A. Saradagi, A. D. Mahindrakar and S. Mohan, "Optimization of Relative and Absolute Thresholding Parameters in Event-triggered Control," 2019 18th European Control Conference (ECC), Naples, Italy, 2019, pp. 2737-2742.
doi: 10.23919/ECC.2019.8795707

[C2]     A. Saradagi, A. D. Mahindrakar and P. Tallapragada, "Event-triggered Stabilization for Nonlinear Systems with Center Manifolds," 2020 59th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (CDC), Jeju, Korea (South), 2020, pp. 751-756.
doi: 10.1109/CDC42340.2020.9304288

[C3]     A. Saradagi, S. Menta, S. Gajbhiye, A. D. Mahindrakar and R. N. Banavar, "Poincaré representation of the equations of motion of a spherical robot actuated by internal rotors," 2018 Indian Control Conference (ICC), Kanpur, India, 2018, pp. 196-201.
doi: 10.1109/INDIANCC.2018.8307977

[C4] A. Saradagi, A. Banerjee, S. Satpute and G. Nikolakopoulos, "Safe Autonomous Docking Maneuvers for a Floating Platform based on Input Sharing Control Barrier Functions," 2022 IEEE 61st Conference on Decision and Control (CDC), Cancun, Mexico, 2022, pp. 3746-3753, doi: 10.1109/CDC51059.2022.9993109.

[C5] S. Fredriksson, A. Saradagi and G. Nikolakopoulos, "Semantic and Topological Mapping using Intersection Identification," in the Proceedings of the IFAC World Congress-2023, Yokohama, Japan.

[C6] Mario A. V. Saucedo and Akash Patel and Rucha Sawlekar and Akshit Saradagi and Christoforos Kanellakis and Ali-Akbar Agha-Mohammadi and George Nikolakopoulos, “Event Camera and LiDAR based Human Tracking for Adverse Lighting Conditions in Subterranean Environments,” in the Proceedings of the IFAC World Congress-2023, Yokohama, Japan.

[C7] Karthik Shenoy, Akshit Saradagi, Ramkrishna Pasumarthy and Vijaysekhar Chellaboina, “Data-Driven Feedback Linearization of Nonlinear Systems with Periodic Orbits in the Zero-Dynamics,” Proceedings of the American Control Conference, San Diego California, 2023.

[C8] Niklas Dahlquist and Björn Lindqvist and Akshit Saradagi and George Nikolakopoulos, "Reactive Multi-agent Coordination using Auction-based Task Allocation and Behavior Trees," 7th IEEE Conference on Control Technology and Applications, Bridgetown, Barbados, 2023.

[C9] Niklas Dahlquist, Akshit Saradagi and George Nikolakopoulos, “Reactive Task Allocation for Balanced Servicing of Multiple Task Queues, ” in the Proceedings of the IFAC World Congress-2023, Yokohama, Japan.

[C10] A. Saradagi, S. Fredriksson, A. Koval and G. Nikolakopoulos, "Body-aware Local Navigation for Asymmetric Holonomic Robots using Control Barrier Functions," 2024 European Control Conference (ECC), Stockholm, Sweden, 2024, pp. 968-973, doi: 10.23919/ECC64448.2024.10590765.

[C11] N. Dahlquist, A. Saradagi and G. Nikolakopoulos, "Local Bidding Strategies for Reactive and Scalable Auction-Based Multi-Agent Coordination," 2024 32nd Mediterranean Conference on Control and Automation (MED), Chania - Crete, Greece, 2024, pp. 203-208, doi: 10.1109/MED61351.2024.10566142.

[C12] S. Fredriksson, A. Saradagi and G. Nikolakopoulos, "Robotic Exploration through Semantic Topometric Mapping," 2024 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Yokohama, Japan, 2024, pp. 9404-9410, doi: 10.1109/ICRA57147.2024.10610585.

[C13] M. A. V. Saucedo, A. Patel, A. Saradagi, C. Kanellakis and G. Nikolakopoulos, "Belief Scene Graphs: Expanding Partial Scenes with Objects through Computation of Expectation," 2024 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Yokohama, Japan, 2024, pp. 9441-9447, doi: 10.1109/ICRA57147.2024.10611352.

[C14] V. N. Sankaranarayanan, A. Saradagi, S. Satpute and G. Nikolakopoulos, "A CBF-Adaptive Control Architecture for Visual Navigation for UAV in the Presence of Uncertainties," 2024 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Yokohama, Japan, 2024, pp. 13659-13665, doi: 10.1109/ICRA57147.2024.10611530.

[C15] G. Damigos, A. Saradagi, S. Sandberg and G. Nikolakopoulos, "Environmental Awareness Dynamic 5G QoS for Retaining Real Time Constraints in Robotic Applications," 2024 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Yokohama, Japan, 2024, pp. 12069-12075, doi: 10.1109/ICRA57147.2024.10610698.

[C16] V. N. Sankaranarayanan, A. Saradagi, S. Satpute and G. Nikolakopoulos, "Time-varying Control Barrier Function for Safe and Precise Landing of a UAV on a Moving Target," Accepted for presentation in 2024 International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS).

[C17] N. Dahlquist, A. Saradagi and G. Nikolakopoulos, "Behavior Tree Based Decentralized Multi-agent Coordination for Balanced Servicing of Time Varying Task Queues," Accepted for presentation in 2024 International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS).

Professional Service as a reviewer

IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control (TAC)

IEEE Transactions on Mechatronics (T-Mech)

IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology (TCST)

IEEE Transactions on Control of Networked Systems (TCNS)

Journal of Intelligent and Robotic Systems (JINT)

Elsevier Control Engineer Practice (CEP)

IEEE Open Jounral of Control Systems (OJCSYS)

IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (CDC)

American Control Conference (ACC)

International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)

International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS)

Indian Control Conference (ICC)

Mediterranean Control Conference (MED)

European Control Conference (ECC) 

IFAC World Congress (IFAC WC)

Supervision

PhD(Assistant Supervisor)