About me

I am currently a Researcher in the Robotics and AI Group at Luleå University of Technology (LTU), Sweden. I received my PhD in Aerospace Engineering from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, India. My research focuses on reinforcement learning, autonomous robotic systems, nonlinear control, aerial robotics, underwater robotics, and soft robotic platforms. I am particularly interested in integrating learning, control, and robotic embodiments to develop adaptive autonomous systems capable of operating in challenging real-world environments.

Projects

ATLANTIS (Advancing Trans-regional Aqua Networks for Technology and Innovative Synergies) is an ERDF-funded EU-I3 project aiming to accelerate the adoption of underwater robotic technologies for environmental monitoring, infrastructure inspection, pollution detection, and marine ecosystem restoration across Europe. The project brings together universities, research institutes, SMEs, and industrial partners to demonstrate multiple underwater robotic applications at TRL 7. LTU coordinates the project and contributes to the development of autonomous underwater robotic systems, AI-enabled perception, navigation, and decision-making frameworks, while also supporting the deployment and validation of robotic solutions in real-world marine environments. Status: To start in October (2026–2029). 

NORTHGUARD (Information-Driven Preparedness System for Arctic Resilience, Wildfire Detection, and Emergency Response) is an Interreg Northern Periphery and Arctic project that aims to strengthen preparedness and environmental monitoring capabilities in Arctic and remote regions. The project investigates intelligent monitoring technologies, autonomous sensing platforms, and digital preparedness services to support wildfire detection, search-and-rescue operations, and environmental risk assessment. LTU contributes expertise in autonomous robotic systems, AI-enabled monitoring, aerial sensing technologies, and deployment of robotic solutions for resilient environmental monitoring in Arctic conditions. Status: To start in September (2026-2027). 

SPEAR (Spatial Perception and Embodied Autonomy Research) is a Horizon Europe project that aims to fundamentally rethink how aerial robots are designed by jointly optimizing their physical embodiment and autonomy. Instead of relying on conventional drone designs, the project combines evolutionary algorithms, soft and rigid robotic structures, and learning-based navigation approaches to create task-specific aerial robots. LTU contributes to the development of reinforcement learning-based navigation and control strategies, autonomous exploration methods, and experimental validation of novel robotic platforms operating in challenging environments. Status: Ongoing (2023–2027). 

M4Mining (Multi-scale, Multi-sensor Mapping and Dynamic Monitoring for Sustainable Extraction and Safe Closure in Mining Environments) is a Horizon Europe project focused on developing advanced Earth-observation technologies for sustainable mining operations. The project combines UAVs, hyperspectral sensing, LiDAR, and satellite imagery to improve mine-face inspection, material characterization, tailings monitoring, and environmental assessment. LTU contributes autonomous aerial robotic systems, adaptive navigation and inspection algorithms, and real-time robotic data acquisition methods for safe and efficient monitoring of open-pit mining environments. Status: Completed (2023–2025). 

Teaching 

• Bio-Robotics, Instructor, LTU, Sweden (2024, 2025) 

• Introduction to Reinforcement Learning, Instructor, LTU, Sweden (2024) 

• Control Systems, Teaching Assistant, IISc Bangalore, India (2018) 

Supervision

PhD Thesis Supervision 

• Gabriele Calzolari, Embodied System-Level Autonomy for Hyper-Modal Robotic Systems, Co-Supervisor, LTU, Sweden, 2023–Present 

• Ilektra Tsimpidi, AI-based Modelling and Reasoning of Natural Resources, Co-Supervisor, LTU, Sweden, 2024–Present 

• Theodore Frantzis, Developing Task-Agnostic Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning Policies, Co-Supervisor, University of Patras, Greece, 2024–Present 

• Fausto Mauricio Lagos, Sample-Efficient Reinforcement Learning for Quadrotor Control through Curriculum Design and Training, Co-Supervisor, LTU, Sweden, 2023–Present 

Master's Thesis Supervision 

• Athanasios Kozadinos, LLM-based Compositional Risk Assessment with Voxel Temporal Memory for Autonomous Underwater Vehicles, Primary Supervisor, 2026 (Ongoing) 

• Delia Veronese, Modelling, Control and Navigation for an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle, Primary Supervisor, 2026 

• Edoardo Pisano, Multi-Agent Load Transportation using Reinforcement Learning, Primary Supervisor, 2025 

• Gabriel Wellander, Modeling and Control of Follower Underwater Robot, Primary Supervisor, 2025 

• Zijian Cai, RL-Based Navigation and Mapping for Autonomous Robotic Exploration in Unknown Environments, Primary Supervisor, 2024 

• Nathan Hiruy, EEG-based Control of Ground Robot via Brain-Computer Interface, Co-Supervisor, 2024 

Invited Talks and Workshops

• Underwater Robotics for Science: How AI and Sensors Help Robots See, Think, and Act, EU project SeaMoreEco Final Seminar, Umeå, Sweden, 2025 

• Smart Motion: Exploring Reinforcement Learning and Data-Driven MPC for Autonomous Planning and Control, Digital Futures Workshop, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden, 2024 

Awards and Recognitions

• Best Paper Award, International Symposium of Asian Control Association on Intelligent Robotics and Industrial Automation, 2021 

• Best Student Presentation Award, Aerospace Research Students Symposium (AERES), IISc Bangalore, 2018 and 2019 

• International Graduate School on Control, Practical Adaptive Control Course, European Embedded Control Institute, 2019 

• GARP Travel Grant for attending Guidance, Navigation, and Control and Co-located Conferences, AIAA SciTech Forum and Exposition, Florida, USA, 2017 

• Reviewer IEEE Transactions on Robotics, Journal of Intelligent & Robotic Systems, Nonlinear Dynamics, IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, Robotics and Autonomous Systems, IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, Knowledge-Based Systems, and Conferences including ICRA, IROS, ECC, CASE, RITA, ICCAS, MED. 

Publications

• Gabriele Calzolari, Vidya Sumathy, Christoforos Kanellakis, and George Nikolakopoulos. “Investigating the Impact of Communication-Induced Action Space on Exploration of Unknown Environments with Decentralized Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning”. Manuscript under review in Applied Intelligence. Preprint available at arXiv:2412.20075. 2026 

• Ilektra Tsimpidi, Fernando Labra Caso, Vidya Sumathy, Konstantinos Soulis, and George Nikolakopoulos. “Autonomous Robotised Repeatable Soil Moisture Sampling”. No. EGU26-5265, Copernicus Meetings, 2026. 

• Vidya Sumathy, Sajid Ahamed Mohammed Abdul, and Debasish Ghose. “Projection operator-based robust adaptive control of an aerial robot with a manipulator”. In: Journal of Field Robotics 40.5 (2023), pp. 1069–1096 

• Vidya Sumathy and Debasish Ghose. “Adaptive augmented torque control of a quadcopter with an aerial manipulator”. In: Drone Systems and Applications 10.1 (2021), pp. 26–50 

• Delia Veronese, Vidya Sumathy, Jakub Haluska, and George Nikolokopoulos. “Intelligent Control for Autonomous Underwater Exploration”. Manuscript accepted in 34th Mediterranean Conference on Control and Automation, June 23-26, 2026, Ancona, Italy. 2026 

• Fausto Mauricio Lagos Suarez, Akshit Saradagi, Vidya Sumathy, and George Nikolakopoulos. “A Heuristic Approach for Performance Tuning in RL-based Quadrotor Control via Reward Design and Termination Conditions”. Manuscript accepted in 34th Mediterranean Conference on Control and Automation, June 23-26, 2026, Ancona, Italy. 2026 

• Gabriele Calzolari, Vidya Sumathy, Christoforos Kanellakis, and George Nikolakopoulos. “A Graph-Based Reinforcement Learning Approach with Frontier Potential Based Reward for Safe Cluttered Environment Exploration”. Manuscript accepted in 2026 European Control Conference (ECC), July 7–10, 2026 Reykjav´ık, Iceland. 2026 

• Gabriele Calzolari, Vidya Sumathy, Christoforos Kanellakis, and George Nikolakopoulos. “Reinforcement learning driven multi-robot exploration via explicit communication and density-based frontier search”. In: 2025 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA). IEEE. 2025, pp. 11406–11412 

• Vidya Sumathy, Jakub Haluska, and George Nikolokopoulos. “Soft Arm-Motor Thrust Characterization for a Pneumatically Actuated Soft Morphing Quadrotor”. In: arXiv preprint arXiv:2502.12716. 2025