This question is not trivial: making this presentation (for faculty) and going through it (for students) actually has only a marginal correlation with a good guide-student matchmaking!

Reasons for me to come out from years of informal quick-fix style

• To avoid the image skew as a roboticist (only), occluding other research areas.
• To enlist students for several interesting problems in OPTIMIZATION, one of the areas of interest offering a number of cute research problems.
• Also to market a few recent initiatives among fresh students.
• And, of course, to offset the impact of contact loss due to the pandemic!

• Optimization problems

  • A new elegant algorithm for Quasi-Newton Method and Sequential Quadratic Programming (Ref. Ongoing thesis of Aquib Faiyaz)
  • A key modification to the Feasible Direction (Zountendijk) Method
  • Solution of Boundary Value Problems through optimization framework and its advantages (Ref. Master's thesis of Saurabh Ranjan)
  • Application of our multimodal optimization algorithm to practical problems (Ref. My paper with co-authors Divya and Mehta)
  • Multi-objective optimization (Ref. My papers with co-author Vivek Kumar Mehta or his PhD thesis)
  • A machine learning type problem: An automated standard test portal (Ref. Ongoing thesis of Abhishek Gupta)
  • ... Continue further for applications in CAD and Robotics.

• Problems in geometric modelling and CAD

  • Volumetric estimation of solid-solid intersection (Ref. Master's thesis of Sanket Katore)
  • Protein docking (Ref. My papers with co-author Hari Kumar Voruganti or his PhD thesis)
  • Mesh generation through Domain Mapping (Ref. My papers with co-authors Hari / Joshi / Patro / Karnik)

• Broad fields of robotics

  • Kinematically redundant robots (Ref. My papers with co-author Ekta Singla or her PhD thesis, Master's thesis of Gaurav)
  • Parallel-actuated robots (Ref. My papers with co-author T S Mruthyunjaya, particularly the review paper of 2000, for the basics of the field)
  • Robot Motion planning (Ref. https://home.iitk.ac.in/~dasgupta/teaching/RMP/PathPlanView.pdf)
  • Robotic cooperation
  • ... Other robotics problems

1. If you feel a strong repulsion from mathematics, numerical analysis or programming.     [You need not be a champion in them to begin with, but repulsion would not do.]
2. If you want your thesis to primarily focus on building physical artefacts.     [Indeed, that is the original idea of engineering, but there are issues.]
3. If you need/want your thesis guide to precisely define your thesis problem and thoroughly guide you through it.     [Seeding an idea, watering it periodically and monitoring it through germination and flowering is okay.]

If interested to work with me for your thesis,

1. Email me with your details, mentioning your graded preference for the areas discussed, if you have some preference.
2. I confirm (or decline) as soon as I can. [Have to decline if your request comes after I commit my slots to others.]
3. You confirm, fill the form, sign at your place in the form and attach the DOC file (not PDF) with your mail.
4. I sign and mail it to the ME office, with a copy to you.
5. You pre-register for
   • ME751 (CAD);
   • At least one course from ME763 / ME766 (Robotics courses);
   • Look up the courses offered (in ME and other relevant departments too), pick some and consult;
   • 9 credits (one course equivalent) of thesis; and
   KEEP ONE COURSE SLOT FREE FOR ME752 (Optimization) that I intend to offer in the summer term.
6. After that, I do not bug you for a month. We have a meeting with all thesis students together just after your end-semester examination, to plan further plan of action.

Whoever your thesis guide may be,
if you feel a consultation with me on any problem to be useful,
you are always welcome to approach me.

Thank you.