Bhaskar Vundurthy, Ph.D.
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Project Scientist
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Biosketch
Dr. Bhaskar Vundurthy is a robotics researcher specializing in adversarial heterogeneous multi-agent systems. As a project scientist at the Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), he investigates the complex interplay between collaborative agents and adversaries in dynamic environments, developing strategies to ensure effective teamwork, robust performance, and resilience against attacks and sabotage. He actively utilizes a variety of robotic platforms to validate and refine his research findings. This work has led to publications in premier IEEE journals and conferences, with both best-paper nominations and special-issue journal invitations. During his time at The MathWorks Inc., Bhaskar created advanced examples for autonomous driving in simulated environments, specifically for the Indy-500 oval circuit.
Bhaskar thrives on mentoring and empowering students to excel in research. He has mentored over 20 graduate students, many of whom have gone on to publish high-impact papers, secure competitive fellowships, and pursue careers in academia and research. His dedication to student success has been recognized through a nomination for CMU's prestigious 'Andy Award' and winning a 'Best Teaching Assistant Award.'
Research Overview
The increasing presence of adversarial robots in complex missions, such as disaster response, surveillance, or reconnaissance, necessitates the development of strategic planning algorithms for heterogeneous multi-robot teams. To prevail in these battlespaces, such algorithms must promote cooperation within robotic teams, thrive amidst adversarial interference, and capitalize on information asymmetries wherever possible. Achieving these capabilities requires breaking down disciplinary silos and fostering collaboration across various fields. In particular, my research admits an interdisciplinary framework that seamlessly blends concepts from computational geometry, game theory, control theory, and operations research to guide my contributions along three primary thrusts:
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Collaborative Autonomy that optimizes coordination within the same team,
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Contested Coordination that develops retaliation algorithms to evade or intercept adversaries, and
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Informed Decision-making that leverages intelligence disparities to exploit adversary vulnerabilities.
Selected Publications
B. Vundurthy and K. Sridharan, "Protecting an Autonomous Delivery Agent Against a Vision-Guided Adversary: Algorithms and Experimental Results," in IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, vol. 16, no. 9, pp. 5667-5679, Sept. 2020 (Journal Impact Factor: 9.112).
B. Vundurthy and K. Sridharan, "Multiagent Gathering With Collision Avoidance and a Minimax Distance Criterion—Efficient Algorithms and Hardware Realization," in IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 699-709, Feb. 2019 (Journal Impact Factor: 9.112).
Sharad Kumar Singh, Puduru Viswanadha Reddy, and B. Vundurthy, "Study of multiple target defense differential games using receding horizon based switching strategies," in IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology, accepted for Publication in August 2021.
B. Vundurthy and K. Sridharan, "Time Optimal Rendezvous for Multi-Agent Systems Amidst Obstacles - Theory and Experiments," IECON 2018 - 44th Annual Conference of the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society, Washington, DC, 2018, pp. 2645-2650.