PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Arun D. Mahindrakar

Arun Mahindrakar is a control researcher whose work connects reinforcement learning with mechanical systems and autonomous vehicles. He earned an undergraduate degree in electrical and electronics at Karnatak University in 1994 and a master's in control systems at VJTI in 1997, completed a PhD at IIT Bombay under Ravi Banavar, and joined IIT Madras in 2006. A 2018 paper he coauthored applies reinforcement learning to tracking and stabilization in mechanical systems, and his January 2026 paper examines stochastic recursive inclusions under biased perturbations. As of October 2026, he is a professor at IIT Madras and affiliate faculty at the Robert Bosch Centre for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, with interests in mobile-robot control and autonomous vehicles. He served on the IC-ETITE'20 conference committee and investigates a WSAI project that combines statistical learning and predictive control for autonomous vehicles.

Badges

Timeline

  1. 1994–1997

    Electrical and control degrees

    He earns an undergraduate degree in electrical and electronics at Karnatak University in 1994 and a master's in control systems at VJTI in 1997.

  2. By 2006

    Systems and control PhD

    Before joining IIT Madras in 2006, he completes a PhD in Systems and Control Engineering at IIT Bombay under Ravi N. Banavar.

  3. Since 2006

    Joining IIT Madras

    He joins the Department of Electrical Engineering at IIT Madras in 2006 and works on control systems, with a specialization in nonlinear control.

  4. 2009

    A robotics thesis

    He advises Maruthi R.'s 2009 MS thesis on robust stabilization of a mobile inverted pendulum and a ball-on-beam system.

  5. 2018

    Reinforcement learning for control

    He coauthors Tracking and stabilization of mechanical systems using reinforcement learning, a 2018 paper published in the Indian Control Conference.

  6. 2020

    The IC-ETITE'20 committee

    In 2020, he serves on the IC-ETITE'20 conference committee as a member from IIT Madras's Department of Electrical Engineering.

  7. January 2026

    Stochastic recursive inclusions

    In January 2026, he coauthors Stochastic Recursive Inclusions under Biased Perturbations: An Input-to-State Stability Perspective, submitted to arXiv.

  8. As of October 2026

    Professor and project investigator

    As of October 2026, he is a professor at IIT Madras and Affiliate Faculty at RBCDSAI. His research interests include nonlinear stability, geometric control of mobile robots and formation control of autonomous vehicles. He investigates the Hybrid Intelligent Systems in Autonomous Vehicles project, which proposes a framework using statistical learning theory and predictive control for on-road vehicle maneuvering.

Career

  1. Since 2006IIT MadrasProfessor

Education

  1. 1997Veermata Jijabai Technological InstituteMaster's degree
  2. 1994Karnatak UniversityUndergraduate degree
  3. IIT BombayPhD

From the biography.

  1. The United States employs an estimated 48% of people shaping AIIncludes IIT Madras. We estimate where the people shaping AI work today, how universities, companies and research institutes split across countries, and how country shares have changed since the 1960s.
  2. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes IIT Madras. We estimate where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led. Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads with 467 former students, including 291 recorded doctorates.
  3. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes IIT Madras. We estimate where the people shaping AI worked when their most-cited papers appeared: the company share was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974, and Google led all organizations in 2020–2024.
  4. Google has the highest combined h-index among AI organizationsIncludes IIT Madras. We estimate that Google holds the highest combined h-index at 8,016, while universities account for 73% of the deduplicated total across AI organizations.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

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  1. Dr. Arun D. Mahindrakar - EE, IITM ee.iitm.ac.in. Checked 20 October 2026.
  2. Students - Control and Optimization Group ee.iitm.ac.in. Checked 20 October 2026.
  3. Tracking and stabilization of mechanical systems using reinforcement learning | Wadhwani School of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence wsai.iitm.ac.in. Checked 20 October 2026.
  4. ic-ETITE'20 | Committee vit.ac.in. Checked 20 October 2026.
  5. Stochastic Recursive Inclusions under Biased Perturbations: An Input-to-State Stability Perspective arxiv.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  6. Arun D. Mahindrakar | Wadhwani School of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence wsai.iitm.ac.in. Checked 20 October 2026.
  7. Hybrid Intelligent Systems in Autonomous Vehicles | Wadhwani School of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence wsai.iitm.ac.in. Checked 20 October 2026.
  8. Arun D. Mahindrakar | Robert Bosch Centre for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence rbcdsai.iitm.ac.in. Checked 20 October 2026.