P. S. Krishnaprasad

Also known as Perinkulam Sambamurthy Krishnaprasad

Krishnaprasad is a control theorist at the University of Maryland whose geometric methods connect robot control with the pursuit and flocking behavior of animals. He earned a Harvard doctorate in 1977 under Roger Brockett, taught at Case Western Reserve University until 1980, and joined Maryland in August 1980, where he became a professor of electrical engineering in 1987 and began directing the Intelligent Servosystems Laboratory, a robotics lab. IEEE elected him a Fellow in 1990, and he received the 2007 Bode Lecture Prize. A 2006 PLOS Biology paper with Kaushik Ghose, Timothy Horiuchi and Cynthia Moss showed that echolocating bats use a nearly time-optimal interception strategy, and in 2010 he and Andrea Cavagna began an AFOSR-supported project on flocks and swarms with the goal of control systems for autonomous robots. He is a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Maryland, where his current focus is collective behavior in biological systems and its use in robots.

Now at: University of Maryland
Works: 266
Citations: 11,356
h-index: 40
Badges: Loyal

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 22 October 2026.

Timeline

1977–1980

Harvard PhD and Case Western

He earns a PhD in applied mathematics from Harvard University in 1977, with Roger W. Brockett as his doctoral advisor and a dissertation titled Geometry of Minimal Systems and the Identification Problem. From 1977 to 1980, he teaches in the Systems Engineering Department at Case Western Reserve University.
1980–1988

Professor at Maryland

He joins the University of Maryland in August 1980, becomes Professor of Electrical Engineering in 1987, and takes a joint appointment with the Institute for Systems Research in 1988. He is among the founding faculty of that institute.
Since 1987

Intelligent Servosystems Laboratory

Since 1987, he directs the Intelligent Servosystems Laboratory, where experimental research has included flexible robot arms, tactile perception, nonholonomic robot design, smart material actuators, and mobile robotics. His work on intelligent control architectures draws in part on biological paradigms such as central pattern generators and neural networks.
1990

Elected IEEE Fellow

He is elected a Fellow of the IEEE in 1990 for contributions to geometric and nonlinear control and engineering education.
2006

Time-optimal pursuit in bats

With Kaushik Ghose, Timothy K. Horiuchi and Cynthia F. Moss, he publishes a PLOS Biology paper in 2006 on a nearly time-optimal strategy that echolocating bats use to intercept prey. The analysis of big brown bats chasing erratic insects suggests a constant absolute target direction strategy, similar to the interception strategy in some guided missiles.
2007

The Bode Lecture Prize

He receives the 2007 Hendrik W. Bode Lecture Prize of the IEEE Control Systems Society for fundamental contributions to the theory of control of natural and synthetic physical systems.
2010–2013

Flocks, swarms and cyclic pursuit

In 2010, he and Andrea Cavagna of the Institute for Complex Systems at the Italian National Research Council begin an AFOSR-supported four-year project on collective behavior in natural and engineered systems, aimed at control systems for swarms of autonomous robots. In 2013, he publishes Symmetry and reduction in collectives: cyclic pursuit strategies in the Proceedings of the Royal Society A with Kevin Galloway and Eric Justh.
As of October 2026

Studying collectives at Maryland

He is Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Maryland, with ties to the Institute for Systems Research, the Maryland Robotics Center and the Brain and Behavior Institute. His current focus is collective behavior in biological systems and applications of related ideas to engineered systems such as robots.