PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Prahlad Vadakkepat

Prahlad Vadakkepat is a robotics researcher whose AI work spans humanoid robots and robot soccer. He earned a B.Tech in electrical engineering at NSS College of Engineering, M.Tech and PhD degrees at IIT Madras, and joined NUS in 1999 after postdoctoral study at KAIST. His teams won FIRA humanoid championships in 2003, 2005 and 2006, and he co-edited Humanoid Robotics: A Reference in 2019. In 2024, he coauthored a safe Bayesian optimization paper for robotic control and, in 2025, chaired A*STAR Singapore's Futurescape “I, Robot” panel. At NUS, he has served as Master of Pioneer House since 2017 and is an associate professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering, Area Director for Control, Intelligent Systems and Robotics, and Deputy Director of the Robotics and Machine Intelligence BEng Programme.

Works
149
Citations
3,127
h-index
28
Badges

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 22 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 1986–1999

    Degrees and joining NUS

    Raised in Kerala's Palghat district, he earns a B.Tech in electrical engineering at NSS College of Engineering in 1986 and M.Tech and PhD degrees at IIT Madras in 1989 and 1996. He lectures at Regional Engineering College Calicut from 1991 to 1996, then completes postdoctoral study at KAIST from 1996 to 1998 with a KOSEF fellowship. In 1999, he joins NUS.

  2. 2000–2016

    FIRA General Secretary

    He is the founder secretary of the Federation of International Robot-soccer Association and serves as its General Secretary from 2000 to 2016.

  3. 2003–2006

    FIRA humanoid championships

    His humanoid robots and robot-soccer teams win first prize and the overall championship at FIRA Robot World Cup humanoid events in Austria in 2003, Singapore in 2005, and Germany in 2006.

  4. Since 2017

    Master of Pioneer House

    In August 2017, NUS appoints him Master of Pioneer House, where he provides pastoral care and mentors students. By November 2024, he and residents gather weekly for Dining with Master chats over dinner.

  5. 2019

    Editing a humanoid robotics reference

    With Ambarish Goswami, he co-edits Humanoid Robotics: A Reference, a Springer reference book published in 2019.

  6. 2024

    Safe Bayesian optimization for robotics

    In 2024, he coauthors a paper with Lihao Zheng, Hongxuan Wang, Xiaocong Li and Jun Ma on safe Bayesian optimization for robotic control. The paper uses drone PID-controller optimization as an example and tests the method on Safe Control Gym.

  7. 2025

    Chairing an A*STAR panel

    In 2025, he chairs A*STAR Singapore's Futurescape panel on “I, Robot.”

  8. As of October 2026

    Robotics leadership at NUS

    He is an associate professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering at NUS, Area Director for Control, Intelligent Systems and Robotics, and Deputy Director of the Robotics and Machine Intelligence BEng Programme.

Career

  1. 2025Agency for Science, Technology and ResearchChair
  2. 2017–2024National University of SingaporeFounder Secretary and General Secretary, Master
  3. 2000–2016Federation of International Robot-soccer AssociationFounder Secretary and General Secretary
  4. 1996–1998KAIST
  5. 1991–1996Regional Engineering College CalicutLecturer

Education

  1. 1996IIT MadrasPhD
  2. 1989IIT MadrasM.Tech
  3. 1986NSS College of EngineeringB.Tech in electrical engineering

From the biography and OpenAlex affiliations (the years of papers that list the organization), so some years are approximate.

Most-cited works

  1. Evolutionary artificial potential fields and their application in real time robot path planning2002 · IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation (CEC) · 350 citationsWith Kay Chen Tan
  2. Evolutionary Dynamic Multiobjective Optimization Via Kalman Filter Prediction2015 · IEEE Transactions on Cybernetics · 314 citationsWith Kay Chen Tan
  3. Attention Based Detection and Recognition of Hand Postures Against Complex Backgrounds2012 · International Journal of Computer Vision · 224 citations
  4. Multimodal Approach to Human-Face Detection and Tracking2008 · IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics · 175 citations
  5. A tunable fuzzy logic controller for vehicle-active suspension systems1997 · Fuzzy Sets and Systems · 154 citations

From OpenAlex, as of 21 October 2026.

  1. People shaping AI work at a median of 3 organizations over a career: 3 for university starters and institute and lab starters, versus 2 for company startersIncludes National University of Singapore. Across 6,853 people shaping AI with a dated work role, we estimate a median of 3 parent organizations over a career (mean 3.6), comparing role groups, starting sectors and starting decades from the 1950s to 2020–2026.
  2. The United States employs an estimated 48% of people shaping AIIncludes National University of Singapore. 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.
  3. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes National University of Singapore. 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.
  4. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes National University of Singapore. 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.

Colleagues

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

Sources and credits

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  1. Prahlad Vadakkepat - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. Dr. Prahlad Vadakkepat - Biography sites.google.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. A sense of mattering: Pioneer House Master Prahlad Vadakkepat on fostering care, connection and belonging news.nus.edu.sg. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. Dr. Prahlad Vadakkepat sites.google.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. CiNii Books - Humanoid robotics : a reference ci.nii.ac.jp. Checked 21 October 2026.
  6. Robotic Control Optimization Through Kernel Selection in Safe Bayesian Optimization arxiv.org. Checked 21 October 2026.