Abhinav Dahiya

About

Abhinav Dahiya is a leading researcher at the intersection of multi-agent systems, human-robot interaction (HRI), and compliant actuation. His work addresses two fundamental challenges in robotics: how robots can physically interact safely with humans and environments, and how teams of semi-autonomous robots can be effectively supervised by human operators. Dahiya’s highly cited survey on multi-agent HRI systems (over 110 citations) provides a foundational framework for understanding systems with multiple humans and multiple robots. In actuation, he pioneered the development of compliant actuators with efficiently tunable positive-negative stiffness, enabling energy-efficient impedance modulation—a critical capability for prosthetics, orthotics, and wearable exoskeletons. His research on scalable operator allocation using restless bandit approaches has advanced the theory of shared autonomy in multi-robot teams, addressing how to optimally schedule human assistance when robots encounter faults. Dahiya has also contributed to adaptive HRI by developing methods for incrementally estimating a user’s expertise level from their actions, allowing robots to tailor their behavior and assistance accordingly. His work on the impact of interruptions during multi-robot supervision tasks provides practical insights for designing effective human-robot collaboration in real-world settings.

Research Focus

Key Achievements

Top Papers

1. 1
   A survey of multi-agent Human–Robot Interaction systems

   111 citations · 2022
2. 2
   Compliant actuation for energy efficient impedance modulation

   29 citations · 2016
3. 3
   Scalable Operator Allocation for Multirobot Assistance: A Restless Bandit Approach

   18 citations · 2022
4. 4
   Efficiently tunable positive-negative stiffness actuator

   9 citations · 2017
5. 5
   A Survey of Multi-Agent Human-Robot Interaction Systems

   8 citations · 2022
6. 6
   Incremental Estimation of Users’ Expertise Level

   4 citations · 2019
7. 7
   On the Impact of Interruptions During Multi-Robot Supervision Tasks

   3 citations · 2023
8. 8
   Scheduling Operator Assistance for Shared Autonomy in Multi-Robot Teams

   3 citations · 2022
9. 9
   The Effect of Robot Decision Making on Human Perception of a Robot in a Collaborative Task - A Remote Study

   3 citations · 2021

Key Collaborators

Contact & Links