Dhanushka Kularatne

University of Pennsylvania, Drexel University

Papers

Total Citations

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About

Dhanushka Kularatne’s research lies at the intersection of robotics, fluid dynamics, and autonomous systems, with a focus on enabling robots to navigate and exploit complex flow environments. Her most influential work, “Going with the flow: a graph based approach to optimal path planning in general flows” (2018, 54 citations), introduces a novel graph-based framework that allows autonomous vehicles to compute energy-efficient trajectories by leveraging ambient currents—a breakthrough for applications like ocean monitoring and aerial navigation. In “Small and Adrift with Self-Control: Using the Environment to Improve Autonomy” (2017, 12 citations), she explores how small, resource-constrained robots can harness environmental forces to enhance their autonomy, reducing reliance on onboard power. Her earlier paper, “Tracking Attracting Lagrangian Coherent Structures in Flows” (2015, 9 citations), presents a collaborative control strategy for robot teams to track Lagrangian coherent structures (LCS) and unstable manifolds in two-dimensional flows—critical for predicting pollutant dispersion, planning energy-optimal paths, and understanding biological transport. With over 75 combined citations, Kularatne’s work has advanced the field of flow-informed robotics, offering practical tools for environmental monitoring, search-and-rescue, and oceanography. Her contributions are particularly notable for bridging theoretical fluid dynamics with real-world robotic deployment, making her a key figure in autonomous systems research.