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About

Nikhil Potu Surya Prakash is pioneering the intersection of differential geometry and robotic manipulation, with a focused research program on geometric impedance control on the Lie group SE(3). His work addresses a fundamental challenge in robotics: enabling manipulators to interact safely and dexterously with unknown environments. Prakash’s major contributions include developing control frameworks that leverage the natural geometric structure of SE(3)—the space of rigid body motions—to achieve superior stability and performance during contact-rich tasks. His 2023 paper introducing geometric impedance control on SE(3) has garnered 14 citations, establishing a foundation for his subsequent work on SE(3)-equivariant learning. In a follow-up study with 10 citations, he demonstrated how group invariance and equivariance can dramatically improve the transferability of learned manipulation policies across different tasks and scenarios. His 2024 comparative analysis of Lie group versus Lie algebra-based potential functions (6 citations) provides critical design insights for practitioners. Collectively, Prakash’s research is shaping a new paradigm where control theory and geometric machine learning converge, promising more adaptable and robust robots for manufacturing, healthcare, and beyond.