Prahlad Vadakkepat is a researcher in the field of robotics and is the founder and general secretary of the

Federation of International Robot-soccer Association (FIRA) is an international organisation organising competitive soccer - usually 5-a-side - competitions between autonomous robot A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex se ...

(FIRA) and in 2013 is its general secretary. He is an associate professor at the

National University of Singapore The National University of Singapore (NUS) is a national public research university in Singapore. Founded in 1905 as the Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States Government Medical School, NUS is the oldest autonomous university in the c ...

. His research is in the areas of

Humanoid A humanoid (; from English ''human'' and ''-oid'' "resembling") is a non-human entity with human form or characteristics. The earliest recorded use of the term, in 1870, referred to indigenous peoples in areas colonized by Europeans. By the 20t ...

s, Neuro-Fuzzy Controllers, Distributed robotic systems,

Biomorphic Biomorphism models artistic design elements on naturally occurring patterns or shapes reminiscent of nature and living organisms. Taken to its extreme it attempts to force naturally occurring shapes onto functional devices. History Within the c ...

Robots, Intelligent Control techniques and

Frugal Innovation Frugal innovation or frugal engineering is the process of reducing the complexity and cost of a good and its production. Usually this refers to removing nonessential features from a durable good, such as a car or telephone, in order to sell it in d ...

Early life and education

Vadakkepat grew up in the

Palghat District Palakkad District () is one of the List of districts of Kerala, 14 districts in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kerala. It was carved out from the southeastern region of the former Malabar District on 1 January 1957. ...

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

,Robots to share and care - The Hindu
/ref> India. Vadakkepat received B.Tech from

NSS College of Engineering NSS College of Engineering, Palakkad (Commonly known as NSSCE) is the fourth engineering educational institution established in Kerala, India. It was founded in 1960 by Nair Service Society. NSS College of Engineering is one of the premier insti ...

in electrical engineering (1986), M.Tech (1989) and PhD (1996) degrees from

Indian Institute of Technology Madras Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) is a public technical university located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. As one of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), it is recognized as an Institute of National Importance and has be ...

. He was with the Regional Engineering College Calicut National Institute of Technology Calicut, India as lecturer (1991–96). Vadakkepat pursued postdoctoral studies (1996–98) at the

Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) is a national research university located in Daedeok Innopolis, Daejeon, South Korea. KAIST was established by the Korean government in 1971 as the nation's first public, research ...

KAIST. He is a recipient of the Korea Science and Engineering Foundation KOSEF fellowship. In 1999 he moved to the

Career

Vadakkepat's work in

FIRA Firá ( el, Φηρά, pronounced ) is the modern capital of the Greek Aegean island of Santorini (Thera). A traditional settlement,http://www.visitgreece.gr Greek National Tourism Organisation "Firá" derives its name from an alternative pron ...

has led to several start ups in robotics and embedded systems. He has toured Europe, Asia and India to popularize FIRA and robotic competitions. He was the general chair to the FIRA RoboWorld Cup and Congress in Singapore, 2005, in

Incheon Incheon (; ; or Inch'ŏn; literally "kind river"), formerly Jemulpo or Chemulp'o (제물포) until the period after 1910, officially the Incheon Metropolitan City (인천광역시, 仁川廣域市), is a city located in northwestern South Kore ...

, and in Bangalore 2010. Vadakkepat is the founder and director of Robhatah Robotic Solutions in Singapore and Bangalore. He initiated the international conference on Computational Intelligence, Robotics and Autonomous Systems. Vadakkepat is an associate editor of the

International Journal of Humanoid Robotics The ''International Journal of Humanoid Robotics'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering the development of intelligent humanoid robots, both theoretical and practical, with an emphasis on future projections. Some areas covered ...

. His Humanoid robot and robot soccer teams have won several international prizes: first prize and overall championship in Humanoids at the FIRA Robot World Cup (Germany 2006, Singapore 2005 and Austria 2003), First Prize in open category in Singapore Robotic Games (2004) and Second prize in FIRA 2004. Vadakkepat is a member of the Confederation of Indian Industries National Committee on Robotics since 2009. Vadakkepat has served as the secretary to the

IEEE The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a 501(c)(3) professional association for electronic engineering and electrical engineering (and associated disciplines) with its corporate office in New York City and its operation ...

Singapore Section for the year 2005 and as technical activity coordinator to the Region 10 (Asia-Pacific) in 2001-2002. He has been a senior member of IEEE (USA, since 2005). He is a fellow of the Institute of Electronics and Telecommunications Engineers, India. Vadakkepat is actively involved in

, for which he visits and promotes projects at the grass-root level. He has taken his students to rural hospitals in

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

to simplify medical treatment processes. He is the founding Editor-in-Chief of the Springer Journal for Frugal Innovation. He runs the 'Ideas for Life' social innovation challenge which seeks design innovations which are simple, novel and useful. Vadakkepat is featured in a number of newspapers and TV shows in several countries (India, Singapore, USA, Korea, Spain, China and France). He has publications in several international journals. He is the founder of the Grama Samskrithy Foundation Palakkad. Vadakkepat is a trustee to the Aryanet Trust which manage
Aryanet Institute of Technology
Palakkad, Kerala.

References

gulftoday.ae , Kalam, Swaminathan join ‘Igniting Minds’ move
/ref>

External links

Dr. Prahlad Vadakkepat's homepage

Federation of International Robotsoccer Association

Robhatah Robotic Solutions
* http://www.ece.nus.edu.sg/staff/bio/pv.html
Computational Intelligence, Robotics and Autonomous Systems
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vadakkepat, Prahlad Year of birth missing (living people) Living people