People

Principal Investigator

Shivesh Kumar

Assistant Professor (Tenure Track) · Division of Dynamics · Chalmers University of Technology

Shivesh Kumar's research focuses on multi-body dynamics and optimal control theory with the aim of developing next-generation physical and athletic intelligence for robotic systems. He received his doctorate (summa cum laude) from the University of Bremen in 2019, and led the Team Mechanics & Control and the Underactuated Robotics Lab at the Robotics Innovation Center in DFKI Bremen (2020–2024) before joining Chalmers in October 2023.

He is the PI of the SSF Future Research Leader grant (15 MSEK, 2025–2030) and the WASP PhD project grant (4 MSEK, 2024–2029). He serves as Associate Editor for IEEE RA-L and IROS, and co-chairs the IEEE RAS Technical Committee on Optimization for Robotics. He was named a New Generation Star in Robotics at IEEE/RSJ IROS 2024 and has won several best paper awards.

shivesh.kumar@chalmers.se Google Scholar ORCID Chalmers Profile

PhD Students

Yu-Hung Pai

PhD Student (Co-supervised)

Machine-learning based fault diagnosis for rotordynamic systems. Co-supervised with Prof. Petri Piiroinen.

Raphael Stockner

PhD Student

AI-based holistic co-design of legged robots. Funded by the SSF Future Research Leader grant (FFL-9).

Sahand Wagemakers

PhD Student

Dynamics and Control of Legged Robots with Flexible Elements. Funded by the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Chalmers.

Joan Badia

PhD Student

AI-driven constrained optimal control for bi-manual loco-manipulation. Funded by the WASP PhD project grant.

Alumni

Master's Thesis

• Piero Tuffili Rigid Flexible Modeling of PACOMA Leg Chalmers · Dec 2025
• Hannah Isermann Adaptive Footstep Planning for MPC of a Quadruped Robot Univ. of Bielefeld · Sep 2024
• Vinayvivian Pedrick Rodrigues Kinetostatic Analysis of a 6-RUS Parallel Continuum Robot RWTH Aachen · Dec 2023
• Chi Zhang RL Based Control of an Underactuated Double Pendulum TU Munich · Nov 2023
• Maximilian Albracht Control of Dynamic Parkour Motions for a Hopping Leg on a Broomstick FH Aachen · Aug 2023
• Grama Srinivas Shourie Mechatronic Design and Control of an Underactuated Three-link Brachiation Robot Ecole Centrale de Nantes · Aug 2023
• Federico Girlanda Robust Co-design of Underactuated Mechanical Systems Univ. Padova · Apr 2023
• Mahdi Javadi Mechatronic Design and Control of an Underactuated Brachiation Robot TU Kaiserslautern · Jul 2022
• Mareike Foerster Perception Thresholds and Discrimination: Force Feedback in Exoskeleton-based Teleoperation City Univ. of Applied Sciences Bremen · May 2022
• Rohit Kumar A Hybrid Numerical and Analytical Approach towards Resolving Loop Closure Constraints Univ. Genoa · Aug 2021
• Julian Esser Highly-Dynamic Movements of a Humanoid Robot Using Whole-Body Trajectory Optimization Univ. Duisburg-Essen · Sep 2020
• Durgesh H. Salunkhe Optimal Kinematic Design of Parallel Mechanism for Otological Surgery Ecole Centrale de Nantes · Aug 2020
• Tim von Oehsen Machine Learning for Inverse Kinematics Univ. Bremen · Jun 2019
• C. Stoeffler Conceptual Design of a Variable Stiffness Mechanism in a Humanoid Ankle Univ. Liège · Jun 2018

Bachelor's Project

• Augusta Fhager, Parsa Khodabakhsh, Sanna Lingsten, Theodor Roegner Kinnmark, Elinor Schwartz Predicting Body Segment Properties: Using Height, Mass and Gender to Estimate the Mass, Center of Mass, and Moment of Inertia of Body Segments Chalmers · May 2025