Summary

I hold a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Virginia Tech (USA). My dissertation is titled "Safe Navigation of Multi-Agent Quadrupedal Robots: A Hierarchical Control Framework Based on Distributed Predictive Control and Control Barrier Functions". My research interests lie in Control Theory, Trajectory Optimization, Planning and Autonomy, Reinforcement Learning, and Robotics. My previous projects and work span diverse robotic platforms such as UGVs, UAVs, Robotics Manipulators, and now Quadrupedal Robots. 

My Active Projects and Research

My ongoing project involves control, coordination, and planning for Multi-Agent quadrupedal robots using trajectory planning and Model Predictive Control.

My Previous Works

In my previous works: I have worked on autonomy and planning of UAVs, control synthesis of bipedal planar robots using Hybrid Zero Dynamics and IO-linearizing nonlinear control, Attitude Estimation using sensor fusion and Extended Kalman Filter for a Quadcopter UAV, System ID, LQR controller design for a plant with unknown dynamics, and Adaptive Control design for flutter suppression of Aircraft Wing Section.

My undergraduate degree is in Mechatronics Engineering, and I have spent a significant amount of time working on actual hardware and embedded programming. My other skills include PCB Design, Assembly Programming, Electrical interfacing, Sensor Fusion, and Estimation. My side interests include Perception, Computer Vision, and AI.

Publications

[J1]    B. M. Imran, R. T. Fawcett, J. Kim, A. Leonessa, and K. A. Hamed(October 23, 2024). "A Distributed Layered Planning and Control Algorithm for Teams of Quadrupedal Robots: An Obstacle-Aware Nonlinear Model Predictive Control Approach." ASME. J. Dyn. Sys., Meas., Control. May 2025; 147(3): 031006. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4066632

[J2]    B. M. Imran, J. Kim, T. Chunawala, A. Leonessa and K. A. Hamed, "Safety-Critical and Distributed Nonlinear Predictive Controllers for Teams of Quadrupedal Robots," in IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, vol. 10, no. 9, pp. 9176-9183, Sept. 2025, doi: 10.1109/LRA.2025.3592073.

[J3]    R. Sambhus, K. K. Mehta, A. M. Sadeghi, B. M. Imran, J. Kim, T. Chunawala, V. Pastore, S. Vijayan, and K. Akbari Hamed, "A nonlinear MPC framework for loco-manipulation of quadrupedal robots with non-negligible manipulator dynamics,'' IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, Under Review, July 2025

[C1]    M. H. Tanveer, H. Zhu, W. Ahmed, A. Thomas, B. M. Imran and M. Salman, "Mel-spectrogram and Deep CNN Based Representation Learning from Bio-Sonar Implementation on UAVs," 2021 International Conference on Computer, Control and Robotics (ICCCR), 2021, pp. 220-224, doi: 10.1109/ICCCR49711.2021.9349416

[C2]    M. H. Tanveer, M. Sabbagh, A. Thomas, B. M. Imran and M. H. Soomro, "RNN and Mel-spectrogram based acoustic balancing and bouncing of ping pong ball," 2020 International Conference on Computing, Networking, Telecommunications & Engineering Sciences Applications (CoNTESA), 2020, pp. 16-20, doi: 10.1109/CoNTESA50436.2020.9302849

[C3]    D. Ahmed, W. Shahid Qureshi, S. Arsalan Aijaz, B. M. Imran, S. Manshoor Ali Naqvi and C. -Y. Lin, "Towards Selfie Drone: Spatial Localization and Navigation of drone Using Human Pose Estimation," 2021 International Conference on Robotics and Automation in Industry (ICRAI), 2021, pp. 1-7, doi: 10.1109/ICRAI54018.2021.9651330

[C4]    D. Ahmed, B. M. Imran, M. Churuvija, & M. Karkee (2025). Adaptive Vision-Guided Robotic Arm Control for Precision Pruning in Dynamic Orchard Environments. arXiv preprint arXiv:2504.07309.

Teaching and Mentoring Experience

• GTA for Industrial Electronics ECE3254

• Served as Mentor for new incoming students in the Mechanical Engineering graduate program at Virginia Tech

more at LinkedIn 

OPTIMIZATION CONTROL PLANNING TRAJECTORY OPTIMIZATION PERCEPTION COORDINATION MULTI-AGENT SYSTEMS