Professor Ashitava Ghosal is a Professor and Senior Associate Dean in the School of Engineering and Applied Science. He is the former Dean of Engineering, and Professor Satish Dhawan Chair Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru. At IISc, he held joint appointments at the Centre for Product Design and Manufacturing and the Robert Bosch Centre for Cyber Physical Systems. He completed his PhD from Stanford University, California, and acquired MS and BTech degrees from the University of Florida, Gainesville, and the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, respectively.
Professor Ghosal's research areas are kinematics, dynamics, control and design of robots, and other computer-controlled mechanical systems. He is also interested in designing bio-medical devices and tools for minimally invasive surgery, parallel mechanisms and cable-actuated robots, numerical and experimental investigations in quadruped walking and reaching tasks, and product design. His research focuses on exploring associated theories, developing algorithms, software and hardware, conducting experimental work to validate theories and algorithms, and prototyping.
Professor Ghosal has six patents and over 175 publications in archival journals and national and international conferences. Several national and international agencies funded his research, including the Department of Science and Technology, Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council, Defence Research and Development Organisation, General Motors, Robert Bosch Foundation, and Solar Energy Research Institute for India and the US.
Professor Ghosal was elected as an Executive Committee member of the International Federation for the Promotion of Mechanism and Machine Science for two terms (2016-19 and 2019-23). He is an Associate Editor of the Elsevier Journal of Mechanism and Machine Theory and served as Associate Editor of the ASME Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics, ASME Journal of Mechanical Design, Mechanics Based Design of Structures and Machines, and Recent Patents in Mechanical Engineering. He was elected a Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering in 2010 and is a life member of the Association of Machines and Mechanisms, India.
Professor Ghosal has authored a textbook titled Robotics: Fundamental Concepts and Analysis by Oxford University Press. Professor Ghosal created two National Programmes on Technology Enhanced Learning lecture series on Robotics and Dynamics and Control of Mechanical Systems, which are part of the academic curriculum in several Indian institutions.