Kirtiman Singh is applying for a PhD program in control and robotics. He has a background in mechatronics and has worked on projects related to space dynamics and control, mobile robots, and sliding mode control. His goal is to make a meaningful contribution to these fields through further research in areas like nonlinear optimal control and adaptive techniques. He believes the PhD program will provide a suitable environment to further his learning in systems and control.

1. Academic Statement of Purpose
Kirtiman Singh
I am writing to apply for the PhD programme. I wish to pursue higher education in the field
of Control (Optimal and nonlinear) and Robotics (Probabilistic) and apply the knowledge and
skills gained to contribute to the everlasting development in the same field. The motivation
for further study and research in the field of System and control engineering has something
to do with the highly robust and complex nature of the field and to apply the knowledge and
skills gained to contribute to the everlasting development in the same field. It has always
been my ambition to contribute meaningfully to the field of technology. In order to pursue
an active career in research, it is necessary to both study and understand the finer nuances
of any subject.
I did my M.Tech. in Mechatronics from PDPM Indian Institute of Information Technology
Design & Manufacturing, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, India. I underwent an interdisciplinary
curriculum in M.Tech gaining knowledge in various disciplines and learning how to integrate
it. As my institute had collaboration with two of the world’s top ranked universities in
robotics, Tokyo University and Tohoku University, I have been fortunate enough to have
studied some of my professional courses under the guidance of some world renowned
professors. In my graduate programme I was exposed to a variety of subjects such as
Industrial Robotics, Probabilistic Robotics, Design and control of Redundant robotics, MEMS
and Micro-fabrication, Pattern Recognition etc. along with my core Electronics and
Communication courses, which gives a much needed flavour of inter disciplinary course
structure. My institute has also provided me a thorough knowledge of the latest designing
simulating software like MATLAB, ARDUINO, PLC (Rexroth).
After completing my M.Tech I decided to join Aerospace department of IIT Kanpur from all
the other offers. I did courses on Space dynamics, Estimation and detection, mathematics
etc which further promoted my interest on Space mechanics. I worked in the field of space
dynamics and control (closed loop optimal and nonlinear solutions for formation flying and
rendezvous problem under the guidance of Prof. Ashish Tewari). I left 7 months after joining
IIT Kanpur in July 2015.
I worked as a Project Engineer in IIT Kanpur in a DRDO project titled "Collaborative
Navigation of UAVs-UGVs in GPS Denied Environments" and interested in working in the
field of Probabilistic Robotics for which I did the requisite courses (Probability & Random
processes, estimation theory, and Probabilistic robotics) in IIT Kanpur. I had my B.E. in
Electronics & Communication Engineering and concepts of mechanics, robotics, and
mathematics enhanced my concepts. I worked for a period of 6-7 months (December 15 –
June 16). Later I also worked with Dr. Radhakant Padhi, Indian Institute of Sciences

2. Bangalore, for 3 weeks on the project problem of “Optimal guidance for Moon soft landing”
but the theoretic’s could not pan out as it was ending by October.
I did various projects during my B.E and lot of M.Tech class projects encompassing
programming, embedded systems, design and fabrication of actual novel products and
computer graphics. Under the guidance of Dr. Prabin Kumar Padhy, I started working in the
field of Non-holonomic mobile robots from the start of my M.Tech program. While working
on mobile robots, under-actuated systems were the major fascinations. To control these
behaviours, robust nonlinear control techniques have to be used, which is still very much in
its promising stage. As things concluded, I have completed my M.Tech Dissertation on
“Design of Sliding Mode PID Controller with improved reaching laws for Non-Linear System”
using SIMULINK/MATLAB. Its variation based on different sliding surfaces for second order
sliding mode control has also been discussed in the thesis. I submitted a paper on an IEEE
conference (ICCICCT) and a journal on International Journal of Systems, Control and
Communications, INDERSCIENCE.
My ultimate goal in my career is to make a commendable contribution to this field by
starting an innovative venture or doing further research in Nonlinear optimal control,
observers & higher order differentiators, higher order sliding mode controller ,Space
dynamics and control and Adaptive techniques, which are intrinsically evolving with time. I
have read about the research fields in your department and university and feel that Ph.D.
program will be suitable to learn about systems and control. It is this unquenchable thirst
and curiosity to learn more about the other domains of this subject, that too in a much
more competent environment that led me to search for institutes offering relevant post
graduate courses. I am certain that application to your university is the best possible step to
accomplish my academic pursuits and I would regard my admission not only as a great
honor but also as a great responsibility and an obligation to work hard.
Thank you for considering my application.
Kirtiman Singh