Hi, I'm
Nimesh Khandelwal
Robotics Researcher & Co-Founder, xTerra Robotics
PhD researcher at IIT Kanpur, working on software development and motion control for legged robots. Co-building a commercial quadruped robot for industrial inspection and surveillance.
About Me
I am a PMRF (Prime Minister's Research Fellowship) fellow pursuing my PhD in Mechanical Engineering at IIT Kanpur, under the supervision of Prof. Shakti S. Gupta and Prof. Mangal Kothari. My research focuses on learning-based control systems for legged robots.
I am also the Co-Founder and CTO (Software) at xTerra Robotics, where my team and I have developed SVAN M2, a commercial quadruped robot designed for industrial inspection, hazardous environment navigation, and security patrols.
My work focuses on software development and motion control research for legged robots, particularly for industrial inspection and surveillance applications. I design and implement control systems for autonomous mobile robots and test them through physics-based simulations before deploying on real hardware.
Experience
Co-Founder & CTO (Software)
Mar 2023 - PresentxTerra Robotics, Kanpur
Leading software development and motion control research for SVAN M2, a commercial quadruped robot built for industrial inspection and surveillance. Working on learning-based control systems, MPC frameworks, and ROS-based autonomy software.
PhD Researcher (PMRF Fellow)
2020 - PresentIIT Kanpur, Mechanical Engineering
Research on dynamics, control, and stability analysis of legged robots. Working on nonlinear MPC, whole-body control, and reinforcement learning for quadruped locomotion.
Visiting Research Intern
Jan 2024 - Jan 2025CRRL (ECE), New York University
Worked on robotics research at NYU's Control/Robotics Research Lab in the ECE department.
Elite Summer School on Robotics
Aug 2022University of Southern Denmark, Odense
Attended a robotics summer school covering topics in robot control and autonomous systems.
B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering
2016 - 2020MNIT Jaipur
Active member and mentor at ZINE, the institute's robotics and research group. Participated in robotics competitions at IIT Kharagpur, IIT Bombay, MIT Pune, and more.
Project Intern
May 2019 - Jul 2019IISc Bangalore, Aerospace Engineering
Worked on UAV swarm navigation algorithms for the MBZIRC 2020 challenge and autonomous flood-area survivor detection.
Projects
SVAN M2 Quadruped Robot
A commercial quadruped robot designed for industrial inspection and surveillance. 11 kg, 12 DOF, ~5 kg payload, 1 m/s max speed. ROS-based with Raspberry Pi 4B onboard. Built for navigating hazardous and unstructured environments.
Cellular Automata (DRX)
Dynamic recrystallization simulation using cellular automata. Implementations in both Python and C++.
UAV Swarm Navigation
Autonomous wall construction using UAV swarms for MBZIRC 2020 challenge. Includes survivor detection in flood-affected areas.
Monocular 3D Reconstruction
Multiview 3D reconstruction using convex optimization from a monocular camera (EE609A, IIT Kanpur).
Einstein Field Equations Generator
Symbolic computation of Einstein field equations using Python and SymPy.
Skills & Technologies
Robotics & Control
Frameworks & Tools
Programming
AI & Perception
Research Interests
Legged Locomotion
Dynamics, control, and stability analysis of quadruped robots. Developing locomotion controllers for various terrain types.
Learning-Based Control
Combining model-based control with reinforcement learning for adaptive robot behavior. Sim-to-real transfer for real-world deployment.
Nonlinear Dynamical Systems
Stability analysis and control of nonlinear systems. Model Predictive Control for contact-rich robotic manipulation and locomotion.
Autonomous Navigation
LiDAR-inertial odometry, estimation, and motion planning for autonomous mobile robots in unstructured environments.
Get in Touch
Open to discussing research, collaboration, or opportunities in robotics and engineering.