Kavin M. Govindarajan

Robotics PhD @ University of Michigan | NSF Graduate Research Fellow

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I am a third-year Ph.D. student in Robotics at the University of Michigan. I am an NSF Graduate Research Fellow and am co-advised by Dr. Dimitra Panagou in the DASC Lab and Dr. Chris Vermillion in the CORE Lab. My research focuses on persistent planning and optimal control for renewably-powered robotic vehicles.

I was a Park Scholar at North Carolina State University, where I received a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering and a B.S. in Applied Mathematics. During my time at NCSU, I was involved with Liquid Rocketry Lab where I worked on developing the dynamic model and the guidance, navigation, and control aspects of a spaceshot liquid bipropellant rocket.

In my free time, I enjoy playing the piano and guitar, playing and watching sports, snowboarding, and cooking.

selected publications

  1. 2026_periodic_path.png
    Optimally Trading Energy for Information through Speed Trajectory Optimization of Sustainably Powered Mobile Robots
    Kavin M. Govindarajan, Dimitra Panagou, and Chris Vermillion
    In American Control Conference (ACC), 2027
    (Under Review)
  2. 2025-lake-testing.jpg
    Clarity-Driven Adaptive Mission Planning for a Solar-Powered Autonomous Surface Vessel
    Kavin M. Govindarajan, Kaleb Ben Naveed, David Li, and 5 more authors
    IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology, 2026
    (In Press)
  3. 2025-fusedindirectmethods-soc_constraint_subplot.png
    Fusion of Indirect Methods and Iterative Learning for Persistent Velocity Trajectory Optimization of a Sustainably Powered Autonomous Surface Vessel
    Kavin M. Govindarajan, Devansh R. Agrawal, Dimitra Panagou, and 1 more author
    In 2025 IEEE Conference on Control Technology and Applications (CCTA), 2025
  4. soc_v_time.png
    Predictive Velocity Trajectory Control for a Persistently Operating Solar-Powered Autonomous Surface Vessel
    Kavin Govindarajan, Ben Haydon, and Chris Vermillion
    In 2023 American Control Conference (ACC), 2023