Saurabh Upadhyay

Dr. Saurabh Upadhyay is a Lecturer in Space Engineering at the Centre for Autonomous and Cyberphysical Systems, Cranfield University. He obtained his PhD in Aerospace Engineering from the Indian Institute of Science in 2018, followed by postdoctoral positions at the University of Porto and University of Bristol. His research focuses on enabling safe autonomous operations in extreme environments like space and aerial domains.

His core research interests include:

• Robot autonomy and mobility for space/aerial platforms
• Computationally efficient motion planning algorithms
• Heterogeneous robotic systems for extreme environment exploration
• Low-cost robotic solutions for complex terrains
• Kinodynamic trajectory optimization

Publications demonstrate consistent focus on trajectory planning using logistic curves, with applications in quadrotor navigation, planetary robotics, and constrained environments. Recent work emphasizes real-time feasible solutions for window traversing and impact-angle control.

Awards and honors:

• Engineering Faculty Post-Doctoral Research Prize (EPSRC/University of Bristol)
• Prof. A. K. Rao Medal for Best PhD Thesis
• Royal Academy of Engineering Endorsement (2021)
• Fellow of Higher Education Academy (FHEA)
• Senior Member of IEEE and AIAA

He leads research funded by EPSRC CASCADE Programme (EP/R009953/1) and seeks students/post-docs for projects in robotic autonomy. Collaborates with Bristol Robotics Laboratory and international partners on space robotics initiatives.