ASOKAN THONDIYATH (Senior Member, IEEE) received his B.Tech. and M.Tech. degrees in mechanical engineering from Calicut University, India, in 1988 and 1991, respectively. He also received a Ph.D. degree from IIT Madras, India, in 2000. He completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship in medical device development with Stanford University. He was a Researcher with the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, where he researched mechatronic systems and robotics for six years. He is currently a Professor in the Department of Engineering Design, IIT Madras. His research interests include the design of robotic systems and product design.