Atul Thakur is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Patna. His research interest is broadly in the area of robotics, automation, and additive manufacturing. He has been actively engaged in the research involving the design, motion planning, and control of bio-inspired robots, application of robotics in the area of solid waste management, and selective micromanipulation of biological cells using magnetic microrobots. He received a Ph.D. degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park, Master of Technology (M.Tech.) degree in manufacturing engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, and Bachelor of Engineering (B.E.) degree in production engineering from the University of Mumbai. Atul is a recipient of the 2013 Best Dissertation Award from ASME – CIE Division. He received the Elsevier Journal of Computer-Aided Design 2012 most cited paper award. He is also a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) since 2009 and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) since 2011.