Publications

Refereed Journal Publications

1. M. A. V. J. Muthugala, S. M. B. P. Samarakoon, and M. R. Elara, "Toward energy-efficient online Complete Coverage Path Planning of a ship hull maintenance robot based on Glasius Bio-inspired Neural Network," Expert Systems with Applications, vol. 187, pp. 115940, 2022. [2020 IF: 6.954, Q1]

2. M. A. V. J. Muthugala, S. M. B. P. Samarakoon, P. Veerajagadheswar, and M. R. Elara, ``Ensuring Area Coverage and Safety of a Reconfigurable Staircase Cleaning Robot,'' IEEE Access,vol. 9, pp.150049-150059, 2021. [2020~IF:~3.467, Q2]

3. M. A. V. J. Muthugala, P. Palanisamy, S. M. B. P. Samarakoon, S. G. A. Padmanabha, M. R. Elara, and D.N. Terntzer, "Raptor: A Design of a Drain Inspection Robot," Sensors, vol. 21, no.17, pp.5742, 2021. [2020 IF: 3.576, Q1]

4. M. A. V. J. Muthugala, K. G. S. Apuroop, S. G. A. Padmanabha, S. M. B. P. Samarakoon, M. R. Elara, R. Y. W. Wen, \Falcon: A False Ceiling Inspection Robot," Sensors, vol. 21, no.16, pp. 5281, 2021. [2020 IF: 3.576, Q1]

5. M. A. V. J. Muthugala, S. M. B. P. Samarakoon, M. M. Rayguru, R. Balakrishnan, and M. R. Elara, "Wall-Following Behavior for a Disinfection Robot Using Type-1 and Type-2 Fuzzy Logic Systems ," Sensors, 2020. [2019 IF: 3.275, Q1]

6. M.  A.  V.  J.  Muthugala,  A.  V.  Le,  E.  S.  Cruz,  M.  R.  Elara,  P.  Veera-jagadheswar,  and  M.  Kumar,  "A  self-organizing  fuzzy  logic  classifier for benchmarking robot-aided blasting of  ship hulls," Sensors, vol. 20, 2020.  [2018 IF: 3.031, Q1]

7. M. A. V. J. Muthugala, P. H. D. A. S. Srimal, and A. G. B. P. Jayasekara, "Improving Robot's Perception of Uncertain Spatial Descriptors in Navigational Instructions by Evaluating Influential Gesture Notions," Journal on Multimodal User Interfaces, In press. [2018~IF:~2.02, Q2][PDF]

8. M. A. V. J. Muthugala, S. M. B. P. Samarakoon, and Mohan Rajesh Elara, "Tradeoff between Area Coverage and Energy Usage of a Self-Reconfigurable Floor Cleaning Robot based on User Preference," IEEE Access, 2020. [2018 IF: 4.098, Q1]

9. M. A. V. J. Muthugala, A. Vengadesh, X. Wu, M. R. Elara, M. Iwase, L. Sun, and J. Hao, "Expressing attention requirement of a floor cleaning robot through interactive lights," Automation in Construction, vol. 110, pp. 103015, 2020. [2018 IF 4.313, Q1][Paper]

10. M. A. V. J. Muthugala, M. Vega-Heredia, R. E. Mohan, and S. R. Vishaal, "Design and Control of a Wall Cleaning Robot with Adhesion-Awareness," Symmetry special issue on Fuzzy Mathematics Applied to Science, Engineering and Sustainability Issues, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 122, 2020. [2018 IF 2.143, Q2] 

11. M. A. V. J. Muthugala and A. G. B. P. Jayasekara, "Improving the understanding of navigational commands by adapting a robot’s directional perception based on the environment," Journal of Ambient Intelligence and Smart Environments, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 135-148, 2019. [2018 IF: 1.186]

12. M. A. V. J. Muthugala and A. G. B. P. Jayasekara, "A Review of Service Robots Coping with Uncertain Information in Natural Language Instructions," IEEE Access, vol. 6, pp.12913 - 12928, 2018. [2018 IF: 4.098, Q1][PDF]

13. M. A. V. J. Muthugala and A. G. B. P. Jayasekara, ''Enhancing User Satisfaction by Adapting Robot's Perception of Uncertain Information Based on Environment and User Feedback," IEEE Access, vol. 5, pp. 26435-26447, 2017. [2017 IF: 3.557, Q1][PDF]

14. M. A. V. J. Muthugala, P. H. D. A. S. Srimal, and A. G. B. P. Jayasekara, "Enhancing Interpretation of Ambiguous Voice Instructions based on Environment and User’s Intention for Improved Human Friendly Robot Navigation," Applied Sciences special issue on social robotics, vol. 7, no. 8, article no.  821, 2017. [2017 IF: 1.689] [PDF][Video]

15. S. M. B. P. Samarakoon, M. A. V. J. Muthugala, and A. G. B. P. Jayasekara, and M. R. Elara, "A Review on Human–Robot Proxemics,'' Electronics, vol. 11, no. 16, 2022. [2021 IF: 2.690]

16. T. Pathmakumar, M. A. V. J. Muthugala, S. M. B. P. Samarakoon, B. F. Gómez, and M. R. Elara, "A Novel Path Planning Strategy for a Cleaning Audit Robot Using Geometrical Features and Swarm Algorithms,'' Sensors, vol. 22, no. 14, 2022. [2021 IF: 3.847, Q2]

17. S. M.B. P. Samarakoon, M. A. V. J. Muthugala, A. G. B. P. Jayasekara, and M. R. Elara, "Adapting Approaching Proxemics of a Service Robot based on Physical User Behavior and Prior Experience,'' User Modeling and User-Adapted Interaction, 2022. [2020~IF:~4.412, Q1]

18. S. M. B. P. Samarakoon, M. A. V. J. Muthugala, and M. R. Elara, "Metaheuristic based navigation of a reconfigurable robot through narrow spaces with shape changing ability,'' Expert Systems with Applications, vol. 201, pp. 117060, 2022. [2020~IF:~6.954, Q1]

19. Y. J. Ng, M. S. K. Yeo, Q. B. Ng, M. Budig, M. A. V. J. Muthugala, S. M. B. P. Samarakoon, and M. R. Elara, "Application of an adapted FMEA framework for robot-inclusivity of built environments,'' Scientific Reports, vol. 12, pp. 3408, 2022. [2020~IF:~4.380, Q1]

20. M. S. K. Yeo, S. M. B. P. Samarakoon, Q. B. Ng, Y. J. Ng, M. A. V. J. Muthugala, M. R. Elara, and R. W. W. Yeong, "Robot-Inclusive False Ceiling Design Guidelines,'' Buildings, vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 203, 2021 [2020 IF: 2.648, Q2].

21. A. W. Y. Sang, C. G. Moo, S. M. B. P. Samarakoon, M. A. V. J. Muthugala, and M. R. Elara, "Design of a Reconfigurable Wall Disinfection Robot," Sensors , vol. 21, no. 18, pp. 6096, 2021. [2020 IF: 3.576, Q1]

22. S. M.B. P. Samarakoon, M. A. V. J. Muthugala, R. E. Abdulkader, S. W. Si, T. T. Tun, and M. R. Elara, "Modelling and Control of a Reconfigurable Robot for Achieving Reconfiguration and Locomotion with Diferent Shapes," Sensors. vol. 21, pp.5362, 2021. [2020 IF: 3.576, Q1]

23. S. M. B. P. Samarakoon, M. A. V. J. Muthugala, and M. R. Elara, "Toward Obstacle-Specific Morphology for a Reconfigurable Tiling Robot," Journal of Ambient Intelligence and Humanized Computing, 2021. [2020 IF: 7.104, Q1].

24. R. Parween, M. A. V. J. Muthugala, M. V.Heredia, K. Elangovan, and M. R. Elara, "Collision Avoidance and Stability Study of a Self-Reconfigurable Drainage Robot," Sensors, vol. 21, no. 11, pp. 3744, 2021. [2020 IF: 3.576, Q1]

25. M. S. K. Yeo, S. M. B. P. Samarakoon, Q. B. Ng, M. A. V. J. Muthugala, and M. R. Elara, "Design of Robot-Inclusive Vertical Green Landscape," Buildings, vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 203, 2021. [2020 IF: 2.648, Q2]

26. S. M. B. P. Samarakoon, M. A. V. J. Muthugala, M. R. Elara, and Selvakumaran, "Toward Pleomorphic Reconfigurable Robots for Optimum Coverage," Complexity, 2021. [2020 IF: 2.833, Q2]

27. S. M. B. P. Samarakoon, M. A. V. J. Muthugala, Anh Vu Le, and M. R. Elara, "Toward Complete Area Coverage of a Recongurable Tiling Robot by Following Obstacle Shape," Complex & Intelligent Systems, 2021. [2020 IF: 4.927, Q2]

28. A. V. Le, P. Veerajagadheswar, P. T. Kyaw, M. A. V. J. Muthugala, M. R. Elara, M. Kumar, and N. H. K. Nhan, "Towards Optimal Hydro-Blasting in Recongurable Climbing System for Corroded Ship Hull Cleaning and Maintenance," Expert Systems With Applications, 2020. [2019 IF: 5.452, Q1]

29. A. V. Le, P. T. Kyaw, P. Veerajagadheswar, M. A. V. J. Muthugala, M. R. Elara, M. Kumar, and N. H. K. Nhan, "Reinforcement Learning-based Optimal CompleteWater-blasting for Autonomous Ship Hull Corrosion Cleaning System," Ocean Engineering, 2020. [2019 IF: 3.068, Q1]

30. S. M. B. P. Samarakoon, M. A. V. J. Muthugala,  Anh Vu Le, and Mohan Rajesh Elara, "hTetro-Infi: A Reconfigurable Floor Cleaning Robot with Infinite Morphologies," IEEE Access, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 69816-69828, 2020. [2018 IF: 4.098, Q1]

31. R. Balakrishnan, J. Yin, M. R. Elara, Y. K. Tamilselvam, M. M. Rayguru, M. A. V. J. Muthugala, and B. F. Gomez, "Human Support Robot for Cleaning and Maintenance of Door Handles using Deep Learning Framework," Sensors, vol. 20, no.11, 2020. [2018 IF: 3.031, Q1]

32. M. M. Rayguru, M. R. Elara, R. Balakrishnan, M. A. V. J. Muthugala, S. M. B. P. Samarakoon "A Path Tracking Strategy for Car Like Robots With Sensor Unpredictability and Measurement Errors," Sensors, vol. 20, 2020. [2018 IF: 3.031, Q1]

33. H. M. R. T. Bandara, M. A. V. J. Muthugala, A. G. B. P. Jayasekara, and D. P. Chandima, "Understanding uncertain information in vocal description for creating virtual spatial maps,''  Journal of Behavioral Robotics, vol. 10, no. 1, 2019.

Publications in International Conferences

 Highlights:  ICRA - 4 | IROS - 8 | FUZZ - 3| RO-MAN - 4| SMC - 2

1. M. A. V. J. Muthugala, S. M. B. P. Samarakoon, and M. R. Elara, "Online Coverage Path Planning Scheme for a Size-Variable Robot," in 2023 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), London, 2023.

2. M. A. V. J. Muthugala, M. Vega-Heredia, N. H. Lin, S. M. B. P. Samarakoon, and M. R. Elara, "Adhesion Risk Assessment of An Aircraft Inspection Robot for Improving Operator Awareness,'' 2022 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), Kyoto, 2022.

3. M. A. V. J. Muthugala, S. M. B. P. Samarakoon, and M. R. Elara, "Design by Robot: A Human-Robot Collaborative Framework for Improving Productivity of a Floor Cleaning Robot,'' in 2022 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Philadelphia, 2022.

4. M. A. V. J. Muthugala, S. M. B. P. Samarakoon, and M. R. Elara, "Variation of Area Coverage per Polyform: An analysis to assist users in selecting a robot,'' in 27th International conference on Artificial Life and Robotics, Beppu, 2022, pp. 524-528.

5. M. A. V. J. Muthugala, M. Vega-Heredia, N. H.Lin, S. M. B. P. Samarakoon, A. A. Hayat, and M. R. Elara, "Design and Development of a Reconfigurable Aircraft Maintenance Robot," in 5th IEEE/IFToMM International Conference on Reconfigurable Mechanisms and Robots (ReMAR 2021), Toronto, 2021, pp. 16-25.

6. M. A.V. J. Muthugala, M. Vega-Herdia, V. Ayyalusami, G. Sriharsha, and M. R. Elara, "Design of an Adhesion-Aware Facade Cleaning Robot," in 2019 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), Macau, 2019, pp. 1441-1447.

7. M. A. V. J. Muthugala and A. G. B. P. Jayasekara, “Interpreting Uncertain Information Related to Relative References for Improved Navigational Command Understanding of Service Robots," in 2017 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), Vancouver, 2017, pp. 6567-6574. [PDF][video]

8. M. A. V. J. Muthugala and A. G. B. P. Jayasekara, “Interpreting Fuzzy Directional Information in Navigational Commands Based on Arrangement of the Surrounding Environment,” in 2017 IEEE International Conference on Fuzzy Systems (FUZZ-IEEE), Naples, 2017, pp. 1-7. [PDF]

9. M. A. V. J. Muthugala and A. G. B. P. Jayasekara, “Interpretation of Uncertain Information in Mobile Service Robots by Analyzing Surrounding Spatial Arrangement Based on Occupied Density Variation," 2016 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), Daejeon, 2016, pp. 1517-1523.[PDF][Video]

10. M. A. V. J. Muthugala and A. G. B. P. Jayasekara, “Enhancing Human- Robot Interaction by Interpreting Uncertain Information in Navigational Commands Based on Experience and Environment," in 2016 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Stockholm, 2016. [PDF][Video]

11. M. A. V. J. Muthugala and A. G. B. P. Jayasekara, “MIRob: An Intelligent Service Robot that Learns from Interactive Discussions while Handling Uncertain Information in User Instructions," in 2016 Moratuwa Engineering Research Conference (MERCon), Moratuwa, 2016. [Best paper award] [PDF][video]

12. M. A. V. J. Muthugala and A. G. B. P. Jayasekara, “Interpreting Fuzzy Linguistic Information in User Commands by Analyzing Movement Restrictions in the Surrounding Environment," in 2015 Moratuwa Engineering Research Conference (MERCon), Moratuwa, 2015, pp. 124-129. [PDF]

13. M. A. V. J. Muthugala and A. G. B. P. Jayasekara, “Synthesizing Fuzzy Linguistic Vocal Responses by Adapting Perception of Robot Based on Visual Attention," in 2014 7th Int. Conf. on Information and Automation for Sustainability (ICIAfS), Colombo, 2014, pp.1-6. [PDF]

14. M. A. V. J. Muthugala, M. K. B. S. Munasinghe, M. H. C. Lakshan, L. H. H. Madurangi, and A. G. B. P. Jayasekara, “Design of an interactive robotic head with human-like movements," in 2013 8th IEEE Int. Conf. on Industrial and Information Systems, Peradeniya, 2013, pp. 355-360. [PDF]

15. S. M. B. P. Samarakoon, M. A. V. J. Muthugala, and M. R. Elara, "Online Complete Coverage Path Planning of a Reconfigurable Robot using Glasius Bio-inspired Neural Network and Genetic Algorithm,'' 2022 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), Kyoto, 2022.

16. S. M. B. P. Samarakoon, M. A. V. J. Muthugala, M. Kalimuthu, S. K. Chandrasekaran, and M. R. Elara, "Design of a Reconfigurable Robot with Size-Adaptive Path Planner,'' 2022 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), Kyoto, 2022.

17. R. F. G. Azcarate, S. C. Daniela, A. A. Hayat, L. Yi, M. A. V. J. Muthugala, Q. R. Tang, A. P. Povendhan, K. J. K. Leong, and M. R. Elara, "Shared Autonomy for Safety Between a Self-reconfigurable Robot and a Teleoperator Using Multi-layer Fuzzy Logic,'' 2022 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), Kyoto, 2022.

18. S. M. B. P. Samarakoon, M. A. V. J. Muthugala, and M. R. Elara, "Global and Local Area Coverage Path Planner for a Reconfigurable Robot,'' in 2022 IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation (CEC), Paduva, 2022.

19. M. S. K. Yeo, A. Q. B. Ng, T. Y. J. Ng, S. M. B. P. Samarakoon, M. A. V. J. Muthugala, M. R. Elara, and D. T. Ng, "Robot-inclusive Guidelines for Drain Inspection," in 2021 The 8th International Conference on Information Technology, Computer, and Electrical Engineering (ICITACEE 2021), 2021.

20. A. A. Hayat, S. C. Eduardo, M. A. V. J. Muthugala, A. L. Pinxian, and M. R. Elara, \Design and Development of a Reconfigurable Aircraft Maintenance Robot," in 5th IEEE/IFToMM International Conference on Reconfigurable Mechanisms and Robots (ReMAR 2021), Toronto, 2021, pp. 722-731.

21. S. M. B. P. Samarakoon, M. A. V. J. Muthugala, A. G. B. P. Jayasekara, and M. R. Elara "An Exploratory Study on Proxemics Preferences of Humans in Accordance with Attributes of Service Robots," in 28th IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN), Accepted for publication.

22. S. M. B. P. Samarakoon, H. P. C. Sirithunge, M. A. V. J. Muthugala, and A. G. B. P. Jayasekara, "Proxemics and Approach Evaluation by Service Robot Based on User Behavior in Domestic Environment," in 2018 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on  Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), Madrid, 2018. [PDF]

23. S. M. B. P. Samarakoon, M. A. V. J. Muthugala, and A. G. B. P. Jayasekara, "Identifying Approaching Behavior of a Person During a Conversation: A Human Study for Improving Human-Robot Interaction," in 2018 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (SMC), Miyazaki, 2018.

24. H. M. R. T. Bandara, M. A. V. J. Muthugala, A. G. B. P. Jayasekara, and D. P. Chandima, "Grounding Object Attributes through Interactive Discussion for Building Cognitive Maps in Service Robots," in 2018 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (SMC), Miyazaki, 2018.

25. S. M. S. S. Senarathna, M. A. V. J. Muthugala, and A. G. B. P. Jayasekara,\Intelligent Robot Companion Capable of Controlling Environment Ambiance of Smart Houses by Observing User's Behavior," in 2018 2nd International Conference on Electrical Engineering (EECon), Colombo, 2018.

26. M. M. S. N. Edirisinghe, M. A. V. J. Muthugala, and A. G. B. P. Jayasekara,\Application of Robot Autobiographical Memory in Long-Term Human-Robot Social Interactions," in 2018 2nd International Conference on Electrical Engineering (EECon), Colombo, 2018.

27. S. M. B. P. Samarakoon, M. A. V. J. Muthugala, and A. G. B. P. Jayasekara, "Replicating Natural Approaching Behavior of Humans for Improving Robot's Approach toward Two Persons During a Conversation," in 27th IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN), Nanjing, 2018, pp. 552-558. [Nanjing City Prize]

28. H. P. C. Sirithunge, M. A. V. J. Muthugala, A. G. B. P. Jayasekara, and D. P. Chandima, "A Wizard of Oz Study of Human Interest towards Robot Initiated Human-Robot Interaction," in 27th IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN), Nanjing, 2018, pp. 515-521.

29. H. M. R. T. Bandara, M. A. V. J. Muthugala, A. G. B. P. Jayasekara, and D. P. Chandima, "Cognitive Spatial Representative Map for Interactive Conversational Model of Service Robot," in 27th IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN), Nanjing, 2018, pp. 686-691.

30. M. M. S. N. Edirisinghe, M. A. V. J. Muthugala, H. P. C. Sirithunge and A. G. B. P. Jayasekara, "Enhancing Overall Object Placement by Understanding Uncertain Spatial and Qualitative Distance Information in User Commands," in 2018 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Brisbane, 2018.

31. G. W. M. Manuhara, M. A. V. J. Muthugala, and A. G. B. P. Jayasekara, "Design and Development of an Interactive Service Robot as a Conversational Companion for Elderly People," in 2018 Moratuwa Engineering Research Conference (MERCon), Moratuwa, IEEE, 2018.

32. H. G. M. T. Yashoda, A. M. S. Piumal, P. G. S. P. Polgahapitiya, M. M. M. Mubeen, M. A. V. J. Muthugala, and A. G. B. P. Jayasekara, "Design and Development of a Smart Wheelchair with Multiple Control Interfaces," in 2018 Moratuwa Engineering Research Conference (MERCon), Moratuwa, IEEE, 2018.

33. P. H. D. A. S. Srimal, M. A. V. J. Muthugala and A. G. B. P. Jayasekara, “Deictic Gesture Enhanced Fuzzy Spatial Relation Grounding in Natural Language,” in 2017 IEEE International Conference on Fuzzy Systems (FUZZ-IEEE), Naples, 2017.

34. H. P. C. Sirithunge, M. A. V. J. Muthugala, A. G. B. P. Jayasekara and D. P. Chandima, “Interpretation of Interaction Demanding of a User Based on Nonverbal Behavior in a Domestic Environment,” in 2017 IEEE International Conference on Fuzzy Systems (FUZZ-IEEE), Naples, 2017.

35. P. H. D. A. S. Srimal, M. A. V. J. Muthugala and A. G. B. P. Jayasekara, “Identifying Spatial Terminology and Boundaries for Human Robot Interaction: A Human Study,” in 2017 Moratuwa Engineering Research Conference (MERCon), Moratuwa, 2017, pp. 46-51.

36. A. L. S. Sriwardene, M. A. V. J. Muthugala, and A. G. B. P. Jayasekara, “Vision Based Smart Driver Assisting System for Locomotives," in 2016 IEEE International Conference on Information and Automation for Sustainability (ICIAfS), Galle, IEEE, 2016, pp. 1-6. [PDF]

37.  A. G. N. Bandara, B. M. A. N. Balasooriya, H. G. I. W. Bandara, K. S. Buddhasiri, M. A. V. J. Muthugala and A. G. B. P. Jayasekara and D. P. Chandima, “Smart Irrigation Controlling System for Green Roofs Based on Predicted Evapotranspiration," in 2016 Electrical Engineering Conference (EECon), Colombo, 2016, pp. 31-36. [PDF]

38. A. G. N. Jayasekara, M. A. V. J. Muthugala, and A. G. B. P. Jayasekara, “Design and Development of an Anthropomorphic Robotic Head with Force Attentive Reflex Actions," in 2016 Moratuwa Engineering Research Conference (MERCon), Moratuwa, 2016, pp. 409-414. [PDF]

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