Priyanka defends her PhD

We are thrilled to announce that Priyanka Rao has successfully defended her PhD thesis, titled “Tendon Driven Continuum Robots: Modeling and Motion Planning for Contact Aided Navigation and Shape Locking,” on September 5, 2024.

Priyanka’s research on tendon-driven continuum robots has been groundbreaking, addressing critical challenges in modeling and motion planning. Her work has laid a strong foundation contact-aided navigation in cluttered environments and we are incredibly proud of her accomplishments.

Thank you to the members of her examination committee: Eric Diller, Yu Sun, Lueder Kahrs, Exam Chair Florian Shkurti, and External Examiner Tania Morimoto (UCSD). Their guidance and feedback have been instrumental throughout this process. Shoutout also to our collaborator Oren Salzman (Technion)!

As Priyanka embarks on the next phase of her career, we are excited to see how her research will continue to shape the future of robotics. Stay tuned for more updates!

Congratulations once again, Priyanka! We are proud to have you as part of our lab family.