Girish Krishnan

For More Information

• Monolithic Systems Lab

Education

• Bachelors of Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, R. V. College of Engineering, Bangalore, India, June 2004
• Masters of Science (Engineering), Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India, December 2006
• Doctor of Philosophy, Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, United States of America, April 2011

Other Professional Activities

• Associate Editor, IEEE Robotics and Automations Letter, 2020- present
• Associate Editor, ASME Journal of Mechanical Design, 2021-present

Professional Highlights

• 2016 Engineering Council Award for Excellence in Advising.
• List of Teachers ranked Excellent by their students in Fall 2015
• NSF CAREER Award 2015
• Freudenstein Young Investigator award from ASME in 2017

Resident Instruction

• SE 598 Introduction to Soft Robotics, Fall '17, Fall '19
• GE/SE 411 Introduction to Reliability Engineering, Fall '14, Spring '16, '17, '19, '21
• GE/SE 310 General Engineering Design/ Design of Structures and Mechanisms, Spring '14, '15, Fall '18, Fall '20, Fall '21
• GE/SE 598 Compliant Mechanism Design, Fall '13, '15, Spring 18, Spring 24
• GE/SE 100 Introduction of Industrial and Enterprise Systems Engineering, Fall '15, '16, '17, '18, '19, '20, '21

Design Teams

• Advised a senior design project team, Fall 2014, Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2018

Research Interests

• MEMS Sensors
• Adaptive Structures
• Active Wearable Prosthetic and Orthotic Devices
• Flexible Pneumatic and Hydraulic Actuators
• Soft Robots
• Design of Compliant Systems

Chapters in Books

• C. Kim and G. Krishnan, "Synthesis Through the use of Building Blocks," Handbook of Compliant Mechanisms, Wiley, March 2013.
• Marry, C., Dankowicz, H., & Krishnan, G. (2022). Continuation-Based Design of Self-Contacting Soft Robotic Manipulators. In G. Lacarbonara, W., Balachandran, B., Leamy, M.J., Ma, J., Tenreiro Machado, J.A., Stepan (Ed.), Advances in Nonlinear Dynamics. NODYCON Conference Proceedings Series (pp. 341?350).
• Hernandez, M. E., Sowers, R., Thompson, N., Krishnan, G., & Hsiao-Wecksler, E. T. (2022). Body-in-the-Loop Control of Soft Robotic Exoskeletons During Virtual Manual Labor Tasks. In Virtual Reality (pp. 99?115). River Publishers.

Selected Articles in Journals

• S. Satheeshbabu and G. Krishnan, ?Qualitative Mobility Analysis of Wire Flexure Systems Using Load Flow Visualization,? ASME Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics, vol. 8, no. 6, p. 061012, Sep. 2016.
• S. K. Patiballa and G. Krishnan, ?Estimating Optimized Stress Bounds in Early Stage Design of Compliant Mechanisms,? ASME Journal of Mechanical Design, vol. 139, no. 6, p. 62302, Apr. 2017.
• G. Singh and G. Krishnan, ?A constrained maximization formulation to analyze deformation of fiber reinforced elastomeric actuators,? Smart Materials and Structures, vol. 26, no. 6, p. 065024, Jun. 2017.
• X. Zhang and G. Krishnan, ?A nested pneumatic muscle arrangement for amplified stroke and force behavior,? Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures, vol. 29, no. 6, pp. 1139?1156, Apr. 2018.
• S. K. Patiballa and G. Krishnan, ?Qualitative Analysis and Conceptual Design of Planar Metamaterials With Negative Poisson?s Ratio,? ASME Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics, vol. 10, no. 2, p. 021006, Feb. 2018.
• G. Singh, C. Xiao, E. T. Hsiao-Wecksler, and G. Krishnan, ?Design and analysis of coiled fiber reinforced soft pneumatic actuator,? Bioinspiration and Biomimetics, vol. 13, no. 3, p. 036010, Apr. 2018.
• N. K. Uppalapati and G. Krishnan, ?Towards Pneumatic Spiral Grippers: Modeling and Design Considerations,? Soft Robotics Journal, vol. 5, no. 6, pp. 695?709, Dec. 2018.
• S. Satheeshbabu and G. Krishnan, ?Modeling the Bending Behavior of Fiber Reinforced Pneumatic Actuators Using a Pseudo Rigid Body Model,? ASME Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics, p. 1, Feb. 2019.
• G. Singh and G. Krishnan, "Designing Fiber-Reinforced Soft Actuators for Planar Curvilinear Shape Matching," Soft Robotics Journal, p. soro.2018.0169, Sep. 2019.
• G. Chowdhary, M. Gazzola, G. Krishnan, C. Soman, and S. Lovell, ?Soft Robotics as an Enabling Technology for Agroforestry Practice and Research,? Sustainability, vol. 11, no. 23, p. 6751, Nov. 2019.
• G. Krishnan and S. K. Patiballa, ?Conceptual Insightful Synthesis of Spatial Compliant Mechanisms Using the Load Flow Formulation,? J. Mech. Des., vol. 142, no. 5, May 2020.
• N. K. Uppalapati and G. Krishnan, ?VaLeNS: Design of a Novel Variable Length Nested Soft Arm,? IEEE Robot. Autom. Lett., vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 1135?1142, Apr. 2020.
• S. K. Patiballa and G. Krishnan, ?On the design of three-dimensional mechanical metamaterials using load flow visualization,? Mech. Based Des. Struct. Mach., pp. 1?26, Feb. 2020.
• Uppalapati, N. K., & Krishnan, G. (2021). Design and Modeling of Soft Continuum Manipulators Using Parallel Asymmetric Combination of Fiber-Reinforced Elastomers. Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics, 13(1).
• Kamtikar, S., Marri, S., Walt, B., Uppalapati, N. K., Krishnan, G., & Chowdhary, G. (2022). Visual Servoing for Pose Control of Soft Continuum Arm in a Structured Environment. IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 7(2), 5504?5511.
• AlBeladi, A., Ripperger, E., Hutchinson, S., & Krishnan, G. (2022). Hybrid Eye-in-Hand/Eye-to-Hand Image Based Visual Servoing for Soft Continuum Arms. IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 7(4), 11298–11305. 
• Mansouri, M., Krishnan, G., McDonagh, D. C., Zallek, C. M., & Hsiao-Wecksler, E. T. (2023). Review of assistive devices for the prevention of pressure ulcers: an engineering perspective. Disability and Rehabilitation: Assistive Technology, 1?20.
• Thompson, N. A., Shin, S., Kocheril, A. G., Hsiao-Wecksler, E. T., & Krishnan, G. (2023). Design and Validation of a Soft Robotic Simulator for Transseptal Puncture Training. IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, 1?12.
• Koe, K., Marri, S., Walt, B., Kamtikar, S., Uppalapati, N. K., Krishnan, G., & Chowdhary, G. (2025). Learning-Based Position and Orientation Control of a Hybrid Rigid-Soft Arm Manipulator. Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics, 1–14.
• Dash, S., & Krishnan, G. (2025). Design Space Enumeration for Shape Changing Structures using a Bioinspired Heuristic. Journal of Mechanical Design, 1–14.

Articles in Conference Proceedings

• R. M. Reck and G. Krishnan, ?Combining projects and informational sessions to create a comprehensive introduction to the department,? in 2016 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE), 2016, pp. 1?5.
• N. Thompson, X. Zhang, F. Ayala, E. T. Hsiao-Wecksler, and G. Krishnan, ?Augmented Joint Stiffness and Actuation Using Architectures of Soft Pneumatic Actuators,? in 2018 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2018, pp. 1533?1538. Acceptance rate: 40%
• S. Patiballa, K. Uchikata, R. K. Ranganath, and G. Krishnan, ?A Conceptual Design Tool for Synthesis of Spatial Compliant and Shape Morphing Mechanisms,? in Volume 5B: 42nd Mechanisms and Robotics Conference, ASME-IDETC 2018, p. V05BT07A009.
• S. Satheeshbabu, N. Thompson, C. Xiao, and G. Krishnan, ?Architectures of Soft Pneumatic Actuators Inspired by Muscle Fiber Arrangements,? in 2019 2nd IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft), 2019, pp. 271?276.
• N. Thompson, A. Sinha, G. Krishnan, "Characterizing Architectures of Soft Pneumatic Actuators for a Cable-Driven Shoulder Exoskeleton," in proceedings of 2019 IEEE Conference of Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Montreal, CA, May 20-24. Acceptance rate: 40%
• G. Singh, S. Patiballa, X. Zhang, G. Krishnan, "A Pipe-Climbing Soft Robot," in proceedings of 2019 IEEE Conference of Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Montreal, CA, May 20-24. Acceptance rate: 40%
• S. Satheeshbabu, N. Uppalapati, G. Chowdhary, and G. Krishnan, "Open Loop Position Control of Soft Continuum Arm Using Deep Reinforcement Learning," in proceedings of 2019 IEEE Conference of Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Montreal, CA, May 20-24. Acceptance rate: 40%
• S. K. Patiballa, S. Satheeshbabu, and G. Krishnan, ?Load-Flow Based Design of Compliant Mechanisms With Embedded Soft Actuators,? in Volume 5A: 43rd Mechanisms and Robotics Conference, ASME IDETC 2019. pV05AT07A020
• S. Satheeshbabu, & G. Krishnan, "Analysis of Soft Mechanisms Using a Homogenized Strain Induced Model", in Proceedings of the 2020 USCToMM Symposium on Mechanical Systems and Robotics. USCToMM MSR 2020. Mechanisms and Machine Science, vol 83. Springer, Cham (pp. 179?195)
• Satheeshbabu, S., Uppalapati, N. K., Fu, T., & Krishnan, G. (2020). Continuous Control of a Soft Continuum Arm using Deep Reinforcement Learning. In 2020 3rd IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft) (pp. 497?503). IEEE.
• Kumar Uppalapati, N., Walt, B., Havens, A., Mahdian, A., Chowdhary, G., & Krishnan, G. (2020). A Berry Picking Robot With A Hybrid Soft-Rigid Arm: Design and Task Space Control. In Robotics: Science and Systems XVI. Robotics: Science and Systems Foundation.
• Thompson, N. A., Kocheril, A. G., Hsiao-Wecksler, E. T., & Krishnan, G. (2021). A Soft Robotic Simulator for Transseptal Puncture Training. In 2021 Design of Medical Devices Conference. American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
• McDonagh, D., Arquines, K., Hsiao-Wecksler, E. T., Mansouri, M., Krishnan, G., Alabed, M., & Zallek, C. M. (2021). User Centered Approach to the Supra-Functional Needs of People Living with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). In 2021 Design of Medical Devices Conference. American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
• AlBeladi, A., Krishnan, G., Belabbas, M.-A., & Hutchinson, S. (2021). Vision-Based Shape Reconstruction of Soft Continuum Arms Using a Geometric Strain Parametrization. In 2021 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) (pp. 11753?11759). IEEE.
• Kim, S. H., Chang, H.-S., Shih, C.-H., Uppalapati, N. K., Halder, U., Krishnan, G., Mehta, P. G., & Gazzola, M. (2021). A physics-informed, vision-based method to reconstruct all deformation modes in slender bodies. In 2022 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)
• Mansouri, M., Krishnan, G., & Hsiao-Wecksler, E. T. (2022). Design Guidelines for Moving a Human Body on a Bed Using Traveling Waves. In 2022 Design of Medical Devices Conference. American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
• Edward, S., Mansouri, M., Hsiao-Wecksler, E. T., Krishnan, G., (2022).Experimental Characterization and Modeling of a Unit Soft Air Bladder. In 2022 ASME International Design Technical Engineering conference and Computers Information Engineering Conference, St. Louis, MO, August 17-19
• Ripperger, E., & Krishnan, G. (2023, August 20). Design Space Enumerations for Pneumatically Actuated Soft Continuum Manipulators. Volume 8: 47th Mechanisms and Robotics Conference (MR). In 2023 ASME International Design Technical Engineering Conference, Boston, MA, 2023
• Walt, B., & Krishnan, G. (2023). Grasp State Classification in Agricultural Manipulation. 2023 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 4250?4255.

Patents

• Bishop-Moser, J., Krishnan, G., & Kota, S. (2017). U.S. Patent No. 9,835,184. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
• Hsiao-Wecksler, E. T., Farooq, D., Xiao, C., Krishnan, G., Singh, G., & Oo, Y. L. (2017). U.S. Patent No. 9,662,263. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Magazine Articles

• Research work mentioned in Scientific American Article (May 2014) titled "Shape Shifting Things to Come'
• 2016 Fluid Power Magazine titled "New Twist in Pneumatic Muscles" featuring collaborative work with Prof. Elizabeth Hsiao-Wecksler

Teaching Honors

• Engineering Council Outstanding Advisor Award (2016)
• List of Teachers ranked Excellent by their students in Fall 2015 (2015)
• Senior Design team awarded Gold by the Lincoln Arc Welding Association (2015)
• Senior Design team awarded Bronze by the Lincoln Arc Welding Association (2018)

Research Honors

• NSF Early Career Development Program Award (CAREER) (2015)
• Freudenstien Young Investigator Award (2017)

Recent Courses Taught

• SE 100 - Introduction to ISE
• SE 310 - Dsgn of Structures & Mechanism
• SE 411 - Reliability Engineering
• SE 598 - Design of Soft Mechanisms
• SE 598 - Soft Robotics