Pragna Mannam
Papers
7
Total Citations
50
H-Index
4
About
Pragna Mannam is a robotics researcher whose work sits at the intersection of dexterous manipulation, compliant robotic systems, and soft robot design. Her research addresses a fundamental challenge in robotics: enabling robots to manipulate objects with the nuance and adaptability of human hands. Mannam has made significant contributions through the development of novel gripper and manipulator architectures, most notably her work on cooperative mini-delta robot grippers, which introduced an affordable, compliant alternative to traditional rigid parallel-jaw designs — earning 18 citations and establishing her as a creative voice in accessible robotics hardware. Her DeltaZ platform further democratized research by offering a low-cost, 3D-printed delta manipulator suitable for both education and advanced study. Beyond hardware, Mannam explores the co-optimization of design and control for anthropomorphic soft robotic hands, leveraging genetic algorithms and simulation to automate design iteration across hundreds of candidate morphologies. Her more recent work on DEFT investigates fine-tuning dexterous hand policies for real-world deployment, including manipulation of soft and deformable objects. Collectively, her portfolio reflects a commitment to making dexterous robotic manipulation more capable, accessible, and practically deployable across research settings.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1
- 2
- 3Towards Robust Planar Translations using Delta-manipulator Arrays7 citations · 2021
- 4
- 5
- 6Designing Anthropomorphic Soft Hands Through Interaction4 citations · 2023
- 7DEFT: Dexterous Fine-Tuning for Real-World Hand Policies2 citations · 2023