Chandana Paul
Cornell University, Harvard University, University of Zurich
Papers
11
Total Citations
1,187
H-Index
11
About
Chandana Paul is a pioneering researcher in robotics, whose work lies at the intersection of mechanical design, control, and the emerging field of morphological computation. Her key research areas include tensegrity robotics, energy-efficient locomotion, and the role of physical structure in simplifying robot control. Paul’s most influential contribution is her foundational work on tensegrity robots, where she demonstrated how these lightweight, compliant structures—based on a balance of tension and compression elements—can be used for dynamic locomotion, a concept that has garnered over 400 citations. She also made a landmark achievement in energy efficiency with the "Ranger" robot, which walked 65 km on a single battery charge using low-bandwidth reflex-based control, a paper cited nearly 200 times. Her research on morphological computation, where the body’s physical properties reduce the need for complex computation, has been highly influential, with over 170 citations. Paul’s work on evolutionary form-finding and the co-optimization of morphology and control has reshaped how roboticists think about design, showing that a robot’s shape can be as important as its software. Her contributions have been recognized as essential reading for anyone interested in bio-inspired and energy-autonomous robotics.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1Design and control of tensegrity robots for locomotion412 citations · 2006
- 2
- 3Morphological computation174 citations · 2006
- 4Gait production in a tensegrity based robot101 citations · 2006
- 5Evolutionary form-finding of tensegrity structures82 citations · 2005
- 6
- 7Design and control of a pendulum driven hopping robot48 citations · 2003
- 8
- 9Locomoting with Less Computation but More Morphology27 citations · 2006
- 10