Papers
11
Total Citations
544
H-Index
9
About
Dr. Nitish Kumar is a pioneering researcher at the intersection of robotic fabrication in architecture and soft robotic systems for medical applications. His work bridges two seemingly disparate fields: large-scale construction automation and minimally invasive medical devices. In architecture, Kumar has made seminal contributions to robotic in situ fabrication, particularly through his development of the "Mesh Mould" system—a robotic end-effector that creates functional, non-standard concrete formwork on-site. His highly cited 2018 paper on "Digital in situ fabrication" (146 citations) and the 2020 real-scale concrete demonstrator (115 citations) have fundamentally advanced the possibility of automated, geometrically complex construction. Simultaneously, Kumar has driven innovation in soft robotics for medical procedures, developing a learned differentiable model for soft robot control (95 citations) and miniaturized actuation-sensing units for cardiac ablation catheters (46 citations). His work on expanding foam as a low-cost fabrication material for soft robots with embedded sensing (34 citations) demonstrates his commitment to accessible, practical solutions. With over 500 total citations across his portfolio, Kumar's dual-track research—from building-scale robotic formwork to millimeter-scale medical force sensors—exemplifies how robotic principles can transform both our built environment and life-saving medical procedures.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1
- 2
- 3Soft Robot Control With a Learned Differentiable Model95 citations · 2020
- 4
- 5
- 6Mesh Mould: An On Site, Robotically Fabricated, Functional Formwork33 citations · 2017
- 7
- 8
- 9Design and Modeling of a Polymer Force Sensor11 citations · 2015
- 10