About

Prof. Girish Krishnan is an Associate Professor in the Department of Industrial and System Engineering at the University of Illinois. He is affiliated with the Carle Illinois College of Medicine, Mechanical Sciences and Engineering, the Center for Digital Agriculture, and the Center for Autonomy. His research focuses on areas related to monolithic systems, digital agriculture, autonomy, and engineering systems, contributing to the advancement of integrated and innovative solutions in these fields. With a strong academic background and leadership in the Monolithic Systems Lab, Prof. Krishnan mentors a diverse group of graduate students and collaborates across multiple disciplines to push the boundaries of engineering and digital systems.

Research topics

• Artificial Intelligence
• Computer Science
• Engineering
• Machine Learning
• Mechanical engineering
• Computer vision
• Structural engineering
• Medicine
• World Wide Web

Selected publications

• Actuation space reduction to facilitate insightful shape matching in a novel reconfigurable tendon driven continuum manipulator

  2026-04-07

  articleSenior author

  In tendon driven continuum manipulators (TDCMs), reconfiguring the tendon routing enables tailored spatial deformation of the backbone. This work presents a design in which tendons can be rerouted either prior to or after actuation by actively rotating the individual spacer disks. Each disk rotation thus adds a degree of freedom to the actuation space, complicating the mapping from a desired backbone curve to the corresponding actuator inputs. However, when the backbone shape is projected into an intermediate space defined by curvature and torsion (C-T), patterns emerge that highlight which disks are most influential in achieving a global shape. This insight enables a simplified, sequential shape-matching strategy: first, the proximal and intermediate disks are rotated to approximate the global shape; then, the distal disks are adjusted to fine-tune the end-effector position with minimal impact on the overall shape. The proposed actuation framework offers a model-free alternative to conventional control approaches, bypassing the complexities of modeling reconfigurable TDCMs.

  PublisherDOI

• Actuation space reduction to facilitate insightful shape matching in a novel reconfigurable tendon driven continuum manipulator

  ArXiv.org · 2026-04-14

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  In tendon driven continuum manipulators (TDCMs), reconfiguring the tendon routing enables tailored spatial deformation of the backbone. This work presents a design in which tendons can be rerouted either prior to or after actuation by actively rotating the individual spacer disks. Each disk rotation thus adds a degree of freedom to the actuation space, complicating the mapping from a desired backbone curve to the corresponding actuator inputs. However, when the backbone shape is projected into an intermediate space defined by curvature and torsion (C-T), patterns emerge that highlight which disks are most influential in achieving a global shape. This insight enables a simplified, sequential shape-matching strategy: first, the proximal and intermediate disks are rotated to approximate the global shape; then, the distal disks are adjusted to fine-tune the end-effector position with minimal impact on the overall shape. The proposed actuation framework offers a model-free alternative to conventional control approaches, bypassing the complexities of modeling reconfigurable TDCMs.

  PublisherOA PDF

• Actuation space reduction to facilitate insightful shape matching in a novel reconfigurable tendon driven continuum manipulator

  arXiv (Cornell University) · 2026-04-14

  preprintOpen accessSenior author

  In tendon driven continuum manipulators (TDCMs), reconfiguring the tendon routing enables tailored spatial deformation of the backbone. This work presents a design in which tendons can be rerouted either prior to or after actuation by actively rotating the individual spacer disks. Each disk rotation thus adds a degree of freedom to the actuation space, complicating the mapping from a desired backbone curve to the corresponding actuator inputs. However, when the backbone shape is projected into an intermediate space defined by curvature and torsion (C-T), patterns emerge that highlight which disks are most influential in achieving a global shape. This insight enables a simplified, sequential shape-matching strategy: first, the proximal and intermediate disks are rotated to approximate the global shape; then, the distal disks are adjusted to fine-tune the end-effector position with minimal impact on the overall shape. The proposed actuation framework offers a model-free alternative to conventional control approaches, bypassing the complexities of modeling reconfigurable TDCMs.

  PublisherDOI

• A Design Framework for Compositional Hierarchical Mechanical Metamaterials via a Qualitative Unit-Cell Library

  ArXiv.org · 2026-05-11

  articleOpen access

  Hierarchically designed mechanical metamaterials involve nested levels of structural organization, mimicking natural structures (such as bones, wood, and bird feathers) to create advanced functional materials. Compositional hierarchy, a specific type of hierarchical strategy that involves the methodical assembly of discrete building blocks, offers unique advantages in engineering design due to its modular nature. This involves proper selection and spatial arrangements of distinct microstructures, as a result of which the desired macro-scale mechanical behavior can be achieved. Towards the design of such compositional hierarchical metamaterials, this paper presents a two-step design framework. First, material optimization of the design domain is performed using a parameterized elasticity matrix to obtain optimal conceptual designs. Second, building-block microstructure geometries are selected from a qualitative library and subjected to shape-size refinement to satisfy the desired kinematic or stiffness requirements. To construct the qualitative library, a novel parametrization scheme is initially introduced, which categorizes the planar orthotropic elasticity matrix into four distinct classes. Utilizing a kinetostatic load flow visualization technique, the candidate microstructure geometries are then populated within these four classes. The framework is validated for the design of a cantilever beam with a specified lateral stiffness requirement and the design of planar sheets that exhibit specified target deformation patterns. Thus, the present work provides a systematic and physically intuitive methodology applicable to arbitrary kinematic deformation and stiffness requirements.

  PublisherOA PDF

• A Design Framework for Compositional Hierarchical Mechanical Metamaterials via a Qualitative Unit-Cell Library

  arXiv (Cornell University) · 2026-05-11

  preprintOpen access

  Hierarchically designed mechanical metamaterials involve nested levels of structural organization, mimicking natural structures (such as bones, wood, and bird feathers) to create advanced functional materials. Compositional hierarchy, a specific type of hierarchical strategy that involves the methodical assembly of discrete building blocks, offers unique advantages in engineering design due to its modular nature. This involves proper selection and spatial arrangements of distinct microstructures, as a result of which the desired macro-scale mechanical behavior can be achieved. Towards the design of such compositional hierarchical metamaterials, this paper presents a two-step design framework. First, material optimization of the design domain is performed using a parameterized elasticity matrix to obtain optimal conceptual designs. Second, building-block microstructure geometries are selected from a qualitative library and subjected to shape-size refinement to satisfy the desired kinematic or stiffness requirements. To construct the qualitative library, a novel parametrization scheme is initially introduced, which categorizes the planar orthotropic elasticity matrix into four distinct classes. Utilizing a kinetostatic load flow visualization technique, the candidate microstructure geometries are then populated within these four classes. The framework is validated for the design of a cantilever beam with a specified lateral stiffness requirement and the design of planar sheets that exhibit specified target deformation patterns. Thus, the present work provides a systematic and physically intuitive methodology applicable to arbitrary kinematic deformation and stiffness requirements.

  PublisherDOI

• HyReach: Vision-Guided Hybrid Manipulator Reaching in Cluttered Unseen Environments

  Soft Robotics · 2026-04-27

  articleOpen access

  As robotic systems increasingly operate in unstructured, cluttered, and previously unseen environments, there is a growing need for manipulators that combine compliance, adaptability, and precise control. This work presents a real-time hybrid rigid-soft continuum manipulator system designed for robust open-world object reaching in such challenging environments. The system integrates vision-based perception and 3D scene reconstruction with shape-aware motion planning to generate safe trajectories. A learning-based controller drives the hybrid arm to arbitrary target poses, leveraging the flexibility of the soft segment while maintaining the precision of the rigid segment. The system operates without environment-specific retraining, enabling direct generalization to new scenes. Extensive real-world experiments demonstrate consistent reaching performance with errors below 2 cm across diverse cluttered setups, highlighting the potential of hybrid manipulators for adaptive and reliable operation in unstructured environments.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Automating the failure mode based partition of the failure envelope for tubes using unsupervised machine learning

  International Journal of Solids and Structures · 2025-11-20

  articleSenior authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Thermal spreading resistance in a two-layer body with unequal layer widths

  International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer · 2025-05-10 · 1 citations

  article1st author
  PublisherDOI

• Investigating Sensors and Methods in Grasp State Classification in Agricultural Manipulation

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2025-01-01

  preprintOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Precision Harvesting in Cluttered Environments: Integrating End Effector Design with Dual Camera Perception

  2025-05-19 · 3 citations

  articleSenior author

  Due to labor shortages in specialty crop industries, a need for robotic automation to increase agricultural efficiency and productivity has arisen. Previous manipulation systems harvest well in uncluttered and structured environments. High tunnel environments are more compact and cluttered in nature, requiring a rethinking of the large form factor systems and grippers. We propose a novel co-designed framework incorporating a global detection camera and a local eye-in-hand camera that demonstrates precise localization of small fruits via closed-loop visual feedback and reliable error handling. Field experiments in high tunnels show that our system can reach 85.0% of cherry tomato fruit in 10.98s on average.

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• CAREER: A Design Methodology for Bio-Inspired Soft Mechanical Systems

  NSF · $500k · 2015–2021

Frequent coauthors

• Ankur Jain

  17 shared

• Sridhar Kota

  University of Michigan–Ann Arbor

  17 shared

• Charles Kim

  15 shared

• Naveen Kumar Uppalapati

  14 shared

• Elizabeth T. Hsiao‐Wecksler

  University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

  13 shared

• Sreeshankar Satheeshbabu

  University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

  12 shared

• Sree Kalyan Patiballa

  University of Alabama

  12 shared

• Gaurav Singh

  Institut de Biologie Moléculaire des Plantes

  11 shared

Labs

• Monolithic Systems LabPI

Education

• M.D.

  Carle Illinois College of Medicine

Awards & honors

• 2016 Engineering Council Award for Excellence in Advising
• NSF CAREER Award 2015
• Freudenstein Young Investigator award from ASME in 2017