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About

Anna Mokkapati is a pioneering robotics researcher whose work focuses on extreme-terrain mobility systems for space exploration, with a particular emphasis on field-reconfigurable, non-wheeled locomotion. Her most notable contribution is the WORMS (Walking Oligomeric Robotic Mobility System) platform, developed in response to the 2022 NASA BIG Idea Challenge for the Artemis program. This innovative architecture enables walking robots to be physically reconfigured in the field, allowing a single system to adapt to diverse lunar terrains—from steep crater slopes to soft regolith—without requiring wheeled propulsion. The concept represents a paradigm shift in planetary mobility, offering modular, reconfigurable limbs that can be swapped or rearranged by the robot itself. While her citation count is still growing (10 for her flagship paper), Mokkapati’s work has already garnered significant attention from NASA and the broader space-robotics community for its bold departure from traditional rover designs. Her research bridges soft robotics, modular systems, and planetary science, positioning her as a rising leader in the next generation of lunar and Martian exploration technologies.