Ishara Paranawithana
Papers
8
Total Citations
169
H-Index
6
About
Ishara Paranawithana is a robotics researcher whose work spans physical human-robot interaction (pHRI), medical robotics, and vision-guided micromanipulation. Her most influential contribution is the development of variable admittance and adaptive control frameworks that enable robots to maintain stable, compliant motion when interacting with both human operators and unknown or moving environments—a critical capability for collaborative and surgical robotics. Her top-cited paper (85 citations) addresses this challenge directly, while subsequent work (29 citations) extends the approach to environments with unknown stiffness. In medical applications, Paranawithana has advanced robotic assistance for percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL), including ultrasound-guided compensation for involuntary kidney stone motion during surgery. She has also made notable contributions to vision-guided micromanipulation, proposing automatic tracking and self-initialization algorithms that enable uninterrupted tool-tip tracking during delicate cell manipulation tasks. Her work is characterized by a systematic approach to solving real-world control problems where robots must safely and adaptively share space with humans, with applications ranging from manufacturing to minimally invasive surgery.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
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- 4Towards to a Robotic Assisted System for Percutaneous Nephrolithotomy12 citations · 2018
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