Manivannan Kalimuthu
Singapore University of Technology and Design, Nanyang Technological University
Papers
14
Total Citations
199
H-Index
8
About
Manivannan Kalimuthu is a robotics researcher whose work centers on reconfigurable robotic systems, autonomous cleaning technologies, and intelligent path planning. He is best known for pioneering the sTetro robot — a modular, reconfigurable staircase-cleaning platform that employs a vertical conveyor mechanism to navigate both flat surfaces and staircases, a design that has garnered over 40 citations and represents a landmark contribution to service robotics. His research consistently challenges the limitations of fixed-morphology robots, developing transformation design principles and metaheuristic optimization techniques that enable robots to adaptively change shape in response to environmental demands. Beyond floor cleaning, Kalimuthu has extended his expertise to facade maintenance, designing passive suction-cup glass-cleaning robots, and to industrial applications including hydro-blasting systems for ship hull maintenance, where he has applied multi-objective optimization frameworks to improve coverage efficiency. His 2021 work introducing an autonomous auditing scheme that quantitatively assesses cleanliness in built infrastructure offers a particularly novel contribution to quality assurance in robotics. With over 180 cumulative citations across his publications, Kalimuthu's research has meaningfully advanced the field of autonomous maintenance robots, making him a notable voice in reconfigurable and service robotics.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
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- 4An Autonomous Robot-Aided Auditing Scheme for Floor Cleaning21 citations · 2021
- 5sTetro: A Modular Reconfigurable Cleaning Robot14 citations · 2018
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- 8An Optimal Footprint Based Coverage Planning for Hydro Blasting Robots10 citations · 2021
- 9
- 10Design of a Reconfigurable Robot with Size-Adaptive Path Planner5 citations · 2022