Pavlo Manovi

Papers

Total Citations

226

H-Index

About

Pavlo Manovi is a pioneering roboticist whose work centers on the design and locomotion of tensegrity robots—lightweight, resilient structures composed of rigid rods and flexible cables. His major contributions lie in advancing these unconventional robots from theoretical concepts to functional prototypes for extreme environments. Manovi is best known as the lead author on the seminal 2015 paper introducing SUPERball (Spherical Underactuated Planetary Exploration Robot), a project within NASA Ames Research Center. This untethered tensegrity robot, which has garnered 183 citations, demonstrated a revolutionary approach to planetary exploration by using its deformable structure for rolling, bouncing, and absorbing impacts. Manovi also developed DuCTTv2, the second-generation Duct Climbing Tensegrity robot (43 citations), showcasing the adaptability of tensegrity systems for navigating complex, irregular duct networks for inspection and maintenance. His work has been instrumental in proving that tensegrity robots can be robust, agile, and practical for real-world applications, from space exploration to infrastructure monitoring. Manovi’s research continues to inspire a new generation of soft robotics and bio-inspired design.