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About

Priyanka Rao is a robotics researcher whose work sits at the forefront of continuum robot design, modeling, and control, with a particular focus on tendon-driven systems. Her research addresses some of the most fundamental challenges in the field: accurately representing the complex, continuously deforming shapes of flexible robots and developing the physics-based models needed to predict and control their behavior. Rao's most influential contribution — a comprehensive benchmarking study on modeling approaches for tendon-driven continuum robots (2021, 192 citations) — has become an essential reference for researchers navigating the landscape of competing methodologies. Building on this foundation, she pioneered the application of Euler arc splines and Euler curves as compact, accurate shape representations for robots whose backbones defy simple geometric assumptions, enabling more realistic real-time modeling. Her hardware innovations are equally notable. She has developed novel locking mechanisms — including magnetic and rod-based designs — that enable multi-curvature configurations within a single robot segment, dramatically expanding workspace without multiplying actuation complexity. Her fully actuated segment design introduced variable-length and non-straight tendon routing within a unified architecture, advancing dexterity in surgical robotics applications. Collectively, her body of work, accumulating over 300 citations, is shaping how the next generation of flexible robots is modeled, built, and deployed.