Sashank Tirumala
Papers
3
Total Citations
34
H-Index
3
About
Sashank Tirumala is a roboticist whose work bridges the gap between dexterous manipulation and agile locomotion, with a particular focus on enabling robots to handle complex, real-world tasks. His research spans two key areas: tactile-based cloth manipulation and robust quadrupedal locomotion. In his most-cited work, "Learning to Singulate Layers of Cloth using Tactile Feedback" (23 citations), Tirumala tackles the notoriously difficult problem of robotic cloth handling, addressing challenges like high degrees of freedom and self-occlusions by leveraging tactile sensing to separate fabric layers—a critical step toward automating laundry and textile manufacturing. On the locomotion front, he has made significant contributions to low-cost quadruped robots, notably through his work on the Stoch 2 platform. His papers "Robust Quadrupedal Locomotion on Sloped Terrains: A Linear Policy Approach" (7 citations) and "Gait Library Synthesis for Quadruped Robots via Augmented Random Search" (4 citations) demonstrate how simple, linear policies and reinforcement learning can generate versatile gait libraries—including forward trot, side-step, and turn—that enable stable movement on challenging terrain. Tirumala’s work is notable for its practical, hardware-focused approach, aiming for fast deployment on affordable robotic systems, making him a rising figure in accessible robotics research.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1Learning to Singulate Layers of Cloth using Tactile Feedback23 citations · 2022
- 2
- 3Gait Library Synthesis for Quadruped Robots via Augmented Random Search4 citations · 2019