Hello, I'm Kendall Koe

I am a PhD Candidate in the Siebel School of Computing and Data Science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. I am advised by Dr. Girish Chowdhary in the Distributed Autonomous Systems Laboratory (DASLAB). I also collaborate with researchers in the Monolithic Systems Lab as well as with researchers at Iowa State University as a part of the COntext-Aware LEarning for Sustainable CybEr-agricultural (COALESCE) program.

CV Scholar

Publications

Visual-Language-Guided Task Planning for Horticultural Robots

Kendall Koe , Jose Cuaran , Aditya Potnis , Naveen Kumar Uppalapati , Girish Chowdhary

Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, 2026 Journal Paper

Developed a modular crop-monitoring framework that leverages Visual Language Models (VLMs) for robotic task planning and created a benchmark for evaluating performance in monoculture and polyculture agricultural environments. Results showed strong performance on short-horizon tasks but significant degradation on complex long-horizon tasks, highlighting current limitations of VLMs in handling noisy semantic maps and maintaining reliable context for sustained robotic operations.

PDF arXiv

HyReach: Vision-Guided Hybrid Manipulator Reaching in Cluttered Unseen Environments

Kendall Koe , Shivani Kamtikar , Justin Wasserman , Samhita Marri , Benjamin Walt , Naveen Kumar Uppalapati , Girish Krishnan , Girish Chowdhary

Soft Robotics, 2026 Journal Paper

The presented system uses a vision-guided manipulation system for hybrid rigid-soft continuum arms, designed to operate in cluttered and unstructured environments. Leveraging 3D reconstruction and shape-informed path planning, the system facilitates precise object reaching while navigating obstacles.

Project Page PDF

Learning-Based Position and Orientation Control of a Hybrid Rigid-Soft Arm Manipulator

Kendall Koe , Samhita Marri , Benjamin Walt , Shivani Kamtikar , Naveen Kumar Uppalapati , Girish Krishnan , Girish Chowdhary

ASME JMR, 2025 Journal Paper

Our results showcase significant improvements in control speed while effectively controlling both the position and orientation of the end effector compared to previous quasi-static controllers for hybrid arms.

Project Page PDF Code

Precision Harvesting in Cluttered Environments: Integrating End Effector Design with Dual Camera Perception

Kendall Koe , Poojan Kalpeshbhai Shah , Benjamin Walt , Jordan Westphal , Samhita Marri , Shivani Kamtikar , James Seungbum Nam , Naveen Kumar Uppalapati , Girish Chowdhary , Girish Krishnan

ICRA, 2025

We propose a novel codesigned framework incorporating a global detection camera and a local eye-in-hand camera that demonstrates precise localization of small fruits via closed-loop visual feedback and reliable error handling.

Project Page PDF arXiv

Active Semantic Mapping with Mobile Manipulator in Horticultural Environments

Jose Cuaran , Kulbir Singh Ahluwalia , Kendall Koe , Naveen Kumar Uppalapati , Girish Chowdhary

ICRA, 2025

We introduce an efficient and scalable approach for active semantic mapping in horticultural environments, employing a mobile robot manipulator equipped with an RGB-D camera.

Project Page PDF arXiv Code

Workshops

Ultra-precision robotic pest control using deep reinforcement learning with conditional action trees

Mahsa Kohsravi , Kendall Koe , Girish Chowdhary , Soumik Sarkar

IROS, 2023

This paper delves into the potential of deep reinforcement learning (RL) executed within a distinct environment characterized by a tree-structured hierarchical action space.

Visual Servoing for Pose Control of Hybrid Continuum Manipulator in an Unstructured Environment

Kendall Koe , Shivani Kamtikar , Samhita Marri , Benjamin Walt , Naveen Kumar Uppalapati , Girish Krishnan , Girish Chowdhary

CoRL, 2023

As the need for efficient manipulation in cluttered and unstructured environments continues to grow, driven by its relevance across various sectors, including agriculture, this study introduces a novel approach to visual servoing for hybrid manipulators with complex internal dynamics.