MISSION

The Organic Robots Laboratory (ORL) at Cornell University focuses on using organic chemistry of soft material composites for new capabilities in robots. We also seek to redefine how people view robots and their potential uses. For example, robots comprised of soft composite material could see use as wearable robots (perhaps for force augmentation), personal assistants via Human-Robot-Interactions, new types of computer interfaces that not only receive inputs but provide forceful responses.

A key field of use for soft robots is specifically in patient care and rehabilitation. Through proper application of distributed sensing, actuation, and power it may be possible to extend independence, provide greater dignity, and improve outcomes for those with a variety of medical conditions. Towards this goal, we are developing hardware for cardiac devices, prosthetic limbs, wearable sensing networks, and the software tools to interpret signals from these patients for gentle yet forceful interventions.

OUTREACH

Professor Rob Shepherd is an Engaged Learning + Research Faculty Fellow at Cornell University. One of our primary goals is to convert the iterative design & manufacturing process developed in professor Shepherd's courses and research at Cornell into an instructional resource that can be widely disseminated. Previously, we developed a program for teaching robotics to K-12 students using soft materials that resulted in a peer-reviewed publication: Air-Powered Soft Robots for K-12 Classrooms.

RECENT NEWS

January 16, 2024

Our lab won a GOPHURRS grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)!

May 9, 2023

Ronald successfully defends their PhD dissertation. Congratulations, Dr. Heisser!

April 17, 2023

Art successfully defends their PhD dissertation. Congratulations, Dr. Xu!

Congratulations to Ronald Heisser for the Entrepreneurial Spirit Award for NSF I-Corps with his team, Tactile Microcombustion!

Bayer Frants4Tech, 3rd place internationally for wORm!

Amazon Science Research Award!

Congratulations to Abe STroock for his NSF STC CROPPS, happy to be a participant!

ONR award for long duration autonomous swimming!

AFOSR award for multifunctional storage!

Reality Labs research award for recyclable haptics!

Congratulations to recent PhD graduates Jose Barreiros, Autumn Pratt, Maura O'Neill, Hedan Bai, and Shuo Li!

August 24, 2021

Emilie passes her A-exam. Congratulations!

July 21, 2021

Autumn successfully defends her PhD dissertation. Congratulations, Dr. Pratt!

July 8, 2021

Maura successfully defends her PhD dissertation. Congratulations, Dr. O'Neil!

June 29, 2021

Jose successfully defends his PhD dissertation. Congratulations, Dr. Barreiros!

June 29, 2021

Rachel passes her A-exam. Congratulations!

June 22, 2021

Cameron D.B. passes his A-exam. Congratulations!

May 28, 2021, 2020

Lillia successfully defends her PhD dissertation. Congratulations, Dr. Bai!

August 21, 2020

Organic Robotics Inc. received an NSF Phase 1 SBIR. Congratulations!

August 11, 2020

Professor Shepherd is featured in the show of Soft Robotics Podcast.

June 28, 2020

Kaiyang and Rachel pass their Q-exam. Congratulations!

May 28, 2020

Maura passes her A-exam. Congratulations!

May 21, 2020

Ronald passes his A-exam. Congratulations!

April 28, 2020

Autumn passes her A-exam. Congratulations!

April 1, 2020

Prof. Shepherd recieves an NSF Cyber Physical Systems award. Congratulations!

February 28, 2020

Dr. Anand Mishra and Dr. T. J. Wallin's work on robotic hand is featured by National Science Foundation.

February 1, 2020

Prof. Shepherd and Dr. Anand Mishra recieve 2019 CIDA Research Innovation Fund. Connratulations!

January 16, 2020

Professor Shepherd is featured in the show of BYU Radio.

September 10, 2019

Professor Shepherd is awarded an Air Force grant on origami antennas.

September 10, 2019

Artemis' work on optical sensing network is featured on Cornell Chronical. Good job, Pax!

August 20, 2019

Kevin's work on prosthetic hands is featured on Cornell Research. Good job, Kevin!

July 19, 2019

Artemis passes their A-exam. Congratulations!

July 2, 2019

Kaiyang passes his M-exam. Congratulations!

May 25, 2019

Cameron passes his Q-exam. Congratulations!

April 29, 2019

Kevin successfully defends his PhD dissertation. Congratulations, Dr. O'Brien!

April 10, 2019

Professor Shepherd is awarded a NASA NINC grant on Smartsuit for space exploration.

December 20, 2018

Shuo passes his A-exam. Congratulations!

November 14, 2018

Ilse successfully defends her PhD dissertation. Congratulations, Dr. Meerbeek!

August 16, 2018

Professor Shepherd is awarded an NSF EFRI grant: An End-To-End Framework For Soft Robot Design And Control Based On High-Performance Electrohydraulic Transducers.

May 31, 2018

Ronald, Shuo, Autumn and Maura pass their Q-exams. Congratulations!

May 30, 2018

Professor Shepherd is promoted to Associate Professor. Congratulations on your Tenure, Professor Shepherd!

May 25, 2018

Professor Shepherd is awarded an AFOSR grant: Localized and Rapid Variable Compliance Via Phase Changing Matter and Distributed Computation.

May 4, 2018

TJ and Professor Shpherd's review on 3D printing of soft robotic systems is featured Nature Reviews materials!

April 19, 2018

Kevin is selected as a Cornell PhD Commercialization Fellow. Congratulations, Kevin!

April 9, 2018

TJ successfully defends his PhD dissertation. Congratulations, Dr. Wallin!

April 3, 2018

Autumn is selected as an NSF graduate fellowship scholar. Congratulations, Autumn!

Jan 29, 2018

Ben successfully defends his PhD dissertation. Congratulations, Dr. MacMurray!

Jan 1, 2018

Sanlin's work on patient specific left atrial appendage occluders is featured on the cover of Nature Biomedical Engineering!

Dec 11, 2017

Bryan successfully defends his PhD dissertation. Congratulations, Dr. Peele!

Dec 7, 2017

Kevin Passes his A-exam. Congratulations, Kevin!

Dec 1, 2017

Artemis and Kevin are awarded NIH TL-1 awards from Cornell’s Clinical and Translational Science Center!

Nov 10, 2017

Sanlin successfully defends her PhD dissertation. Congratulations, Dr. Robinson!

Oct 26, 2017

Ben's work on buckled foam actuators is featured in Soft Robotics!

Oct 13, 2017

James's work on texture-morphing camouflage is featured in Science!

Aug 1, 2017

Professor Shepherd is awarded an NSF EAGER Grant: Reliable Control for Soft Robots Through Sensor Placement!

Jul 17, 2017

Bryan and Ben's work on stretchable transducers for kinesthetic interactions in virtual reality is featured at SIGGRAPH '17!

Jul 17, 2017

TJ's work on conductive 3D-printed hydrogels is featured in Advanced Functional Materials!

Jul 6, 2017

TJ's work on Click chemistry stereolithography for soft robots that self-heal is featured in Journal of Materials Chemistry B!

May 31, 2017

Professor Shepherd's review paper on fluid-driven soft robotics is featured in Advanced Engineering Materials!

May 25, 2017

Kevin Passes his qualifying exam.

May 25, 2017

Artemis Passes their qualifying exam.

May 3, 2017

Chris successfully defends his PhD dissertation. Congratulations, Dr. Larson!

February 21, 2017

Rob Shepherd awarded the Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award.

December 6, 2016

Huichan's work on stretchable optical sensors published in Science Robotics.

December 5, 2016

Huichan successfully defends her PhD dissertation, and Rob successfully graduates his first PhD student.

November 9, 2016

Ilse's work on metal foams composites is featured on Nova's Treasures of the Earth Documentary.

November 4, 2016

Lihong and Sanlin's work synthetic arteries published in Advanced Eng. Materials.

September 1, 2016

Capt. Kevin O'Brien featured on cover of Airman Magazine.

August 15, 2016

Sanlin passes her A-exam. Congratulations, Sanlin!

August 3, 2016

Work from the Organic Robotics Lab is featured in episode of Rai Tv's SuperQuark.

August 1, 2016

Shuo's paper on stretchable displays published in Advanced Materials.

June 7, 2016

Rob is awarded $650,000 grant from Army Research Laboratory. Press Release

May 11, 2016

Ilse passes her A-exam. Congratulations, Ilse!

April 29, 2016

Bryan passes his A-exam. Congratulations, Bryan!

April 29, 2016

Shuo defends his master's thesis. Congratulations, Shuo!

March 15, 2015

Chris, Bryan, Shuo, and Sanlin's work on stretchable displays covered in Discovery Channel, NBC News, Popular Mechanics, Gizmodo, CS Monitor, Popular Science, Huffington Post, Scientific American, Science Magazine Podcast, Washington Post, New Scientist, Wired, RCS Chemistry World, The Verge, and El Mundo.

March 4, 2016

Highly stretchable electroluminescent skin for tactile sensing and optical signaling published in Science. Congratulations to Chris, Bryan, Shuo, and Sanlin.

February 12, 2016

'Morphing Metal and Elastomer Bicontinuous Foams for Reversible Stiffness, Shape Memory, and Self-Healing Soft Machines' published in Advanced Materials. Congratulations Ilse!

December 18, 2015

Ben passes his A-exam. Congratulations, Ben!

December 17, 2015

Chris passes his A-exam. Congratulations, Chris!

October 20, 2015

Shepherd Lab is awarded the SURP grant from NASA to work on 3d printing of low-RMS SiC mirrors in collaboration with JPL.

October 7, 2015

The Shepherd Lab wins the 2015 Soft Robotics Design Competition for its Soft Wheel Robot.

October 2, 2015

Ben's work on poroelastic foam actuators covered in Popular Science, New Scientist, Newsweek, the Cornell Chronicle, and Medical Express.

October 1, 2015

'3D printing antagonistic systems of artificial muscle using projection stereolithography' published in Biomimetics and Bioinspiration. Congratulations Bryan Peele!

September 28, 2015

Chris' book chapter entitled '3D Bioprinting Technologies for Cellular Engineering' published in Springer.

September 25, 2015

'Integrated soft sensors and elastomeric actuators for tactile machines with kinesthetic sense' featured on the cover of Extreme Mechanics Letters. Congratulations Sanlin Robinson!

September 19, 2015

'Poroelastic Foams for Simple Fabrication of Complex Soft Robots' featured on the cover of Advanced Materials. Congratulations Ben Mac Murray!

September 19, 2015

'Direct Ink Writing of Silicon Carbide for Microwave Optics' featured on the cover of Advanced Engineering Materials. Congratulations Chris Larson! Click here to see Materials Views article.

August 25, 2015

TJ passes his A-Exam. Congratulations TJ!

July 20, 2015

Professor Shepherd wins the Philosophical Life Raft Debate at Cornell University. Congratulations Rob!

June 7, 2015

The Shepherd Lab receives Engaged Learning & Research Fellowship grant.

June 15, 2015

Huichan passes her A-exam. Congratulations!

June 4, 2015

The Shepherd Lab receives grant from the Army Research Office (ARO).

May 17, 2015

The Shepherd Lab receives Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) grant from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

May 15, 2015

'Scalable manufacturing of high force wearable soft actuators' published in Extreme Mechanics Letters. Congratulations Huichan!

January 17, 2015

Ilse passes her Q-exam. Congratulations!

November 27, 2014

Professor Shepherd receives the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) Young Investigator Award for his work on “Co-Continuous Metal-Elastomer Foam Actuators for Morphing MAVs.” Press Release

May 15, 2014

Bryan passes his Q-exam. Congratulations!

May 15, 2014

Ben passes his Q-exam. Congratulations!

April 15, 2014

Professor Shepherd receives the Young Alumnus Award for Material Science from the University of Illinois.

April 15, 2014

Ilse awarded the Graduate Research Fellowship from the National Science Foundation.

April 15, 2014

Bryan awarded the Graduate Research Fellowship from the National Science Foundation.

February 5, 2014

Professor Shepherd receives the 3M Non-Tenured Faculty Award.

Jan 16, 2014

Chris passes his Q-exam. Congratulations!

May 7, 2013

Huichan passes her Q-exam. Congratulations!

Research

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Wearable Robots

We develop, fabricate, and apply distributed sensor and actuator networks to assist in disease prevention, patient care, and patient rehabilitation.

Learn More

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Bio-inspired Robots

Our primary research thrust is the design, fabrication, and optimization of soft actuating systems for applications in robotics, agriculture, and human interface and assistive technologies.

Learn More

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Advanced Manufacturing

We develop advanced methods based on direct ink writing, digital mask projection stereolithography, conformal lithographyTM, and rotational molding to fabricate soft robots, wearable devices, displays, and sensors.

Learn More

Media & Press

Stretchable Sensor Gives Robots and VR a Human Touch

Covered by Cornell Chronicle, Inverse, Newswise, and New Scientist

Robots learn to sweat to stop overheating

Covered by The Verge, IEEE Spectrum, The Guardian, Gizmodo, and CNN story via WRAL

Smart Fabrics Deliver Accurate Motion Capture And Pressure Sensing

Learn More About Organic Robotics Corp

This Robot Fish Has 'Blood' That Doubles As Its Muscles

Covered by D-brief and PBS News Hour

Smart Foam Can Figure Out What's Happening To It

Covered by Popular Science

OmniPulse haptic sleeve featured at NVIDIA GTC 2017

Venture Beat

Gentle bot: A spongy robot hand with a sense of touch

Covered by NPR, Daily Mail, Cornell Chronicle, Nature World News, CS Monitor, Gizmodo, Motherboard, Optics & Photonics News, E&T Magazine, Physics.org, and PddNet.

Electroluminescent skin featured on Discovery Channel

Covered by Discovery Channel, NBC News, Popular Mechanics, Gizmodo, CS Monitor, Popular Science, Huffington Post, Scientific American, Science Magazine Podcast, Washington Post, New Scientist, Wired, RCS Chemistry World, The Verge, and El Mundo.

A multigait soft robot that can walk, crawl, and traverse obstacles

Covered in The Huffington Post

Soft-Robotic Rover with Electrodynamic Power Scavenging

NASA Press Release

Selected Publications

Full list
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Valveless microliter combustion for densely packed arrays of powerful soft actuators

PNAS (2021)
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Digital light processing of liquid crystal elastomers for self-sensing artificial muscles

Science Advances (2021)
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Stretchable distributed fiber-optic sensors

Science (2020)
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Rapid 3D printing of electrohydraulic (HASEL) tentacle actuators

Advanced Functional Materials (2020)
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3D printing of viscoelastic suspensions via digital light synthesis for tough nanoparticle-elastomer composites

Advanced Materials (2020)
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Electrolytic vascular systems for energy-dense robots

Nature (2019)
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Optical lace for synthetic afferent neural networks

Science Robotics (2019)
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Simple Synthesis of Elastomeric Photomechanical Switches That Self-Heal

Macromolecular Rapid Communications (2019)
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Soft optoelectronic sensory foams with proprioception

Science Robotics (2018)
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Elastomeric passive transmission for autonomous force-velocity adaptation applied to 3D-printed prosthetics

Science Robotics (2018)
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3D printing of soft robotic systems

Nature Reviews Materials (2018)
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A cephalopod-inspired combustion powered hydro-jet engine using soft actuators

Extreme Mechanics Letters (2018)
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Patient-specific design of a soft occluder for the left atrial appendage

Nature Biomedical Engineering (2018)
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Soft Robotics: Review of Fluid-Driven Intrinsically Soft Devices; Manufacturing, Sensing, Control, and Applications in Human-Robot Interaction

Advanced Engineering Materials (2017)
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Stretchable surfaces with programmable 3D texture morphing for synthetic camouflaging skins

Science (2017)
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Optoelectronically innervated soft prosthetic hand via stretchable optical waveguides

Science Robotics (2016)
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Highly stretchable electroluminescent skin for tactile sensing and optical signaling.

Science (2016)
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Morphing Metal and Elastomer Bicontinuous Foams for Reversible Stiffness, Shape Memory, and Self-Healing Soft Machines

Advanced Materials (2016)
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Integrated soft sensors and elastomeric actuators for tactile machines with kinesthetic sense.

Extreme Mechanics Letters (2015)
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Camouflage and Display for Soft Machines

Science (2012)
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Multigait Soft Robot

PNAS (2011)

Our Team

Group members & alumni
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Rob Shepherd

Professor
Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering

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Anastasia Koivikko

Visiting Scholar
Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering

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Anand Mishra

Postdoctoral Fellow
Mechanical Engineering

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Chong-Chan Kim

Postdoctoral Fellow
Mechanical & Engineering

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Khoi Ly

Postdoctoral Fellow
Mechanical Engineering

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Mert Ilman

Postdoctoral Fellow
Mechanical Engineering

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Ofek Peretz

Postdoctoral Fellow
Mechanical Engineering

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Wenjiong Gu

PhD Candidate
Systems Engineering

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Young Seong Kim

PhD Candidate
Mechanical Engineering

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YoungJune Park

PhD Student
Mechanical Engineering

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Douglas Palumbo

PhD Student
Materials Science & Engineering

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Aneesha Sengupta

MS Student
Mechanical Engineering

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Isha Likhite

MS Student
Mechanical Engineering

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Mariana Tovar Torres

MS Student
Mechanical Engineering