Our research sits at the intersection of mechanism design, AI, and human–machine interaction. We pursue four connected themes, all aimed at making robots safer, more intuitive, and useful in the real world.
Robots that bring the surgeon and patient closer together — safer, more reliable, and more accessible.
Most surgical robots adapt arms built for industry, which raises cost and limits performance. We design specialized, intrinsically-safe robotic instruments and teleoperation systems where safety is guaranteed at the hardware level rather than relying solely on software. A long-term goal is a cost-effective, portable surgical robot that can extend expert care to underserved regions.
A teleoperation system that restores the sense of touch lost in remote surgery.
Multi-DoF instrument design and kinematic evaluation for dexterous minimally-invasive surgery.
An approach to deliver kinesthetic feedback in safety-critical robot teleoperation.
Giving operators a sense of robotic touch — on the fingertip, the palm, and beyond.
When operators control robots remotely, they lose the forces of interaction with the environment, which degrades performance. We develop wearable and world-grounded haptic devices that render kinesthetic and tactile cues, and study how device design shapes operator performance across teleoperation, skill training, and mixed-reality interfaces.
Electrotactile and squeeze-based feedback designs evaluated for perception and performance.
A vibrotactile haptic glove and mixed-reality framework for precision-task training.
Comparing wearable vs. world-grounded kinesthetic feedback for fine telemanipulation and berthing.
Compliant, adaptive mechanisms for safe and versatile manipulation.
We design soft pneumatic actuators, adaptive grippers, and 3D-printed compliant mechanisms that grasp delicate and irregular objects safely. Our work investigates actuator geometry, material selection, and integration into multi-finger robotic hands and rehabilitation devices.
A soft actuator integrated into a versatile 3-finger robot gripper (IEEE Access, 2025).
Materials and methods for designing 3D-printed soft grippers in 60A–70A TPU.
A compact, tendon-driven soft robotic glove for hand rehabilitation.
Human-centered systems for mobility, rehabilitation, and everyday autonomy.
We apply AI and novel mechanism design to assistive and human-centric robots: vibrotactile safety systems for power wheelchairs, bio-inspired prosthetics with real-time feedback, lower-limb exoskeletons, dexterous and reflexive robotic hands, and efficient bipedal leg architectures.
Vehicle-embedded vibrotactile feedback to improve driving safety (IEEE T-NSRE, 2026).
Lower-limb prosthesis with real-time haptic feedback; anthropomorphic fingers for dexterous hands.
Low-cost layered sensing for reflexive grip control; mode-switching legs for bipedal robots.
Browse our full list of peer-reviewed publications, or get in touch to discuss collaborations and student projects.