Education

Master Projects or Thesis Work at the Soft Robotics Lab

We are looking for master students that would like to do their semester projects or their master thesis work at the Soft Robotics Lab. We offer a range of research topics for a thesis in the areas of design, fabrication, modeling, controls, and machine learning for soft robots. The group is actively researching actuators made of silicone elastomers, electro-active polymer, or biohybrid materials, and we use these actuators to design and build soft robots for applications in robotic manipulation, underwater locomotion, walking, and flying.

Selected thesis works supervised in the past:

• Bianca Homberg - MIT Master Thesis: "Robust Proprioceptive Grasping with a Soft Robot Hand"
• Kris Frey - MIT Undergraduate Thesis: "Autonomy for Soft Robotic Fish Through Visual Servoing"
• Stephanie Moon - MIT Undergraduate Thesis: "Design of a Compact Buoyancy Control Unit for Depth and Pitch Control"

Please have a look at our currently advertised student projects.

Advanced Course on The Body and Brain of Soft Robots

The advanced course on “The Body and Brain of Soft Robots” will focus on the process of creating the structure, models and controllers of soft robots that exploit their impedance and dynamics to perform locomotion or manipulation. You will gain experience of a range of soft technologies and a model-based approach to design and simulation of soft continuum robots. Read More