About us
The natural world is filled with soft, adaptive systems capable of stably and safely interacting with their environment. However, the machines that we build today are most often constructed from rigid components. In the Yale Faboratory, we are developing intelligent, multifunctional materials that will allow soft robots to adapt their properties, morphologies, and behavioral control policies to changing tasks and environments.
Materials
We are developing new multifunctional materials that blur component boundaries to reduce the complexity of robotic systems.
Manufacturing
We are discovering new techniques to synthesize responsive composites and harness their function to achieve new capabilities in synthetic systems.
Robotics
We leverage our material and manufacturing discoveries to push forward the capabilities of soft matter electronics and soft robots.
The Yale Faboratory researches new and innovative ways to make things
Lab News
The Faboratory is moving to Princeton University this summer!
April 2026
Congratulations to Faboratory postgrad Esteban Figueroa for winning a GEM Fellowship
December 2025
Congratulations to Faboratory undergrad Teresa Nguyen for winning a Science, Technology and Research Scholars Program fellowship
Setember 2025
Congratulations to Faboratory postdoc Rawan Omar for being selected for MIT's Rising Stars in Mechanical Engineering Workshop
August 2025
The Faboratory is awarded a collaborative AFOSR MURI grant, led by MIT, to develop data-driven and model-based foundations of control for soft robots
July 2025
Congratulations to Faboratory undergrad Veronica Kushner for winning a Yale College Dean's Research fellowship
June 2025
Congratulations to Faboratory postdoc Aram Bahmani for winning NSERC Canada and FRQNT Postdoctoral Fellowships
May 2025
Congratulations to Faboratory postdoc Rawan Omar for winning an AAUW International Fellowship
May 2025
- Congratulations to Faboratory postdoc Rawan Omar for being named to MIT Technology Review's Innovators Under 35 - March 2025
- Our amphibious robotic turtle with morphing limbs is at the Yale Peabody Museum, in the Dynamic Nature exhibit - Oct 2024
- Congratulations to Faboratory postdoc Rawan Omar for recieving a Rothschild Postdoctoral Fellowship and VATAT Scholarship for Outstanding Postdoctoral Researchers - Oct 2024
- Congratulations to Faboratory graduate student Billy Yang and coauthors for their CNN feature, This gecko-inspired robot amputates its own limbs to survive - Oct 2024
- Congratulations to Faboratory graduate student Stephanie Woodman for being selected for CMU's Rising Stars in Mechanical Engineering Workshop - Sept 2024
- Our paper on "Self-amputating and interfusing machines via distributed reversible joints" is featured by IEEE Spectrum, Tech Xplore, and more - July 2025
- Our research and perspective on soft robotics is featured by NSF, What is a Robot? Explained by Mechanical Engineer - June 2024
- Professor Kramer-Bottiglio receives the NSF Waterman Award, video link - April 2024
- Congratulations to Faboratory graduate student Caitlin Le for winning a NASA Space Technology Graduate Research Fellowship - April 2024
- Congratulations to Faboratory undergraduate students Neera Raychaudhuri and Nimran Shergill for winning NSF Graduate Research Fellowships - April 2024
- Prof. Kramer-Bottiglio and the amphibious robotic turtle team are selected to demo at MARS 2024 - March 2024
- Congratulations to Faboratory undergrad Esteban Figueroa for being selected as a junior fellow in the Science, Technology and Research Scholars Program - Oct 2023
- Congratulations to Faboratory graduate student Lily Behnke and co-authors: "Dynamic hand proprioception via a wearable glove with fabric sensors" is nominated for IROS Best Application Paper Award - Oct 2023
- Professor Kramer-Bottiglio is selected to be a 2023-2024 Public Voices Fellow - Sept 2023
- Professor Kramer-Bottiglio is selected for the Rosalind Franklin Society award in science for Soft Robotics - July 2023
- Congratulations to Faboratory postdoc Brian Do for being selected for Purdue's 2023 Trailblazers in Engineering Workshop - June 2023
- Congratulations to Faboratory postdoc Robert Baines for winning a 2023 Branco Weiss Fellowship - June 2023
- Congratulations to Stephanie Woodman and Anjali Agrawala for winning a Blavatnik Accelerator Award for Stretchtex, Inc - June 2023
- Congratulations to Robert Baines for winning the Yale Henry Prentiss Becton Graduate Prize for exceptional achievement in research- May 2023
- Congratulations to Faboratory postdoc Nidhi Pashine for being selected for Berkeley's 2023 Rising Stars in Physics Workshop - April 2023
- Congratulations to Faboratory undergrad Neera Raychaudhuri for winning a Rosenfeld Science Scholar fellowship - April 2023
- Professor Kramer-Bottiglio is selected by the National Academy of Science to be a Kavli Fellow - March 2023
- Our amphibious robotic turtle is featured in Scientific American, Mighty Morphin’ Turtle Robot Goes Amphibious by Shifting Leg Shape - Jan 2023
- Our Nature paper on an amphibious robotic turtle is selected by Nature editors for inclusion in a special online collection of content on AI and robotics - Dec 2022
- Congratulations to Faboratory graduate student Will Johnson and co-authors, "Sensor Tendons for Soft Robot State Estimation" wins Best Paper at IEEE Sensors - Nov 2022
- Our paper on adaptive morphogenesis is featured on the cover of Nature, and by New Scientist, Popular Science, The New Haven Register, Yale News, and many more - Oct 2022
- Professor Kramer-Bottiglio is named one of 50 women in robotics you need to know about 2022 - Oct 2022
- Professor Kramer-Bottiglio speaks with the Washington Post about smart textiles and robotic fabrics, Slowly but surely, robots will wind up in our clothes - Aug 2022
- Professor Kramer-Bottiglio is featured in a Yale Meet the FAS Faculty video - May 2022
- Congratulations to Faboratory postdoc Lina Sanchez Botero for winning best poster at Yale's postdoc symposium - May 2022
- Congratulations to Faboratory graduate students Anjali Agrawala and Stephanie Woodman for winning NSF Graduate Research Fellowships - Apr 2022
- Congratulations to Faboratory graduate student Stephanie Woodman for winning a NASA Space Technology Graduate Research Fellowship - Apr 2022
- Congratulations to Faboratory graduate student Will Johnson for winning a Ford Fellowship honorable mention - Mar 2022
- Prof. Kramer-Bottiglio is named a National Academy of Engineering Gilbreth Lecturer - Jan 2022
- Congratulations to Faboratory graduate student Will Johnson for winning a NASA CT Space Grant Consortium fellowship - Dec 2021
- Our Science Advances paper on jamming fibers is featured by Tech Xplore, Yale SEAS News, Yale News, and many more - Oct 2021
- Congratulations to Faboratory postdoc Sree Patiballa for being selected for NSF CMMI’s Game Changer Academies for Advancing Research Innovation - Oct 2021
- Congratulations to Faboratory graduate student Stephanie Woodman for winning a Yale Advanced Graduate Leadership Program fellowship - Sept 2021
- The Faboratory is awarded a collaborative NSF DMREF grant to design granular metamaterials with artificial evolution - Sept 2021
- Congratulations to Faboratory graduate student Luis Ramirez for winning an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship - Aug 2021
- Professor Kramer-Bottiglio is promoted to Associate Professor with tenure - July 2021
- Congratulations to Faboratory graduate student Dylan Shah for winning the Henry Prentiss Becton Graduate Prize for exceptional achievement in research - Nov 2020
- Congratulations to Faboratory graduate student Sophia Eristoff for winning a NASA Space Technology Graduate Research Fellowship - April 2021
- Congratulations to Faboratory postdoc Elze Porte and co-authors, "Capacitive sensor measurement rate improves by pre-stretching" is a best poster finalist at RoboSoft 2021 - April 2021
- Our Nature Materials paper on stretchable electronics is featured by Yale News - Feb 2021
- The Faboratory is awarded an ONR grant to continue our development of a turtle-inspired amphibious robot with morphing limbs
- Our Advanced Functional Materials paper on "Jamming Skins that Control System Rigidity from the Surface" is featured by Advanced Science News - Nov 2020
- Our Nature Machine Intelligence paper on "A soft robot that adapts to environments through shape change" is featured by Yale News and IEEE Spectrum Video Friday - Nov 2020
- Our PNAS paper on "Roboticizing fabric using functional fibers" is featured by Yale News, Inverse, Engadget, Yale Daily News and many more - Sept 2020
- The Faboratory is awarded a collaborative NSF grant to develop wearable textile sensors - Oct 2020
- The Faboratory is awarded a collaborative NSF grant to create modular tensegrity robots - Oct 2020
- Prof. Kramer-Bottiglio is named to the NASA Technology, Innovation and Engineering Committee - July 2020
- The Faboratory is awarded a collaborative ONR grant to develop granular metamaterials for next-generation atomopheric diving suits - June 2020
- Our co-authored paper, "Electronic skins and machine learning for intelligent soft robots" is featured in TechExplore
- Our paper on "Sustainable manufacturing of sensors onto soft systems using self-coagulating conductive Pickering emulsions" is featured in TechExplore - Mar 2020
- Congratulations to Faboratory graduate student Trevor Buckner for receiving a Gruman Graduate Fellowship - Jan 2020
- The Omniskins and EFRI shape-changing robots projects are featured by Massive Science - Jan 2020
- Congratulations to Faboratory graduate student Bilige Yang for receiving the Lippincott Fellowship from Swarthmore College - Aug 2019
- Our paper on "Morphing Robots Using Robotic Skins That Sculpt Clay" is featured in The New Stack, Yale SEAS News, and IEEE Spectrum - Aug 2019
- Our paper on "Reconfigurable soft body trajectories using unidirectionally stretchable composite laminae" is published in Nature Communications and highlighted by Wired - Aug 2019
- Our co-authored paper "Automated shapeshifting for function recovery in damaged robots" is featured on DARPA's Facebook and Twitter - July 2019
- Our co-authored paper "Automated shapeshifting for function recovery in damaged robots" is featured in Nature Machine Intelligence - July 2019
- The Faboratory is awarded a NASA STTR Sequential Phase II grant with Otherlab to continue our development of sensors for soft-bodied control - July 2019
- Prof. Kramer-Bottiglio receives the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) - July 2019
- Prof. Kramer-Bottiglio is named the John J. Lee Professor of Engineering - May 2019
- Congratulations to Faboratory undergraduate student Andrew Reardon for winning an undergraduate research fellowship from the NASA Connecticut Space Grant Consortium. The project is highlighted by Yale Daily News and YALE SEAS News - May 2019
- Our co-authored paper "Automated Recycling Separation Enabled by Soft Robotic Material Classification" wins Best Poster Award at RoboSoft 2019 - Apr 2019
- Congratulations to Faboratory graduate student Robert Baines for winning an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship - Apr 2019
- Congratulations to Faboratory graduate student Robert Baines, "Toward a bio-inspired variable-stiffness morphing limb for amphibious robot locomotion" is nominated for best paper award at RoboSoft 2019 - March 2019
- Congratulations to Faboratory graduate student Jennifer Case, "Robotic skins that learn to control passive structures," is nominated for best paper award at RoboSoft 2019 - March 2019
- Prof. Kramer-Bottiglio and the Faboratory are selected to present and demo soft robotic skins at MARS 2019 - March 2019
- The Faboratory is awarded a DURIP equipment award from AFOSR - March 2019
- The Faboratory's OmniSkins project and recent EFRI collaboration are featured in the Communications of the ACM - April 2019
- The OmniSkins project is featured in media outlets including Gizmodo, Smithsonian.com, Engadget, RT News, National Geographic Australia, Futurism, The Verge, and Popular Science, marking the finish of a 4-year NASA Early Career Faculty Award - Fall 2018
- The Faboratory is featured in the Yale Engineering Magazine - Fall 2018
- The Faboratory is awarded a collaborative NSF grant to build morphing robots - August 2018
- Prof. Kramer-Bottiglio is selected to participate in NAE’s 2018 U.S. Frontiers of Engineering Symposium - May 2018
- Prof. Kramer-Bottiglio is featured in IEEE Pulse, The Robotics Revolution Will Be Soft - May 2018
- The Faboratory is awarded a faculty research grant from the NASA Connecticut Space Grant Consortium to develop deployable self-constructing soft robots - May 2018
- Congratulations to Faboratory graduate student Adam Bilodeau, "All-Soft Material System for Strong Soft Actuators" wins best student paper award at RoboSoft 2018 - April 2018
- Congratulations to Faboratory graduate student Michelle Yuen, "Strain Sensor-Embedded Soft Pneumatic Actuators and Extension and Bending Feedback" is a best poster finalist at RoboSoft 2018 - April 2018
- The Faboratory is awarded a collaborative NASA STTR Phase II grant with Otherlab to explore sensors and soft-bodied control - Aug 2017
- The Faboratory moves to Yale University - July 2017
- Congratulations to Faboratory graduate student Dylan Shah for winning a NASA Space Technology Research Fellowship - Apr 2017
- Prof. Kramer receives the ONR YIP Award! - Feb 2017
- "Hybrid Self-Assembly During Evaporation Enables Drop-on-Demand Thin Film Devices" is on the cover of ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces - Jan 2017
- The Faboratory's breakthrough research on inkjet printing of liquid metal electronics is featured in C&EN's Year in Review: Top Research of 2016 - Dec 2016
- The Faboratory is highlighted by AZO Sensors for research on flexible, stretchable sensors - Oct 2016
- Prof. Kramer is featured in Boiler Life: Fall 2016 - Oct 2016
- Prof. Kramer is featured in Purdue Profiles: Rebecca Kramer - Sep 2016
- Prof. Kramer is quoted in NY City Lens article "Problem Solving With Soft Robots" - Sep 2016
- Prof. Kramer is featured and quoted in Chemical and Engineering News, "Liquid metals take shape" - July 2016
- Prof. Kramer receives the AFOSR YIP Award! - May 2016
- Prof. Kramer participates in NASA Technology Day on Capitol Hill - Apr 2016
- The Faboratory is awarded a collaborative NASA STTR grant with Otherlab to explore multimodal sensory skins and soft robotic manipulators - Apr 2016
- The Faboratory is awarded a grant from Intel to develop wearable sensing technology - Apr 2016
- The Faboratory is highlighted in Purdue's Engineering Impact Magazine (p.17) for our innovations with robotic fabric - Mar 2016
- Prof. Kramer is quoted in Nature News, Meet the soft, cuddly robots of the future - Feb 2016
- The Faboratory is awarded a collaborative DARPA Robotics Fast Track (RFT) grant with Otherlab to explore sensor-enabled control of soft pneumatic robots - Jan 2016
- Congratulations to Faboratory undergraduate student Jarvis Du for winning a Bottomley Undergraduate Research Scholarship - Dec 2015
- The Faboratory is awarded a collaborative NSF grant to explore soft robotics in education, "Soft Robotics to Broaden the STEM Pipeline" - July 2015
- "Soft Electronics for Soft Robotics" wins best paper award at the Micro- and Nanotechnology Sensors, Systems, and Applications Conference - June 2015
- Our news release, "Inkjet-printed liquid metal could bring wearable tech, soft robotics" was featured by Engadget, Gizmodo, ExtremeTech, Science World Report, RedOrbit, Discovery News, Mic, and more! - May 2015
- "Mechanically Sintered Gallium-Indium Nanoparticles" is on the cover of Advanced Materials - Apr 2015
- Congratulations to Faboratory graduate student Jennifer Case for winning a NASA Space Technology Research Fellowship - Apr 2015
- Congratulations to Faboratory graduate students Jennifer Case and Michelle Yuen for winning NSF Graduate Fellowships - Apr 2015
- Prof. Kramer is featured in the Journal & Courier "Purdue professor turning science fiction into reality" - Feb 2015
- Prof. Kramer is featured in The Exponent "Mechanical engineering professor on Forbes' 30 Under 30" - Jan 2015
- The Faboratory's work on robotic fabrics is highlighted in Textile Insight Magazine, p.48 - Jan 2015
- Prof. Kramer receives the NSF CAREER Award! - Jan 2015
- Prof. Kramer is selected for the Forbes Magazine 30 Under 30 in Manufacturing - Jan 2015
- The Faboratory is highlighted in Bloomberg TV's The Year Ahead: 2015 "The Future of Robotics May Be a Robot You Wear" - Nov 2014
- The Faboratory is highlighted in the first issue of Purdue's Discovery Magazine "Research paving the way for soft machines" - Oct 2014
- The Faboratory is featured in Purdue News, "Robotic fabric could bring 'active clothing,' wearable robots" as well as Phys.org, Wired, and more. - Sept 2014
- Inside Indiana Business "Purdue Professor Picked by NASA" - Aug 2014
- Prof. Kramer is quoted in Architect Magazine - "Hard Science Gives Rise to Soft Machines" - July 2014
- Prof. Kramer receives the NASA Early Career Faculty Award! - July 2014
- The Faboratory is featured in Purdue News, "New manufacturing methods needed for 'soft' machines, robots" as well as Engineering.com, NASA Tech Briefs, and more. - June 2014
- "Direct Writing of Ga-In Alloy for Stretchable Electronics" is the inside cover article for Advanced Functional Materials - June 2014
- Congratulations to Faboratory graduate student Michelle Yuen for winning a NSF GRFP honorable mention - Apr 2014
- Congratulations to Faboratory graduate student Edward White for winning a NSF Graduate Fellowship - Apr 2014
Our People
Rebecca Kramer-Bottiglio
- Principal Investigator
- Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering
- Yale Faculty Profile
- Google Scholar
- Ph.D., Engineering Sciences, Harvard University, 2012
- M.S., Mechanical Engineering, University of California Berkeley, 2008
- B.S., Mechanical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, 2007
Dr. Aram Bahmani
Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr. Zachary Brei
Postdoctoral Associate
Dr. Rawan Omar
Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr. Yan Peng
Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr. Jue Wang
Postdoctoral Associate
Dr. Wenzhong Yan
Postdoctoral Associate
Medha Goyal
PhD Student
Will Johnson
PhD Student
Caitlin Le
PhD Student, NASA Fellow
Luis Ramirez
PhD Student, NSF Fellow
Stephanie Woodman
PhD Student, NASA Fellow
Esteban Figueroa
Postgraduate Associate
MS Students
Francesca Afruni
Kyle Blanset
Juan Hernandez Gutierrez
Ao Jiang
Undergraduate Researchers and Interns
David Antwi
Diana Cao
Chloe DeJoy
Filippo Fonseca
Gustavo Zotin Gomes de Oliveira
Hari Viswanathan
Veronica Kushner (Yale College Dean's Research Fellow)
Brandon Lin
Anjali Lodh
Teresa Nguyen (STARS Fellow)
Nico Ramos
Stephen Castilla
Andrew Tejada-Vega
Postdocs
Prof. Monica Li
current position: Research Scientist, Berkshire Grey; Assistant Professor, University of WashingtonDr. Mingsong Jiang
current position: Lab Director, CrealityProf. Brian Do
current position: Assistant Professor, Oregon State UniversityProf. Huanbo Sun
current position: Assistant Professor, Peking UniversityProf. Jiefeng Sun
current position: Assistant Professor, Arizona State UniversityProf. Nidhi Pashine
current position: Assistant Professor, Syracuse UniversityDr. Lina Sanchez-Botero
current position: Postdoctoral Associate, Weill Cornell MedicineProf. Xiaonan Huang
current position: Assistant Professor, University of MichiganDr. Osman Dogan Yirmibesoglu
current position: Boston Dynamics AI InstituteDr. Elze Porte
current position: Research Fellow, University College LondonDr. Amir Mohammadi Nasab
current position: Sr. Mechanical engineer, RivianProf. Sreekalyan Patiballa
current position: Assistant Professor, University of AlabamaProf. Sang Yup Kim
current position: Assistant Professor, Sogang UniversityProf. Andrew Jackson
current position: Assistant Professor, University of GeorgiaDr. Steph Walker
current position: Owner, Oregan Shire ShopDr. Olivier Cyr-Choiniere
current position: NSER CREATE scholar in Financial Engineering at Fin-MLProf. Mohammed Mohammed
current position: Assistant Professor, Cairo UniversityProf. J. William Boley
current position: Assistant Professor, Boston UniversityPhD
Dr. Bilige Yang, 2025
current position: Product Design Engineer, Apple, Inc.Dr. Sophia Eristoff, 2025
current position: Product Engineer, Lam ResearchDr. Robert Baines, 2023
current position: Branco Weiss Fellow, ETHDr. Trevor Buckner, 2023
current position: Mechatronics Design Engineer, ASMLDr. Dylan Shah, 2022
current position: Hardware R&D Scientist, AriecaDr. Shanliangzi Liu, 2020
current position: Process Engineer, Lam ResearchDr. R Adam Bilodeau, 2020
current position: Postdoctoral Associate, BYU; Adjunct Faculty, Utah Valley UniversityDr. Jennifer Case, 2019
current position: Field Systems Engineer, Fermi National Accelerator LaboratoryProf. Michelle Yuen, 2018
current position: Assistant Professor, Montana State UniversityDr. Edward White, 2017
MS / MPhil
Manning MacAvoy, 2025
Zhuoran Wu, 2025
Mujun Zhang, 2025
Luca Cimatti, 2025
MS exchange student, University of BolognaLily Behnke, 2024
Sven Witthaus, 2023
Augustin Vercoutere, 2023
MS exchange student, UCLouvainAnjali Agrawala, 2023
Jiawei Zhang, 2017
current position: Process Engineer, TeslaTrevor Lear, 2016
current position: Advanced Quality Engineer, StrykerThomas Chenal, 2014
MS exchange student, EPFL; current position: Continuous Improvement Engineer, MedtronicPostgrads
Thomas Sipple, 2019-2020
current position: Engineer, Organic RoboticsResearch Scientists
Dr. Joran Booth, 2018-2024
Undergraduate Researchers
Freddy Ramon
Leo Zhang
Diana Omar (Yale)
Quincy Rosenzweig (Yale)
John Tesmer (Yale)
Evan Zhang (The Harker School)
Reva Targare (Yale)
Jacob Wang (Yale)
Dylan Sevenikar (Yale)
Alejandra Garcia (Yale)
Erick Marroquin (Yale)
Neera Raychaudhuri (Yale, Rosenfeld Science Scholar, NSF GRFP 2024)
Christina Young (Yale)
Melanie Landesberg (Yale)
Alex Moore (Yale)
Maggy Lambo (Yale)
Nimran Shergill (Yale, NSF GRFP 2024)
Milo Sobel-Lewin (UChicago)
Philip London (University of Rochester)
Victoria Fleming (Yale)
Matt Albritton (Yale)
Jade Chen (Yale)
Janet Mascorro (Yale)
Cecilia Russel (Yale)
Siona Targare (Yale)
Archana Sharma (Yale)
Liana Tilton (Hopkins High School, WashU)
Andonny Garcia (Yale)
Eugene Thomas (Yale)
Hannah Steele (Yale)
Andrew Reardon (Yale, NASA Connecticut Space Grant Consortium undergraduate fellow)
Kristen Henry (Yale)
Ellen Yang (Yale)
Jane Jacobs (Yale)
John Kim (Yale)
Sinem Sinmaz (Yale)
Gabrielle Branin (Yale)
Evelyn Huang (Yale)
Nguyen Pham (Yale)
John McCaw (Purdue)
Hannah Brown (Purdue)
Jarvis Du (Purdue)
Current Projects
Mathematical Control and Systems Theory for Soft Robotics
Sponsor: Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), MURI
Collaborators: Ali Jadbabaie (MIT, project lead), Zac Manchester (MIT), Alex Rakhlin (MIT), Anette Hosoi (MIT), Elliot Hawkes (UCSB)
Alan T. Waterman Award
Sponsor: National Science Foundation
Towards a Deep Water Amphibious Robotic Turtle
Sponsor: Office of Naval Research
Collaborator: Frank Fish (West Chester University)
Design and Optimization of Granular Metamaterials using Artificial Evolution
Sponsor: NSF DMREF
Collaborators: Corey O'Hern (Yale ), Josh Bongard (UVM)
Robust Assembly of Compliant Modular Robots
Fabric-Embedded Dynamic Sensing for Adaptive Exoskeleton Assistance
Autonomous Environmental Transitions of an Amphibious Turtle-Inspired Robot
Granular Metamaterial Design for Extreme Pressure Differentials
Programmable Skins for Moldable and Morphogenetic Soft Robots
Resource Ingesting Soft Robotic Skins for in situ Regolith Sampling
Active Elastic Skins for Soft Robotics
Soft Robotic Manipulators with Enhanced Perception using Multimodal Sensory Skins
Understanding the Printability of Liquid Metal Dispersions for Additive Manufacturing
Morphing Limbs with Distributed Actuation, Sensing and Variable Stiffness for Turtle- and Tortoise-Inspired Amphibious Locomotion
Soft Robotics to Broaden the STEM Pipeline
Robotic Fabrics: Multifunctional Fabrics for Reconfigurable and Wearable Soft Systems
Bagbots: Using Robotic Skins for Deployable Self-Constructing Soft Robots
Intelligent Activewear: Computer-Aided Proprioception for Posture and Performance Enhancement
Roll-to-Roll Manufacturing of Wearable Human Monitoring Systems
SENSE: Soft Elastomer Networks for State Estimation
Publications
- M. Wileyto, F. Fish, S. Trail, J. Wyneken, R. Bottiglio-Kramer. "Aquatic turning performance in juvenile Loggerhead and Green sea turtles." Integrative Organismal Biology, accepted.
- W. Johnson, X. Huang, S. Lu, K. Wang, L. Cimatti, M. Carati, J. Booth, K. Bekris, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Impact-resistant, autonomous robots inspired by tensegrity architecture." Nature Machine Intelligence, in press.
- W. Johnson, P. Meng, N. Chen, L. Cimatti, A. Vercoutere, M. Aanjaneya, R. Kramer-Bottiglio, K. Bekris. "An open-source, reproducible tensegrity robot that can navigate among obstacles." Robotics and Automation Letters, in press.
- M. Li, S. Woodman, D. Shah, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Liquid metal is a bulk conductor." Advanced Materials Technologies, 2026.
- Z. Zhu, W. Chen, P-C. Kao, J. Clark, L. Behnke, R. Kramer-Bottiglio, H. Yanco, Y. Gu. "Model-agnostic meta-learning for adaptive gait phase and terrain geometry estimation with wearable soft sensors." Robotics and Automation Letters, 2026.
- K-S. Kim, J-S. Shim, S-W. Kim, G-S. Hwang, Y-J. Park, J. Booth, J-Y. Bae, J-H. Kim, M-H. Oh, M-S. Chae, J. Jeon, J-Y. Lee, J-H. Lee, M-J. Chae, S-G. Choi, Y-S. Kim, S-M. Lee, S-H. Kang, J-H. Park, Y-W. Kim, W-J. Lee, I. Kim, K-H. Kim, S-Y. Choi, J-Y. Sun, R. Kramer-Bottiglio, M-R. Ok, J. Kim, J-K. Hyun, K-S. Lee, J-Y. Kim, S-Y. Kim, M. Kaltenbrunner, S-K. Kang. "Biodegradable yet hyper-durable robotic fingers for zero-waste soft electronics." Nature Sustainability, 2026.
- H. Sun, Y. Feng, P.-C. Kao, M. Black, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Textile suit for anywhere full-body motion capture." Science Advances, 2026.
- N. Pashine, D. Wang, R. Baines, M. Goyal, M. Shattuck, C. O'Hern, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Tuning the size and stiffness of inflatable particles." Soft Matter, 2025.
- S. Witthaus, A. Parsa, D. Wang, N. Pashine, J. Zhang, A. MacKeith, M. Shattuck, J. Bongard, C. O'Hern, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Evolution of adaptive force chains in reconfigurable granular metamaterials." Soft Matter, 2025.
- S. Eristoff, L. Sanchez-Botero, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Enhanced actuation stress in variable stiffness liquid crystal elastomers." Advanced Intelligent Systems, 2025.
- C. Chen, P. Shi, Z. Liu, S. Duan, M. Si, C. Zhang, Y. Du, Y. Yan, T. White, R. Kramer-Bottiglio, M. Sitti, T. Iwasaki, X. He. "Advancing physical intelligence for autonomous soft robots." Science Robotics, 2025.
- L. Ramirez, R. Baines, B. Yang, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Decreasing the cost of morphing in adaptive morphogenetic robots." Advanced Intelligent Systems, 2025.
- S. Eristoff, L. Sanchez-Botero, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Mechanical characterization of granular actuators." Journal of Composite Materials, 2025.
- C. Le, O. Yirmibesoglu, S. Even, T. Buckner, Y. Ozkan-Aydin, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Grand challenges for burrowing soft robots." Frontiers in Robotics and AI, 2025.
- J. Case, S. Woodman, J. Gibert, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Expanded quasi-static models to predict the performance of robotic skins on soft cylinders." International Journal of Robotics Research, 2025.
- W. Johnson, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Robots that Can Survive the Egg Drop." Frontiers for Young Minds, 2024.
- S. Woodman, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Stretchable shape-sensing and computation for general shape-changing robots." Annual Review of Control, Robotics, and Autonomous Systems, 2024.
- E. Porte, N. Pashine, S. Patiballa, S. Eristoff, T. Buckner, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Variable stiffness metamaterials with switchable Poisson's ratio." Device, 2024.
- R. Baines, F. Fish, J. Bongard, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Robots that evolve on demand." Nature Reviews Materials, 2024.
- S. Woodman, D. Shah, M. Landesberg, A. Agrawala, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Stretchable Arduinos embedded in soft robots." Science Robotics, 2024.
- B. Yang, A. Mohammadi Nasab, S. Woodman, E. Thomas, L. Tilton, M. Levin, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Self-amputating and interfusing machines via distributed reversible joints." Advanced Materials, 2024.
- T. Buckner, X. Huang, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Untethered, dynamic robotic fabrics enabled by actively rigid variable stiffness fibers." Advanced Functional Materials, 2024.
- S. Eristoff, A. Mohammadi Nasab, X. Huang, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Liquid Metal + x: a review of multiphase composites containing liquid metal and other (x) fillers." Advanced Functional Materials, p. 2309529, 2023.
- D. Shah, S. Woodman, T. Buckner, E. Yang, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Robotic skins with integrated actuation, sensing, and variable stiffness." IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L), 2023.
- R. Baines, F. Zuliani, N. Chennoufi, S. Joshi, R. Kramer-Bottiglio, J. Paik. "Multi-modal deformation and temperature sensing for context-sensitive machines." Nature Communications, Vol. 14, No. 1, p. 7499, 2023.
- D. Shah, S. Woodman, L. Sanchez-Botero, S. Liu, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Stretchable shape-sensing sheets." Advanced Intelligent Systems, Vol. 5, No. 12, p. 2300343, 2023.
- R. Baines, B. Yang, L. Ramirez, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Kirigami layer jamming." Extreme Mechanics Letters, Vol. 64, p. 102084, 2023.
- J. Zhang, D. Wang, W. Jin, A. Xia, N. Pashine, R. Kramer-Bottiglio, M. Shattuck, C. O'Hern. "Designing mechanical response using tessellated granular metamaterials." Physical Review E, Vol. 108, p. 034901, 2023.
- J. Jeong, I. Kim, Y. Choi, S. Lim, S. Kim, H. Kang, D. Shah, R. Baines, J. Booth, R. Kramer-Bottiglio, S. Y. Kim. "Spikebot: a Multigait Tensegrity Robot with Linearly Extending Struts." Soft Robotics, 2023.
- E. Porte, S. Eristoff, A. Agrawala, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Characterization of temperature and humidity dependence in soft elastomer behavior." Soft Robotics, 2023.
- N. Pashine, D. Wang, J. Zhang, S. Patiballa, S. Witthaus, M. Shattuck, C. O’Hern, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Tessellated granular metamaterials with tunable elastic moduli." Extreme Mechanics Letters, Vol. 63, p. 102055, 2023. (Cover article)
- L. Sanchez-Botero,* A. Agrawala,* R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Stretchable, breathable, and washable fabric sensor for human motion monitoring." Advanced Materials Technologies, p. 2300378, 2023.
- L. Zhao, Y. Wu, W. Yan, W. Zhan, X. Huang, J. Booth, A. Mehta, K. Bekris, R. Kramer-Bottiglio, D. Balkcom. "StarBlocks: Soft Actuated Self-connecting Blocks for Building Deformable Lattice Structures." Robotics and Automation Letters, 2023.
- R. Baines, S. Patiballa, B. Gorissen, K. Bertoldi, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Programming 3D curves with discretely constrained cylindrical inflatables." Advanced Materials, p. 2300535, 2023.
- N. Pashine, A. Nasab, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Reprogrammable allosteric metamaterials from disordered networks." Soft Matter, Vol. 19, No. 8, p. 1617-1623, 2023.
- R. Baines, S. Patiballa, J. Booth, L. Ramirez, T. Sipple, A. Garcia, F. Fish, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Multi-environment robotic transitions through adaptive morphogenesis." Nature, Vol. 610, No. 7931, p. 283-298, 2022. (Cover article)
- T. Buckner, Z. Farrell, A. Mohammadi Nasab, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Effects of Particle Size and Oxide Shell on Variable Stiffness Performance of Phase-Changing Materials." Journal of Composite Materials, 2022.
- L. Zhao, Y. Wu, J. Blanchet, M. Perroni-Scharf, X Huang, J. Booth, R. Kramer-Bottiglio, D. Balkcom. "Soft Lattice Modules that Behave Independently and Collectively." IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, Vol. 7, No. 3, p. 5942-5949, 2022.
- L. Sanchez-Botero, D. Shah, R. Kramer- Bottiglio. "Are Liquid Metals Bulk Conductors?" Advanced Materials, Vol. 34, No. 26, p. 2109427, 2022.
- S. Eristoff, S. Y. Kim, L. Sanchez-Botero, T. Buckner, O. Doğan Yirmibeşoğlu, R. Kramer- Bottiglio. "Soft Actuators Made of Discrete Grains." Advanced Materials, Vol. 34, No. 16, p. 2109617, 2022.
- B. Mazzolai, F. Carpi, K. Suzumori, M. Cianchetti, T. Speck, S. K. Smoukov, I. Burgert, T. Keplinger, G. Siqueira, F. Vanneste, O. Goury, C. Duriez, T. Nanayakkara, B. Vanderborght, J. Brancart, S. Terryn, S. Rich, R. Liu, K. Fukuda, T. Someya, M. Calisti, C. Laschi, W. Sun, G. Wang, L. Wen, R. Baines, S. Patiballa, R. Kramer-Bottiglio, D. Rus, P. Fischer, F. Simmel, A. Lendlein. "Roadmap on Soft Robotics: Multifunctionality, Adaptability and Growth without Borders." Multifunctional Materials, Vol. 5, No. 3, p. 032001, 2022.
- A. Mohammadi Nasab, T. Buckner, B. Yang, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Effect of Filler Aspect Ratio on Stiffness and Conductivity in Phase-Changing Particulate Composites." Advanced Materials Technologies, Vol. 7, No. 5, p. 2100920, 2021.
- B. Yang,* R. Baines,* D. Shah, S. Patiballa, E. Thomas, M. Venkadesan, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Reprogrammable Soft Actuation and Shape-Shifting via Tensile Jamming. " Science Advances, Vol. 7, No. 40, p. eabh2073, 2021.
- D. Shah, J. Booth, R. Baines, K. Wang, M. Vespignani, K. Bekris, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Tensegrity Robotics." Soft Robotics, 2021.
- S. Y. Kim, S. Liu, S. Sohn, J. Jacobs, M. Shattuck, C. O'Hern, J. Schroers, M. Loewenberg, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Static-state particle fabrication via rapid vitrification of a thixotropic medium." Nature Communications, Vol. 12, No. 1, p. 1-8, 2021.
- S. Liu, S. Y. Kim, K. Henry, D. Shah, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Printed and laser-activated liquid metal-elastomer conductors using ethanol/PDMS/liquid metal double emulsions." ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, Vol. 13, No. 24, p. 28729-28736, 2021.
- E. Porte, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Nonlinear Poisson's ratio for modeling hyperelastic capacitive sensors." Advanced Materials Technologies, Vol. 6, No. 8, p. 2001247, 2021.
- S. Liu, D. Shah, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Highly stretchable multilayer electronic circuits using biphasic gallium-indium." Nature Materials, Vol. 20, No.6, p. 851-858 2021.
- A. Jackson, N. Mentzer, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Increasing gender diversity in engineering using soft robotics.'' Journal of Engineering Education, Vol. 110, No. 1, p. 143-160, 2021.
- D. Shah, E. Yang, M. Yuen, E. Huang, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Jamming skins that control system rigidity from the surface." Advanced Functional Materials, Vol. 31, No. 1, p. 2006915, 2021.
- R. Baines, F. Fish, and R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Amphibious robotic propulsive mechanisms: Current technologies and open challenges." in Bioinspired Sensing, Actuation, and Control in Underwater Soft Robotic Systems, New York, NY: Springer, 2021.
- D. Shah, J. Powers, L. Tilton, S. Kriegman, J. Bongard, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "A soft robot that adapts to environments through shape change." Nature Machine Intelligence, Vol. 3, No. 1, p. 57-59, 2021.
- T. L. Buckner, R. A. Bilodeau, S. Y. Kim, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Roboticizing fabric by integrating functional fibers." PNAS, Vol. 117, No. 41, p. 25360-25369, 2020.
- J. W. Booth, O. Cyr-Choiniere, J. C. Case, D. Shah, M. C. Yuen, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Surface actuation and sensing of a tensegrity structure using robotic skins." Soft Robotics, 2020.
- D. Shah, B. Yang, S. Kriegman, M. Levin, J. Bongard, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Shape changing robots: Bioinspiration, simulation, and physical realization." Advanced Materials, Vol. 33, No. 19, p. 2002882, 2020. (Inside back cover article)
- R. Baines, J. Booth, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Rolling soft membrane-driven tensegrity robots." IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, Vol. 5, No. 4, p. 6567-6574, 2020.
- A. Bilodeau,* A. M. Nasab,* D. Shah, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Uniform conductivity in stretchable silicones via multiphase inclusions." Soft Matter, Vol. 16, No. 25, p. 5827–5839, 2020. (Back cover article)
- B. Shih, D. Shah, J. Li, T. Thuruthel, Y.-L. Park, F. Iida, Z. Bao, R. Kramer-Bottiglio, M. Tolley. "Electronic skins and machine learning for intelligent soft robots." Science Robotics, Vol. 5, No. 41, p. eaaz9239, 2020.
- J. Case, J. Gibert, J. Booth, V. SunSpiral, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Spinal helical actuation patterns for locomotion in soft robots." IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, Vol. 5, No. 3, 2020.
- S. Kim, Y. Choo, R. Bilodeau, M. Yuen, G. Kaufman, D. Shah, C. Osuji, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Sustainable manufacturing of sensors onto soft systems using self-coagulating conductive Pickering emulsions." Science Robotics, Vol. 5, No. 39, p. eaay3604, 2020.
- R. Baines, S. Freeman, F. Fish, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Variable stiffness morphing limb for amphibious legged robots inspired by chelonian environmental adaptations." Bioinspiration & Biomimetics, Vol. 15, No. 2, p. 025002, 2020.
- A. Jackson, N. Mentzer, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Soft robotics as emerging technologies: Preparing students for future work through soft robot design experiences." Technology and Engineering Teacher, Vol. 79, No. 6, p. 8, Mar. 2020.
- T. Buckner, M. Yuen, S. Y. Kim, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Enhanced variable stiffness and variable stretchability enabled by phase-changing particulate additives." Advanced Functional Materials, Vol. 29, No. 50, p. 1903368, 2019.
- S. Liu, S. Reed, M. Higgins, M. Titus, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Oxide rupture-induced conductivity in liquid metal nanoparticles by laser and thermal sintering." Nanoscale, Vol. 11, No. 38, p. 17615-17629, 2019. (Back cover article)
- R. Bilodeau, M. Yuen, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Addressable, stretchable heating silicone sheets." Advanced Materials Technologies, Vol. 4, No. 9, p. 1900276, 2019.
- S. Y. Kim,* R. Baines,* J. Booth, N. Vasios, K. Bertoldi, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Reconfigurable soft body trajectories using unidirectionally stretchable composite laminae." Nature Communications, Vol. 10, No. 1, p. 3464, 2019.
- J. Case, M. Yuen, J. Jacobs, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Robotic skins that learn to control passive structures." IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, Vol. 4, No. 3, p. 2485–2492, 2019. (Best paper finalist in IEEE Int. Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft), 2019)
- S. Liu, M. Yuen, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Reconfigurable electronic devices enabled by laser-sintered liquid metal nanoparticles." Flexible and Printed Electronics, Vol. 4, No. 1, p. 015004. 2019.
- D. Shah, M. Yuen, L. Tilton, E. Yang, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Morphing robots using robotic skins that sculpt clay." IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, Vol. 4, No. 2, p. 2204–2211, 2019.
- A. Jackson, N. Mentzer, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Pilot analysis of the impacts of soft robotics design on high-school student engineering perceptions." International Journal of Technology and Design Education, Vol. 29, No. 5, p. 1083-1104, 2019.
- J. Booth, D. Shah, J. Case, E. White, M. Yuen, O. Cyr-Choiniere, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "OmniSkins: Robotic skins that turn inanimate objects into multifunctional robots." Science Robotics, Vol. 3, No. 22, p. eaat1853, 2018.
- T. Buckner, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Functional fibers for robotic fabrics." Multifunctional Materials, Vol. 1, No. 1, p. 012001, 2018.
- S. Liu, M. Yuen, E. White, J. Boley, B. Deng, G. Cheng, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Laser sintering of liquid metal nanoparticles for scalable manufacturing of soft and flexible electronics." ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, Vol. 10, No. 33, p. 28232–28241, 2018.
- S. Liu, E. Boatti, K. Bertoldi, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Stimuli-induced bi-directional hydrogel unimorph actuators." Extreme Mechanics Letters, Vol. 21, p. 35-43, 2018.
- M. C. Yuen, T. Lear, H. Tonoyan, M. Telleria, R. Kramer-Bottiglio "Toward closed-loop control of pneumatic grippers during pack-and-deploy operations." IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, Vol. 3, No. 3, 1402-1409.
- E. White, J. Case, R. Kramer. "A soft parallel kinematic mechanism." Soft Robotics, Vol. 5, No. 1, p. 36-53, 2018.
- J. Case, E. White, V. SunSpiral, R. Kramer. "Reducing actuator requirements in continuum robots through optimized cable routing." Soft Robotics, Vol. 5, No. 1, p. 109-118, 2018.
- Y. Menguc, N. Correll, R. Kramer, J. Paik. "Will robots be bodies with brains or brains with bodies?" Science Robotics, Vol. 2, No. 12, p. eaar4527, 2017.
- R. Bilodeau, R. Kramer. "Self-healing and damage resilience for soft robotics: A review." Frontiers in Robotics and AI: Soft Robotics, Vol. 4, p. 48, 2017.
- J. Zhang, A. Jackson, N. Mentzer, R. Kramer. "A modular, reconfigurable mold for a soft robotic gripper design activity." Frontiers in Robotics and AI: Soft Robotics, Vol. 4, p. 46, 2017.
- E. White, M. Yuen, J. Case, R. Kramer. "Low-cost, facile, and scalable manufacturing of capacitive sensors for soft systems." Advanced Materials Technologies, Vol. 2, No. 9, p. 1700072, 2017.
- R. Bilodeau, D. Zemlyanov, R. Kramer. "Liquid metal switches for environmentally responsive electronics." Advanced Materials Interfaces, Vol. 4, No. 5, p. 1600913, 2017.
- T. Lear, S. H. Hyun, E. White, J. Boley, D. Thompson, R. Kramer. "Liquid metal particle popping: Macroscale to nanoscale." Extreme Mechanics Letters, Vol. 13, p. 126-134, 2017.
- M. Mohammed, R. Kramer. "All-printed flexible and stretchable electronics." Advanced Materials, Vol. 29, No. 19, p. 1604965, 2017.
- E. White, J. Case, R. Kramer. "Multi-mode strain and curvature sensors for soft robotic applications." Sensors and Actuators A: Physical, Vol. 253, p. 188-197, 2017.
- J. Boley, S. Hyun, E. White, D. Thompson, R. Kramer. "Hybrid self-assembly during evaporation enables drop-on-demand thin film devices." ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, Vol. 8, No. 50, p. 34171-34178, 2016. (Cover article)
- M. Yuen, R. Bilodeau, R. Kramer. "Active variable stiffness fibers for multifunctional robotic fabric." IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, Vol. 1, No. 2, p. 708-715, 2016.
- J. Case, E. White, R. Kramer. "Sensor enabled closed-loop bending control of soft beams." Smart Materials and Structures, Vol. 25, No. 4, p. 045018, 2016.
- E. White, J. Case, R. Kramer. "Multi-element strain gauge modules for soft sensory skins." IEEE Sensors, Vol. 16, No. 8, p. 2607-2616, 2016.
- J. Case, M. Yuen, M. Mohammed, R. Kramer. "Sensor skins: An overview." in Stretchable Bioelectronics for Medical Devices and Systems, p. 173-191, New York, NY: Springer, 2016.
- J. Case, E. White, R. Kramer. "Soft material characterization for robotic applications." Soft Robotics, Vol. 2, No. 2, p. 80-87, 2015.
- J. Boley, E. White, R. Kramer. "Mechanically-sintered gallium-indium nanoparticles." Advanced Materials, Vol. 27, No. 14, p. 2355-2360, 2015. (Cover article)
- J. Boley, E. White, G. Chiu, R. Kramer. "Direct writing of gallium-indium alloy for stretchable electronics." Advanced Functional Materials, Vol. 24, No. 23, p. 3501-3507, 2014. (Cover article)
- R. Kramer, J. Boley, H. Stone, J. Weaver, R. Wood. "Effect of microtextured surface topography on the wetting behavior of eutectic gallium-indium alloys." Langmuir, Vol. 30, No. 2, p. 533-539, 2014.
- F. Hammond, R. Kramer, Q. Wan, R. Howe, R. Wood. "Soft tactile sensor arrays for force feedback in micromanipulation." IEEE Sensors, Vol. 14, No. 5, p. 1443-1452, 2014.
- C. Majidi, R. Shepherd, R. Kramer, G. Whitesides, R. Wood. "Influence of surface traction on soft robot undulation." International Journal of Robotics Research, Vol. 32, No. 13, p. 1577-1584, 2013.
- R. Kramer, C. Majidi, R. Wood. "Masked deposition of gallium-indium alloys for liquid-embedded elastomer conductors." Advanced Functional Materials, Vol. 23, No. 42, p. 5292-5296, 2013.
- C. Majidi, R. Kramer, R. Wood. "Non-differential elastomer curvature sensor for softer-than-skin electronics." Smart Materials and Structures, Vol. 20, No. 10, p. 105017, 2011.
- Y. Park, C. Majidi, R. Kramer, P. Berard, and R. Wood. "Hyperelastic pressure sensing with a liquid-embedded elastomer." Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering, Vol. 20, No. 12, p. 125029, 2010.
- R. Kramer, C. Majidi, R. Wood. "Shear-mode contact splitting for a micro-textured elastomer film." Advanced Materials, Vol. 22, No. 33, p. 3700-3703, 2010.
- R. Kramer, N. Pholchai, V. Sorger, T. Yim, R. Oulton, X. Zhang. "Positioning of quantum dots on metallic nanostructures." Journal of Nanotechnology, Vol. 21, No, 14, p. 145307, 2010. (Cover article)
- L. Cimatti, W. Johnson, P. London, M. Carati, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Modeling the critical drop height of tensegrity robots." IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft), 2026.
- C. Le, F. Fonseca Cagnazzo, N. Ramos, E. Figueroa, C. Creager, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. `"Common ground: Standardizing granular media characteristics for burrowing robots." IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft), 2026.
- P. Meng, W. Johnson, R. Kramer-Bottiglio, E. Osegueda, K. Bekris. "State and trajectory estimation of tensegrity robots via factor graphs and Chebyshev polynomials." IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft), 2026.
- N. Chen, W. Johnson, R. Kramer-Bottiglio, K. Bekris1 M. Aanjaneya. "CableRobotGraphSim: A graph neural network for modeling partially observable cable-driven robot dynamics." Proceedings of Machine Learning Research, 2026.
- P. Welch, T. Varley, M. Li, C. O'Hern, R. Kramer-Bottiglio, J. Bongard. "Could a Neuroscientist Understand a Box of Sand: Lesioning Computational Embeddings within Granular Metamaterials." Artificial Life (ALife) Conference, 2025.
- P. Welch, M. Li, S. Beaulieu, A. Xia, D. Wang, M. Goyal, A. Parsa, C. O'Hern, R. Kramer-Bottiglio, J. Bongard. "Greater AI design control aids evolution of computational materials." EvoStar, 2025.
- P. Welch, A. Parsa, S. Beaulieu, C. O'Hern, R. Kramer-Bottiglio, J. Bongard. "Scalable evolution of logically independent polycomputational materials." EvoStar, 2025.
- M. Li, B. Do, C. Le, C. O'Hern, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Variable stiffness and variable size particles for reconfigurable granular metamaterials." IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (Robosoft), Lausanne, Switzerland, 2025.
- N. Chen, K. Wang, W. Johnson, R. Kramer-Bottiglio, K. Bekris, M. Aanjaneya. "Learning differentiable tensegrity dynamics using graph neural networks." Conference on Robot Learning (CoRL), Munich, Germany, 2024.
- S. Beaulieu, P. Welch, A. Parsa, C. O'Hern, R. Kramer-Bottligio, J. Bongard. "Refractive computation: Parallelizing logic gates across driving frequencies in a mechanical polycomputer." Artificial Life (ALife) Conference, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2024.
- L. Behnke, B. Do, S. Eristoff, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Interaction behaviors of a vine robot in a pipe T-junction." IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft), San Diego, CA, USA, 2024.
- S. Eristoff, L. Behnke, L. Sanchez-Botero, S. Kalyan Patiballa, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Liquid crystal elastomer and fabric bilayer actuators." IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft), San Diego, CA, USA, 2024.
- M. Goyal, M. Lambo, J. Bongard, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Merging variable stiffness fiber patterns on multi-shape robotic sheets." IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft), San Diego, CA, USA, 2024.
- W. Johnson, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Compliant electropermanent magnets." IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft), San Diego, CA, USA, 2024.
- J. Sun, B. Lin, L. Ramirez, E. Figueroa, R. Baines, B. Yang, E. Marroquin, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Performance enhancement of a morphing limb for an amphibious robotic turtle." IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft), San Diego, CA, USA, 2024.
- S. Woodman, A. Moore, S. Tagare, K. Cheung, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Deployable cuboctahedrons for adaptive space infrastructure." IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft), San Diego, CA, USA, 2024.
- S. Woodman, A. Agrawala, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Stretchable shape-sensing ribbons." IEEE Sensors, 2023.
- L. Behnke, L. Sanchez-Botero, W. Johnson, A. Agrawala, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Dynamic hand proprioception via a wearable glove with fabric sensors." IEEE Int. Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), Detriot, USA, 2023. (Best paper finalist)
- K. Wang, W. Johnson, S. Lu, X. Huang, J. Booth, R. Kramer-Bottiglio, M. Aanjaneya, K. Bekris. "Real2Sim2Real Transfer for Control of Cable-driven Robots via a Differentiable Physics Engine." IEEE Int. Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), Detriot, USA, 2023.
- A. Parsa, S. Witthaus, N. Pashine, C. O'Hern, R. Kramer-Bottiglio, J. Bongard. "Universal Mechanical Polycomputation in Granular Matter." Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO), 2023.
- F. Pigozzi, S. Woodman, E. Medvet, R. Kramer-Bottiglio, J. Bongard. "Morphology Choice Affects the Evolution of Affordance Detection in Robots." Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO), 2023.
- A. Parsa,* M. Goyal,* M. Lambo, B. Yang, J. Bongard, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Evolving variable stiffness fiber patterns for multi-shape robotic sheets." IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft), Singapore, 2023.
- Q. T. Davis, S. Woodman, M. Landesberg, R. Kramer-Bottiglio, J. Bongard. "Subtract to adapt: Autotomic robots." IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft), Singapore, 2023.
- W. Johnson, A. Agrawala, X. Huang, J. Booth, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Sensor Tendons for Soft Robot Shape Estimation." IEEE Sensors, 2022. (Best paper award)
- S. Lu, W. Johnson, K. Wang, X. Huang, J. Booth, R. Kramer-Bottiglio, K. Bekris. "6N-DoF pose tracking for tensegrity robots." IEEE International Symposium on Robotics Research (ISRR), 2022.
- A. Parsa, J. Bongard, M. Shattuck, C. O'Hern, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Evolving Programmable Computational Metamaterials." The Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO), 2022.
- W. Johnson, S. Woodman, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "An Electromagnetic Soft Robot that Carries its Own Magnet." IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft), 2022.
- A. Parsa, D. Wang, C. O'Hern, M. Shattuck, R. Kramer-Bottiglio, J. Bongard. "Evolution of Acoustic Logic Gates in Granular Metamaterials." EvoStar, 2022.
- W. Johnson, J. Booth, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Integrated Sensing in Robotic Skin Modules." IEEE Sensors, 2021.
- S. Kriegman, A. Mohammadi Nasab, H. Steele, M. Levin, R. Kramer-Bottiglio, J. Bongard. "Scale Invariant Robot Behavior with Fractals." Robotics: Science and Systems (RSS), 2021.
- T. Buckner, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Design parameters for stacked-ribbon shape-memory alloy bending actuators." IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft), 2021.
- E. Porte, T. Sipple, L. Sanchez Botero, D. Shah, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Capacitive sensor measurement rate improves by pre-stretching." IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft), 2021.
- R. Baines, S. Patiballa, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Rapidly reconfigurable inextensible inflatables." IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft), 2021.
- B. Yang, J. Powers, A. Parsa, J. Bongard, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Shape matching: Evolving fiber constraints on a pneumatic bilayer." IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft), 2021.
- T. Buckner, M. Yuen, S. Y. Kim, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Shape memory silicone using phase-changing inclusions." IEEE Int. Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft), 2020.
- S. Kriegman, A. M. Nasab, D. Shah, H. Steele, G. Branin, M. Levin, J. Bongard, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Scalable sim-to-real transfer of soft robot designs." IEEE Int. Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft), 2020.
- S. Kriegman, S. Walker, D. Shah, M. Levin, R. Kramer-Bottiglio, J. Bongard. "Automated shapeshifting for function recovery in damaged robots." Robotics: Science and Systems, 2019.
- L. Chin, M. Yuen, J. Lipton, L. Trueba, R. Kramer-Bottiglio, D. Rus. "A simple electric soft robotic gripper with high-deformation haptic feedback." IEEE Int. Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2019.
- L. Chin, J. Lipton, M. Yuen, R. Kramer-Bottiglio, D. Rus. "Automated recyling separation enabled by soft robotic material classification." IEEE Int. Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft), 2019. (Best Poster Winner)
- R. Baines, J. Booth, F. Fish, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Toward a bio-inspired variable-stiffness morphing limb for amphibious robot locomotion." IEEE Int. Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft), 2019. (Best paper finalist).
- V. J. Barone, M. Yuen, R. Kramer-Bottiglio, K. H. Sienko. "Sensory garments with vibrotactile feedback for monitoring and informing seated posture." IEEE Int. Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft), 2019.
- R. Bilodeau, M. Yuen, J. Case, T. Buckner, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Design for control of a soft bidirectional bending actuator." IEEE Int. Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2018.
- J. McCaw, M. Yuen, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "Sensory glove for dynamic hand proprioception and tactile sensing." ASME Int. Design Engineering Technical Conferences, 2018.
- R. Bilodeau, A. Miriyev, H. Lipson, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "All-soft material system for strong soft actuators." IEEE Int. Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft), 2018. (Best student paper award)
- J. Case, J. Booth, D. Shah, M. Yuen, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "State and stiffness estimation using robotic fabrics." IEEE Int. Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft), 2018.
- J. Booth, J. Case, E. White, D. Shah, R. Kramer-Bottiglio. "An addressable pneumatic regulator for distributed control of soft robots." IEEE Int. Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft), 2018. GitHub repository with code and PCB designs.
- H. Sonar, M. Yuen, R. Kramer-Bottiglio, J. Paik. "An any-resolution distributed pressure localization scheme using a capacitive soft sensor skin." IEEE Int. Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft), 2018.
- M. Yuen, R. Kramer-Bottiglio, J. Paik. "Strain sensor-embedded soft pneumatic actuators and extension and bending feedback." IEEE Int. Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft), 2018. (Best poster finalist)
- E. White, M. Yuen, R. Kramer. "Distributed sensing in capacitive conductive composites." IEEE Sensors, 2017.
- E. White, J. Case, R. Kramer. "Reconfigurable logic devices connected with laser-sintered liquid metal nanoparticles." IEEE Sensors, 2017.
- T. Buckner, E. White, M. Yuen, R. Bilodeau, R. Kramer. "A move-and-hold pneumatic actuator enabled by self-softening variable stiffness materials." IEEE Int. Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2017.
- M. Yuen, H. Tonoyan, E. White, M. Telleria, R. Kramer. "Fabric sensory sleeves for soft robot state estimation." IEEE Int. Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2017.
- M. Yuen, R. Kramer. "Fabricating microchannels in elastomer substrates for stretchable electronics." ASME Manufacturing Science and Engineering Conference, 2016.
- R. Bilodeau, E. White, R. Kramer. "Monolithic fabrication of sensors and actuators in a soft robotic gripper." IEEE Int. Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2015.
- R. Kramer. "Soft electronics for soft robotics." Proceedings of SPIE, in Micro- and nanotechnology sensors, systems, and applications VII, 2015. (Best paper award)
- L.-H. Chen, P. Keegan, M. Yuen, A.M. Agogino, R. Kramer, A.K. Agogino, V. SunSpiral. "Soft robots using compliant tensegrity structures and soft sensors." IEEE Int. Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2015.
- M. Yuen, A. Cherian, J. Case, J. Seipel, R. Kramer. "Conformable actuation and sensing with robotic fabric." IEEE Int. Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2014.
- T. Chenal, J. Case, J. Paik, R. Kramer. "Variable stiffness fabrics with embedded shape memory materials for wearable applications." IEEE Int. Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2014.
- F. Hammond, R. Kramer, Q. Wan, R.D. Howe, R. Wood. "Soft tactile sensor arrays for micro-manipulation." IEEE Int. Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2012.
- R. Kramer, C. Majidi, R. Sahai, R. Wood. "Soft curvature sensors for joint angle proprioception." IEEE Int. Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2011.
- J. Paik, R. Kramer, R. Wood. "Stretchable circuits and sensors for robotic origami." IEEE Int. Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2011.
- R. Kramer, C. Majidi, R. Wood. "Wearable tactile keypad with stretchable artificial skin." IEEE Int. Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2010.
- S. Wodin-Schwartz, D. Myers, R. Kramer, S. Choi, A. Jordan, M. Wijesundara, M. Hopcroft, A. Pisano. "Silicon and silicon carbide survivability in an in-cylinder combustion environment." PowerMEMS, 2008.
Journal Publications
2026
2025
2024
2023
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014 and Prior
Conference Publications
2026
2025
2024
2023
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014 and Prior
Opportunties
The Faboratory is committed to fostering an anti-racist, inclusive, and equitable environment, which is vital for innovation and the well-being of researchers. We encourage, support, and celebrate diverse perspectives on the basis of age, gender, sexual orientation, disability, religion, race, ethnicity, socioeconomic, and cultural identity. We recognize that maintaining an inclusive environment is an ongoing and active process, and we pledge to continue learning and improving our support for diversity and inclusion.
Undergraduate and MS students
The Faboratory is moving to Princeton University MAE this summer. Please check back regarding AY 2026-2027 research opportunities in the Fall.
PhD students
Prospective PhD students should apply to Princeton University, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. Please specify interest in working with Professor Kramer-Bottiglio in your application.
Postdocs
We do not currently have funded positions for postdoctoral associates. To inquire about future opportunities or special circumstances, please email rebecca.krameryale.edu.