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Rebecca Kramer-Bottiglio

17 accepted papers

2026

An Open-Source, Reproducible Tensegrity Robot That Can Navigate Among Obstacles

William R. Johnson III, Patrick Meng, Nelson Chen, Luca Cimatti, Augustin Vercoutere, Mridul Aanjaneya +2
RA-L 2026

Tensegrity robots, composed of rigid struts and elastic tendons, provide impact resistance, low mass, and adaptability to unstructured terrain. Their compliance and complex, coupled dynamics, however, present modeling and control challenges, hindering planning and obstacle avoidance. This letter pre

Cited by 3Source ↗Scholar ↗
2026

Model-Agnostic Meta-Learning for Adaptive Gait Phase and Terrain Geometry Estimation With Wearable Soft Sensors

Zenan Zhu, Wenxi Chen, Pei-Chun Kao, Janelle P. Clark, Lily Behnke, Rebecca Kramer-Bottiglio +2
RA-L 2026

This letter presents a model-agnostic meta-learning (MAML) based framework for simultaneous and accurate estimation of human gait phase and terrain geometry using a small set of fabric-based wearable soft sensors, with efficient adaptation to unseen subjects and strong generalization across differen

Cited by 0Source ↗Scholar ↗
2024

Learning Differentiable Tensegrity Dynamics using Graph Neural Networks

Nelson Chen, Kun Wang, William R. Johson III, Rebecca Kramer-Bottiglio, Kostas Bekris, Mridul Aanjaneya
CoRL 2024poster

Tensegrity robots are composed of rigid struts and flexible cables. They constitute an emerging class of hybrid rigid-soft robotic systems and are promising systems for a wide array of applications, ranging from locomotion to assembly. They are difficult to control and model accurately, however, due…

Cited by 0Source ↗code ↗Scholar ↗
2024

Robotic Skins With Integrated Actuation, Sensing, and Variable Stiffness

Dylan S. Shah, Stephanie J. Woodman, Trevor L. Buckner, Ellen J. Yang, Rebecca Kramer-Bottiglio
RA-L 2024

Soft robots are often designed to accomplish a single function and cannot be repurposed for other tasks. In an effort to create multi-functional robots, researchers have proposed robotic skins, which are flexible, planar substrates with embedded actuation and sensing that can be applied to different

Cited by 11Source ↗Scholar ↗
2023

Dynamic Hand Proprioception via a Wearable Glove with Fabric Sensors

Lily Behnke, Lina Sanchez-Botero, William R. Johnson, Anjali Agrawala, Rebecca Kramer-Bottiglio
IROS 2023poster

Continuous enhancement in wearable technologies has led to several innovations in the healthcare, virtual reality, and robotics sectors. One form of wearable technology is wear-able sensors for kinematic measurements of human motion. However, measuring the kinematics of human movement is a challengi…

Cited by 2Source ↗Scholar ↗
2023

Real2Sim2Real Transfer for Control of Cable-Driven Robots Via a Differentiable Physics Engine

Kun Wang, William R. Johnson, Shiyang Lu, Xiaonan Huang, Joran Booth, Rebecca Kramer-Bottiglio +2
IROS 2023poster

Tensegrity robots, composed of rigid rods and flexible cables, exhibit high strength-to-weight ratios and significant deformations, which enable them to navigate unstructured terrains and survive harsh impacts. They are hard to control, however, due to high dimensionality, complex dynamics, and a co…

Cited by 11Source ↗Scholar ↗
2023

StarBlocks: Soft Actuated Self-Connecting Blocks for Building Deformable Lattice Structures

Luyang Zhao, Yijia Wu, Wenzhong Yan, Weishu Zhan, Xiaonan Huang, Joran W. Booth +4
RA-L 2023

In this paper, we present a soft modular block inspired by tensegrity structures that can form load-bearing structures through self-assembly. The block comprises a stellated compliant skeleton, shape memory alloy muscles, and permanent magnet connectors. We classify five deformation primitives for i

Cited by 30Source ↗Scholar ↗
2022

Soft Lattice Modules That Behave Independently and Collectively

Luyang Zhao, Yijia Wu, Julien Blanchet, Maxine Perroni-Scharf, Xiaonan Huang, Joran W. Booth +2
RA-L 2022

Natural systems integrate the work of many sub-units (cells) toward a large-scale unified goal (morphological and behavioral), which can counteract the effects of unexpected experiences, damage, or simply changes in tasks demands. In this letter, we exploit the opportunities presented by soft, modul

Cited by 21Source ↗Scholar ↗
2021

Scale invariant robot behavior with fractals

Sam Kriegman, Amir Mohammadi Nasab, Douglas Blackiston, Hannah Steele, Michael Levin, Rebecca Kramer-Bottiglio +1
RSS 2021poster

Robots deployed at orders of magnitude different size scales; and that retain the same desired behavior at any of those scales; would greatly expand the environments in which the robots could operate. However it is currently not known whether such robots exist; and; if they do; how to design them. S…

Cited by 15Source ↗PDF ↗code ↗Scholar ↗
2020

Spinal Helical Actuation Patterns for Locomotion in Soft Robots

Jennifer C. Case, James Gibert, Joran W. Booth, Vytas SunSpiral, Rebecca Kramer-Bottiglio
RA-L 2020

Spinal-driven locomotion was first hypothesized to exist in biological systems in the 1980s. However, only recently has the concept been applied to legged robots. In implementing spinal-driven locomotion in robots to-date, researchers have focused on bending in the spine. In this article, we propose

Cited by 5Source ↗Scholar ↗
2019

A Simple Electric Soft Robotic Gripper with High-Deformation Haptic Feedback

Lillian Chin, Michelle C. Yuen, Jeffrey Lipton, Luis H. Trueba, Rebecca Kramer-Bottiglio, Daniela Rus
ICRA 2019poster

Compliant robotic grippers are more robust to uncertainties in grasping and manipulation tasks, especially when paired with tactile and proprioceptive feedback. Although considerable progress has been made towards achieving proprioceptive soft robotic grippers, current efforts require complex drivin…

Cited by 47Source ↗Scholar ↗
2019

Automated Shapeshifting for Function Recovery in Damaged Robots

Sam Kriegman, Stephanie Walker, Dylan S. Shah, Michael Levin, Rebecca Kramer-Bottiglio, Josh Bongard
RSS 2019poster

A robot's mechanical parts routinely wear out from normal functioning and can be lost to injury. For autonomous robots operating in isolated or hostile environments, repair from a human operator is often not possible. Thus, much work has sought to automate damage recovery in robots. However, every c…

Cited by 76Source ↗PDF ↗code ↗Scholar ↗
2019

Morphing Robots Using Robotic Skins That Sculpt Clay

Dylan S. Shah, Michelle C. Yuen, Liana G. Tilton, Ellen J. Yang, Rebecca Kramer-Bottiglio
RA-L 2019

Shape versatility is a mechanism that many animals leverage to effectively interact-with and locomote-within the natural world. Toward the goal of shape-changing artificial systems, we present morphing robots comprised of robotic skins and sculptable materials. Herein, we describe robotic skins—plan

Cited by 34Source ↗Scholar ↗
2019

Robotic Skins That Learn to Control Passive Structures

Jennifer C. Case, Michelle C. Yuen, Jane Jacobs, Rebecca Kramer-Bottiglio
RA-L 2019

Robotic skins incorporate sensors and actuators into stretchable and flexible planar substrates. Wrapping a robotic skin around a passive, deformable structure imparts controllable motion onto that structure, rendering it an active robotic system. Robotic skins can be applied to the surface of a str

Cited by 17Source ↗Scholar ↗
2018

Design for Control of a Soft Bidirectional Bending Actuator

R. Adam Bilodeau, Michelle C. Yuen, Jennifer C. Case, Trevor L. Buckner, Rebecca Kramer-Bottiglio
IROS 2018poster

In this paper, we present sensor-controlled antagonistic pneumatic actuators (SCAPAs) that integrate proven soft robotic actuators and sensors into a simplified, controllable design. The antagonistic actuators together compose a bidirectional bending actuator with embedded capacitive strain sensors.…

Cited by 30Source ↗Scholar ↗
2018

Toward Closed-Loop Control of Pneumatic Grippers During Pack-and-Deploy Operations

Michelle C. Yuen, Trevor R. Lear, Henry Tonoyan, Maria J. Telleria, Rebecca Kramer-Bottiglio
RA-L 2018

Soft robotic grippers can grasp objects of many different shapes while tolerating misalignments. However, many current soft systems lack proprioception and the ability to sense the position and orientation of the object to be grasped. Understanding the configuration of a gripper's fingers and the co

Cited by 20Source ↗Scholar ↗