The open-source index for soft robotics research
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SoRo-Scholar is a community-curated map of soft robotics research -- papers, researchers, labs, conferences, and tools.
Started by Yinglei Zhu and Qiyao Wang in October 2025.
Organized by topic. Each category links to a dedicated page with year-by-year listings.
| Topic | Highlights |
|---|---|
| Reviews & Surveys | Rus & Tolley (Nature 2015), Whitesides (Angew. Chem. 2018) |
| Actuation | Multigait soft robot (PNAS 2011), HASEL actuators (Science 2018) |
| Sensing | Stretchable electroluminescent skin (Science 2016) |
| Fabrication | 3D printing of soft robotic systems (Nature Rev. Mater. 2018) |
| Bio-Inspired | Mariana Trench soft robot (Nature 2021), Robotic fish (Sci. Rob. 2018) |
| Medical | Biomedical soft robotics (Nature Rev. Mater. 2018) |
| Human-Robot Interaction | Soft wearable robots (Science 2017) |
| Researcher | Affiliation | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| Daniela Rus | MIT CSAIL | Soft robots, programmable matter |
| Robert Wood | Harvard / Wyss Institute | Microrobotics, soft actuators |
| Rebecca Kramer-Bottiglio | Yale | Adaptive morphology, variable stiffness |
| Ryan Truby | Northwestern | 3D-printed soft robots |
| George Whitesides | Harvard | Pneumatic soft robots |
| Conor Walsh | Harvard | Soft exosuits, rehabilitation |
| Carmel Majidi | CMU | Soft-matter electronics, e-skin |
| Rob Shepherd | Cornell | Stretchable optoelectronics |
| Michael Tolley | UC San Diego | Soft robot design |
| Barry Trimmer | Tufts | Biomechanics |
| Researcher | Affiliation | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| Jonathan Rossiter | Bristol | Bio-inspired soft robotics |
| Fumiya Iida | Cambridge | Soft embodied intelligence |
| Herbert Shea | EPFL | Dielectric elastomer actuators |
| Jamie Paik | EPFL | Reconfigurable robotics |
| Matteo Cianchetti | Sant'Anna | Biomedical soft robotics |
| Barbara Mazzolai | IIT | Plant-inspired robots |
| Christoph Keplinger | Max Planck | HASEL actuators |
| Researcher | Affiliation | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| Guoying Gu | SJTU | Soft actuators, DEAs |
| Huichan Zhao | Tsinghua | Soft sensors |
| Guangming Xie | PKU | Bio-inspired robots |
| Li Wen | Beihang | Underwater soft robots |
| Li Zhang | CUHK | Magnetic soft robots |
| Cecilia Laschi | NUS | Octopus-inspired robots |
| Pablo Valdivia y Alvarado | SUTD | Aquatic robots |
| Koichi Suzumori | Tokyo Tech | Pneumatic actuators |
| Lab | PI | Institution |
|---|---|---|
| Distributed Robotics Lab | Daniela Rus | MIT |
| Harvard Microrobotics Lab | Robert Wood | Harvard |
| Harvard Biodesign Lab | Conor Walsh | Harvard |
| Faboratory | Rebecca Kramer-Bottiglio | Yale |
| Soft Machines Lab | Carmel Majidi | CMU |
| Organic Robotics Lab | Rob Shepherd | Cornell |
| Bioinspired Robotics & Design Lab | Michael Tolley | UCSD |
| Truby Research Group | Ryan Truby | Northwestern |
| SoftLab | Jonathan Rossiter | Bristol |
| Bio-Inspired Robotics Lab | Fumiya Iida | Cambridge |
| Soft Transducers Lab | Herbert Shea | EPFL |
| Reconfigurable Robotics Lab | Jamie Paik | EPFL |
| Soft BioRobotics | Matteo Cianchetti | Sant'Anna |
| Bioinspired Soft Robotics | Barbara Mazzolai | IIT |
| Robotic Materials Dept. | Christoph Keplinger | Max Planck |
| Soft Robotics and Biodesign Lab | Guoying Gu | SJTU |
| Intelligent Control Lab | Guangming Xie | PKU |
| Multi-Scale Medical Robotics | Li Zhang | CUHK |
| Soft Robotics Lab | Cecilia Laschi | NUS |
| Suzumori-Endo Lab | Koichi Suzumori | Tokyo Tech |
| Journal | Publisher |
|---|---|
| Soft Robotics | Mary Ann Liebert |
| Science Robotics | AAAS |
| IEEE RA-L | IEEE |
| IJRR | SAGE |
| Advanced Materials | Wiley |
| Bioinspiration & Biomimetics | IOP |
| Conference | Timing |
|---|---|
| IEEE RoboSoft | April |
| IEEE ICRA | May |
| IEEE/RSJ IROS | October |
| RSS | July |
| Tool | Description |
|---|---|
| SOFA Framework | Real-time simulation of soft deformable bodies |
| SoftGym | RL benchmarks for deformable objects |
| PyElastica | Cosserat rod simulation |
| DiffTaichi | Differentiable soft body simulation |
See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.
Released under the MIT License.