Jen Johansson

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About

Dr. Jen Johansson is a pioneering figure in soft robotics, with a focused expertise in untethered systems and their application to assistive technology. Her most impactful work, the 2016 study on the "Prosthetic Jamming Terminal Device" (50 citations), directly confronts a critical bottleneck in the field: the challenge of powering and controlling soft robots without bulky external hardware. By applying the principle of granular media jamming—where a flexible membrane stiffens when its internal particles are compressed—Johansson created a functional, self-contained prosthetic gripper. This case study is widely cited for demonstrating that soft robotics can be both practical and autonomous, moving beyond lab-based demonstrations. Her major contribution lies in bridging the gap between novel soft actuation and real-world, user-centric design, proving that "untethered" does not mean sacrificing performance. Johansson’s work has laid essential groundwork for next-generation prosthetics and wearable robots, earning her recognition for tackling one of the most formidable engineering hurdles in the field.