Jonathan Engel

Papers

Total Citations

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About

Dr. Jonathan Engel is a pioneer in the development of flexible, polymer-based tactile sensing technologies for robotics. His research focuses on creating artificial “skin” that can give robots a sense of touch, a critical capability for safe human-robot interaction and dexterous manipulation. Engel’s major contribution lies in moving beyond fragile silicon-based sensors to robust, multi-modal sensing skins built on flexible polymer substrates. His seminal 2002 paper, “Development of Polyimide-based Flexible Tactile Sensing Skin” (20 citations), laid the groundwork for this approach. He then advanced the field with his 2004 work on integrated, multi-modal flexible skins (14 citations), which uniquely combined multiple sensing modalities into a single, mechanically robust platform. This innovation addressed a key limitation of prior tactile devices, enabling more practical and durable robotic applications. While his citation counts reflect a focused, early-stage impact, Engel’s foundational work on polymer-based tactile skins has been instrumental in shaping the trajectory of soft robotics and haptic sensing, inspiring subsequent generations of researchers to build more compliant and capable tactile systems for robots.