Max Robotics — Global Service Robot Directory + US Certification

About

Manuel Del Rosario is a robotics researcher whose work bridges soft robotics, mobile robot navigation, and performance metrics for autonomous systems. His most impactful contribution is the development of a reconfigurable pneumatic bending actuator with replaceable inflation modules (59 citations), a landmark design that introduced modularity to soft robotics by using independent fabric inflation modules attached to a flexible plastic spine—enabling rapid repair, customization, and reuse. This work has influenced the field of soft actuators by addressing a key limitation of traditional monolithic designs. Del Rosario has also advanced mobile robotics through a dynamics model for differential drive robots towing off-axle trailers (8 citations) and a human-inspired navigation algorithm for unknown dynamic environments (4 citations), which operates without requiring full obstacle knowledge—a practical step toward safer human-robot interaction. Additionally, he introduced the Pc metric, a performance measure for collision avoidance algorithms (5 citations), providing a standardized tool for evaluating robot safety. His research demonstrates a consistent focus on making robots more adaptable, practical, and quantifiably safe in real-world settings.