Margaret Koehler

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About

Margaret Koehler is pioneering the control and modeling of soft and continuum robots, bridging the gap between traditional rigid robotics and the complex, compliant systems of the future. Her work centers on developing foundational techniques for deformable robots, with a major contribution being the introduction of stiffness control via finite element modeling—a breakthrough that brings model-based control to soft systems previously limited to case-specific solutions. This work, her most cited with 22 citations, provides a critical framework for transferring rigid robot control principles to soft and haptic interfaces. Koehler further advanced the field by designing and controlling a novel 5-DOF parallel continuum haptic device, demonstrating how deformable beams can enable high-degree-of-freedom haptic rendering and comanipulation. Her geometric solutions for actuator routing on inflated-beam soft growing robots address a key challenge in achieving useful shapes in constrained environments, such as for medical or search-and-rescue applications. Through these contributions, Koehler is establishing the theoretical and practical foundations for a new generation of safe, adaptable, and dexterous soft robotic systems.