Max Robotics — Global Service Robot Directory + US Certification

About

Max McCandless is pioneering the intersection of soft robotics and medical intervention, with a focus on transforming minimally invasive diagnostics and treatments for cancer and cardiac conditions. His work addresses critical challenges in procedures like lung cancer biopsies and colonoscopies, where traditional rigid instruments fall short. McCandless’s most cited paper, “A Soft Robot for Peripheral Lung Cancer Diagnosis and Therapy” (52 citations), introduces a compliant robot capable of navigating deep into lung tissue, potentially improving early detection. He further advances colorectal cancer screening with a soft robotic sleeve for safer colonoscopy, cited 41 times, and a novel soft sensor for bleeding detection. His contributions extend to cardiac care, with a magnetic ball chain robot for arrhythmia treatment, and to fundamental soft robotics, including three-dimensional shape sensing via tunable optical sensors and neural network modeling of hysteretic kinematics in continuum robots. With over 130 total citations and a growing portfolio of recent works from 2021 to 2025, McCandless is establishing himself as a leader in medical soft robotics, consistently demonstrating how compliant, sensor-rich designs can enhance safety, dexterity, and patient outcomes in high-stakes clinical environments.