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About

Noah T. Jafferis is a pioneering roboticist whose work pushes the boundaries of what is possible at the insect scale. His primary research areas encompass flapping-wing micro-aerial vehicles (MAVs), bio-inspired multimodal locomotion, and high-performance piezoelectric actuators. Jafferis is best known for leading the development of the *RoboBee*, achieving the first untethered flight of an insect-sized robot—a landmark contribution detailed in his most-cited paper (537 citations). He further expanded the RoboBee’s capabilities by enabling it to perch on overhangs using switchable electrostatic adhesion (402 citations) and to transition between aerial and aquatic environments (286 citations). Beyond flight, his work on maximizing the power density of polycrystalline piezoelectric bending actuators (72 citations) provides the foundational engineering principles that make such tiny, autonomous robots feasible. Jafferis has also advanced mobile micromanipulation with piezoelectric grippers and integrated on-board sensing for feedback control of legged microrobots. His research consistently tackles the fundamental challenges of power, actuation, and control at the microscale, demonstrating that even the smallest robots can achieve remarkable feats of autonomy and versatility.