Paul Phamduy

About

Paul Phamduy is a pioneering researcher at the intersection of bioinspired robotics, animal behavior, and informal science education. His work fundamentally explores how robotic systems can interact with and influence live social animals, particularly fish. Phamduy’s major contributions include demonstrating that robot color, tail-beat frequency, and shoal configuration can directly modulate zebrafish and killifish behavior, with his seminal paper “Fish and Robots Swimming Together in a Water Tunnel” garnering 66 citations. He developed closed-loop control systems for three-dimensional zebrafish-robot interactions (63 citations) and created a free-swimming robotic fish platform for studying courtship responses in bluefin killifish (56 citations). Beyond ethorobotics, Phamduy advanced the engineering of autonomous underwater vehicles, designing a novel charging system for robotic fish (36 citations). He also made significant contributions to STEM education by developing an iDevice-controlled robotic fish for informal science learning (33 citations). His work on scaling laws for swimming robots (15 citations) provides theoretical foundations for the field. With over 300 total citations across his publications, Phamduy’s interdisciplinary research bridges robotics, biology, and education, offering powerful tools for both scientific discovery and public engagement with science.

Research Focus

Key Achievements

Top Papers

1. 1
   Fish and Robots Swimming Together in a Water Tunnel: Robot Color and Tail-Beat Frequency Influence Fish Behavior

   66 citations · 2013
2. 2
   Closed-loop control of zebrafish behaviour in three dimensions using a robotic stimulus

   63 citations · 2018
3. 3
   Fish and robot dancing together: bluefin killifish females respond differently to the courtship of a robot with varying color morphs

   56 citations · 2014
4. 4
   Influence of robotic shoal size, configuration, and activity on zebrafish behavior in a free-swimming environment

   43 citations · 2014
5. 5
   An Autonomous Charging System for a Robotic Fish

   36 citations · 2016
6. 6
   Robotic Fish: Design and Characterization of an Interactive iDevice-Controlled Robotic Fish for Informal Science Education

   33 citations · 2015
7. 7
   Design and characterization of a miniature free-swimming robotic fish based on multi-material 3D printing

   33 citations · 2017
8. 8
   Swimming Robots Have Scaling Laws, Too

   15 citations · 2015
9. 9
   Controlling a Robotic Fish Via a Natural User Interface for Informal Science Education

   12 citations · 2015
10. 10
    Fish-robot interactions in a free-swimming environment: Effects of speed and configuration of robots on live fish

    9 citations · 2014

Key Collaborators

Contact & Links