Rob B. N. Scharff

About

Rob B. N. Scharff is a pioneering researcher in soft robotics, whose work spans biomimetic design, soft actuator mechanics, and smart material integration. With a portfolio accumulating over 340 citations, Scharff has made substantial contributions to understanding how robots fabricated from compliant materials can achieve safe, flexible, and intelligent interaction with unpredictable environments. Among his most influential contributions is early work on behavior-driven design of 3D-printed soft robotic hands (61 citations), establishing foundational principles for programmable soft structures. His geometric computing approach to soft robot kinematics (56 citations) tackled one of the field's central challenges: predicting continuum body deformation under actuation. The openly published OpenFish project (50 citations) demonstrated high-speed biomimetic locomotion inspired by thunniform swimming, reflecting his commitment to accessible, reproducible research. Scharff has also advanced soft robotic sensing, developing color-based proprioception methods and mechanochromic suction cups that provide intuitive visual feedback for stress detection. His work on flexible piezoelectric skin materials (48 citations) further bridges smart materials with robotic systems. Collectively, his research reflects a coherent vision: creating soft robots that are not only mechanically capable but also perceptive and biologically inspired.

Research Focus

Key Achievements

Top Papers

1. 1
   Towards Behavior Design of a 3D-Printed Soft Robotic Hand

   61 citations · 2016
2. 2
   Kinematics of Soft Robots by Geometric Computing

   56 citations · 2020
3. 3
   OpenFish: Biomimetic design of a soft robotic fish for high speed locomotion

   50 citations · 2022
4. 4
   Large area and flexible micro-porous piezoelectric materials for soft robotic skin

   48 citations · 2017
5. 5
   Classification and Evaluation of Octopus‐Inspired Suction Cups for Soft Continuum Robots

   31 citations · 2024
6. 6
   Color-Based Proprioception of Soft Actuators Interacting With Objects

   30 citations · 2019
7. 7
   Reducing Out-of-Plane Deformation of Soft Robotic Actuators for Stable Grasping

   25 citations · 2019
8. 8
   Biomimetic Design of a Soft Robotic Fish for High Speed Locomotion

   16 citations · 2020
9. 9
   Modelling of soft fiber-reinforced bending actuators through transfer learning from a machine learning algorithm trained from FEM data

   15 citations · 2024
10. 10
    Mechanochromic Suction Cups for Local Stress Detection in Soft Robotics

    15 citations · 2024

Key Collaborators

Contact & Links