Max Robotics — Global Service Robot Directory + US Certification

About

Sijia Liu is a leading researcher in bio-inspired soft robotics, with a focus on developing high-performance robotic fish that emulate the biomechanics of real aquatic animals. Her work bridges biology and engineering, exploring how fish achieve remarkable swimming efficiency through tunable body stiffness and muscle-like actuation. In her highly cited 2023 study, Liu demonstrated that a tunable stiffness caudal peduncle can increase swimming speed without additional energy expenditure—a finding with over 30 citations that challenges conventional assumptions about the cost of stiffness modulation. She further advanced the field by designing muscle-inspired hydraulic soft actuators, as seen in her 2022 paper on a fluid-driven soft robotic fish, which has garnered similar attention for its novel approach to replicating fish muscle architecture. Liu’s recent contributions include the development of HyperTuna, a hydraulically powered double-joint soft robotic fish with self-sensing capabilities, and HasorTuna, an untethered autonomous robotic tuna. Her work, cited over 90 times collectively, has set new benchmarks in robotic locomotion, efficiency, and autonomy, making her a pivotal figure in the next generation of soft robotics.