Subramanian Sundaram

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston University, Harvard University

Papers

Total Citations

1,336

H-Index

About

Subramanian Sundaram is a leading researcher at the intersection of soft robotics, tactile sensing, and advanced manufacturing. His most impactful work centers on scalable tactile sensing for human and robotic hands, exemplified by his landmark 2019 paper on "Learning the signatures of the human grasp using a scalable tactile glove," which has garnered over 1,100 citations. This work introduced a knitted tactile glove capable of capturing high-resolution pressure maps across the entire hand, enabling large-scale learning of human manipulation and paving the way for smarter prosthetics and robotic grippers. Sundaram also pioneered the 3D printing of self-folding electronics, creating structures that autonomously transform into functional devices—a contribution that has inspired new directions in deployable systems and soft robotics. His subsequent work outlines critical challenges for instrumenting robotic hands to match human dexterity, and he has advanced multimodal tactile sensors that allow robots to identify objects by feel, combining thermal and contact sensing. With a systems-level perspective, Sundaram continues to shape next-generation microsystems for cell biology and robotics, making him a key figure in bridging materials science, machine learning, and embodied intelligence.