Home - Soft Robotics Group

Welcome to the soft robotics group of the KU Leuven. Our research focuses on the design, fabrication and application of soft robotic systems, ranging from centimeters to micrometers in size.

We are exploring the intersection of soft robotics and mechanical instabilities to create interactive soft robotic matter, embodying functionality throughout the hardware of the soft robot.

The aim of the group is to revolutionize the robotic world by introducing flexible materials in the design, going from hard to soft robots and from software to hardware intelligence.

/ MEET

our principal investigator

Benjamin Gorissen

Assistant Professor at KU Leuven

Benjamin Gorissen did his Ph.D research on micro soft robotic actuators at KU Leuven in Belgium and in part at Ritsumeikan University, Japan. As a posdoctoral researcher, first at KU Leuven and afterwards at Harvard University, he focused on nonlinear and deployable mechanisms. In 2021 he worked at Facebook Reality Labs, before becoming a faculty at the Department of Mechanical Engineering at KU Leuven in 2022.

He currently leads the Soft Robotics Research group at KU Leuven, focusing on exploring the intersection of soft robotics, mechanical instabilities and (micro)fabrication, with the general vision to embody functionality throughout the hardware of soft robot, to make them respond to the environment without software control.