2025 News Releases
This Robotic Skin Allows Tiny Robots to Navigate Complex, Fragile Environments
October 15, 2025
Researchers developed a soft robotic skin that enables vine robots that are just a few millimeters wide to navigate convoluted paths and fragile environments. To accomplish this, the researchers integrated a very thin layer of actuators made of liquid crystal elastomer at strategic locations in the soft skin. The robot is steered by controlling the pressure inside its body and temperature of the actuators. Full Story
The Jacobs School Represents at San Diego Comic-Con
August 25, 2025
From discussing the best invention to examining the way AI has been represented in movies, Jacobs School researchers took the stage at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con. Full Story
The Robot Will See You Now
July 9, 2025
As waiting rooms fill up, doctors get increasingly burnt out, and surgeries take longer to schedule and more get cancelled, humanoid surgical robots offer a solution. That’s the argument that UC San Diego robotics expert Michael Yip makes in a perspective piece out July 9 in Science Robotics. Full Story
A New Robotic Gripper Based on Measuring Tape is Sizing Up Fruit and Veggie Picking
April 9, 2025
This robotic gripper has two fingers made from measuring tape. It can pick up fragile objects, including fruits and veggies. It can also use a screwdriver, screw in a lightbulb and open a jar of spices. Full Story
These Electronics-free Robots Can Walk Right Off the 3D-Printer
March 25, 2025
Imagine a robot that can walk, without electronics, and only with the addition of a cartridge of compressed gas, right off the 3D-printer. It can also be printed in one go, from one material. That is exactly what roboticists have achieved in robots developed by the Bioinspired Robotics Laboratory at the University of California San Diego. They describe their work in an advanced online publication in the journal Advanced Intelligent Systems. Full Story
Computer Vision and Robotics Pioneer Xiaolong Wang Awarded Prestigious Sloan Research Fellowships
February 18, 2025
Jacobs School electrical engineering professor Xiaolong Wang has been selected to receive a prestigious 2025 Sloan Research Fellowships. Wang is affiliated with the Center for Visual Computing and the Contextual Robotics Institute at UC San Diego. Full Story