Properties of proteins and bacteria are investigated as sensors and integrated on microrobotic platforms able to move in extreme environments and/or districts of interest for biomedical applications. The development of new actuation systems based on such biological components are also explored.

This research area is focused on the study of soft-bodied biological models like invertebrates (e.g. Cephalopoda) and protists. Octopus suction mechanics are investigated based on the sucker anatomy and function as well as on substrate properties, in order to extract the bio-inspired benchmark requirements for designing suction attachment mechanisms for microrobots. Sucker sensing system is also investigated to understand how touch cues are used in sucker function.

Unicellular organisms pertaining to amoeba (protists) are attractive from a robotic point of view because of their ability to move and engulf preys by protruding flowing extensions (pseudopodia). Their crawling mechanisms are studied with a biorobotic approach, in order to identify structures, components and actuation strategies that can be used to design soft microrobots capable of unstructured movement in the human body.

This research area aims at designing and developing a new generation of robotic systems, called plantoids, with distributed sensors and actuators and collective intelligence, for exploration tasks, by taking inspiration from and by implementing the amazing penetration and exploration capabilities of plant roots. Plants have developed specific growth responses (tropisms) to respond to changes in their environment and a network of highly sensorized branching root apices to efficiently explore the soil volume, mining minerals and up-taking water. The research is aimed at ultimately developing robotic artefacts composed of a network of sensorized and actuated roots, showing energy-efficient actuation, as well as rich sensing and coordination capabilities, and high sustainability, typical of the Plant World. Plant root behaviors (tropisms) are investigated to develop innovative cooperative models extending the paradigm of “swarm intelligence”.

To investigate the osmotic principle present in Nature to take inspiration for designing and developing new actuation mechanisms for different applications (e.g. drug delivery, environmental monitoring). Some biological models are studied to better understand the basic principles of the osmotic process (e.g. plant roots, cnidaria, etc.), with the aim of developing a new class of actuators exhibiting low-power consumption and high energy efficiency

In this research area micro-sensing technologies and components for microrobotics are investigated. Tactile sensing at the microscale is addressed taking inspiration from the biological models identified in the other research areas. Different technologies (both silicon and non-silicon based) are investigated with the driving objective to focus on those that allow the integration microarrays of sensing elements that can encode dynamic and static tactile information, such as that related to texture and contact forces for a smart microrobot. The approaches that will be identified will be characterised by a high level of integration of the sensing principles with their interface with the environment and processing electronics. The final aim is to integrate the new sensing systems into microrobots that are designed taking inspiration from relevant biological models investigated in the microrobotics research areas.