Summary
This Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) project will support the development of contact-aware robots which would leverage touch in intelligent ways. Existing efforts in soft robotics have aimed to limit robot interaction with physical disturbances in the environment for operational efficiency and safety considerations. However, contact-rich tasks such as fruit picking in dense trees will require robots which can appropriately apply and withstand contact with as much adaptability and robustness as humans, all the while remaining safe to be nearby. This project will advance fundam
