Summary
This Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) award will support research to create tiny soft robots capable of demonstrating agile navigation and dexterous object handling in fluids. Mesoscale (i.e., millimeter-to-centimeter-scale) soft robots can provide unique advantages in hard-to-reach biological and natural fluidic environments. However, they currently lack locomotion, agility, and object manipulation capabilities comparable to those of mesoscale marine organisms, limiting their effectiveness in dynamic flows. This project will incorporate versatile fluid manipulation strategies
