Wearable Robotics

We investigate and develop novel soft wearable robots for natural interactions and symbiosis between humans and robots.
Traditional human-robot interaction often requires funneling rich sensory-motor information through simplified computer interfaces, such as visual displays and joysticks, that demand cognitive effort. We explore new forms of bidirectional and embodied interactions where humans and machines interact and feel with their entire bodies. We are especially interested in human symbiosis with non-anthropomorphic machines that operate at different spatial and temporal scales, such as small flying machines.

 

2025

Instant variable stiffness in cardiovascular catheters based on fiber jamming

Y. Sun; Y. Piskarev; E. Hofstetter; C. Fischer; Q. Boehler et al. 

Science Advances. 2025. Vol. 11, num. 6. DOI : 10.1126/sciadv.adn1207.

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2024

A Sprayable Electrically Conductive Edible Coating for Piezoresistive Strain Sensing

V. F. Annese; P. Cataldi; V. Galli; G. Coco; J. P. V. Damasceno et al. 

Advanced Sensor Research. 2024. Vol. 3, num. 5, p. 2300150. DOI : 10.1002/adsr.202300150.

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Filiform Variable Stiffness Technologies for Medical Robotics

Y. Piskarev / D. Floreano (Dir.)  

Lausanne, EPFL, 2024. 

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2022

Electro-Adhesive Tubular Clutch for Variable-Stiffness Robots

Y. Sun; K. M. Digumarti; H. V. Phan; O. Aloui; D. Floreano 

2022. 2022 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), Tokyo, Japan, October 23-27, 2022. p. 9628 – 9634. DOI : 10.1109/IROS47612.2022.9982098.

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Tales from a Robotic World. How Intelligent Machines Will Shape Our Future

D. Floreano; N. Nosengo 

Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2022.

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Machine-Learning Based Monitoring of Cognitive Workload in Rescue Missions with Drones

F. Dell’Agnola; P-K. Jao; A. Arza; R. Chavarriaga; J. d. R. Millan et al. 

IEEE Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics. 2022.  p. 1 – 12. DOI : 10.1109/JBHI.2022.3186625.

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Enhancement of Pressure-Sensitive Adhesive by CO2 Laser Treatment

Y. Piskarev; E. Desbouis; V. Ramachandran; J. Yang; N. Baugh et al. 

Advanced Engineering Materials. 2022. num. 2200355. DOI : 10.1002/adem.202200355.

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Arm-wrist haptic sleeve for drone teleoperation

V. Ramachandran; M. Macchini; D. Floreano 

IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters. 2022. Vol. 7, num. 4, p. 12054 – 12061. DOI : 10.1109/LRA.2021.3122107.

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2021

Does spontaneous motion lead to intuitive Body-Machine Interfaces? A fitness study of different body segments for wearable telerobotics

M. Macchini; J. Frogg; F. Schiano; D. Floreano 

2021. 30th IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN 2021), Online, August 8-12, 2021. p. 115 – 121. DOI : 10.1109/RO-MAN53752.2022.9900570.

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Smart Textiles that Teach: Fabric‐Based Haptic Device Improves the Rate of Motor Learning

V. Ramachandran; F. Schilling; A. R. Wu; D. Floreano 

Advanced Intelligent Systems. 2021.  p. 2100043. DOI : 10.1002/aisy.202100043.

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The Impact of Virtual Reality and Viewpoints in Body Motion Based Drone Teleoperation

M. Macchini; M. Lortkipanidze; F. Schiano; D. Floreano 

2021. IEEE VR 2021, Lisbon, Portugal, March 27 – April 3, 2021. p. 511 – 518. DOI : 10.1109/VR50410.2021.00075.

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Wearable Haptic Interfaces for Telerobotics

V. Ramachandran / D. Floreano (Dir.)  

Lausanne, EPFL, 2021. 

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Personalized Body-Machine Interfaces for Advanced Human-Robot Interaction

M. Macchini / D. Floreano (Dir.)  

Lausanne, EPFL, 2021. 

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2020

Lighter and Stronger: Cofabricated Electrodes and Variable Stiffness Elements in Dielectric Actuators

Y. Piskarev; J. Shintake; V. Ramachandran; N. Baugh; M. D. Dickey et al. 

Advanced Intelligent Systems. 2020. Vol. 2, num. 10, p. 1 – 8, 2000069. DOI : 10.1002/aisy.202000069.

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Hand-worn Haptic Interface for Drone Teleoperation

M. Macchini; T. Havy; A. Weber; F. Schiano; D. Floreano 

2020. 2020 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), virtual conference (originally Paris, France), 1 June 2020 (originally 31 May – 4 Jun). p. 10212 – 10218. DOI : 10.1109/ICRA40945.2020.9196664.

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2019

Personalized Telerobotics by Fast Machine Learning of Body-Machine Interfaces

M. Macchini; F. Schiano; D. Floreano 

IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters. 2019.  p. 1 – 1. DOI : 10.1109/LRA.2019.2950816.

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Haptic feedback perception and learning with cable-driven guidance in exosuit teleoperation of a simulated drone

C. Rognon; V. Ramachandran; A. Wu; A. Ijspeert; D. Floreano 

IEEE Transactions on Haptics. 2019. Vol. 12, num. 3, p. 375 – 385. DOI : 10.1109/TOH.2019.2925612.

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Stretchable pumps for soft machines

V. Cacucciolo; J. Shintake; Y. Kuwajima; S. Maeda; D. Floreano et al. 

Nature. 2019. Vol. 572, p. 516 – 519. DOI : 10.1038/s41586-019-1479-6.

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The current state and future outlook of rescue robotics

J. Delmerico; S. Mintchev; A. Giusti; B. Gromov; K. Melo et al. 

Journal of Field Robotics. 2019. Vol. 36, num. 7, p. 1171 – 1191. DOI : 10.1002/rob.21887.

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Soft haptic device to render the sensation of flying like a drone

C. Rognon; M. Koehler; C. Duriez; D. Floreano; A. M. Okamura 

IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters. 2019. Vol. 4, num. 3, p. 2524 – 2531. DOI : 10.1109/LRA.2019.2907432.

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Teleoperation with a wearable sensor system

J. Miehlbradt; F. I. T. Dell’Agnola; A. Cherpillod; M. Coscia; F. Artoni et al. 

US12019438; US2021247758; WO2019244112; GB2574886; GB201810285.

2019.

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Wearable Technologies for Embodied Human-Robot Interaction

C. Rognon / D. Floreano (Dir.)  

Lausanne, EPFL, 2019. 

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Perception of a Wearable Haptic Feedback Device to Render the Sensation of Flight

C. Rognon; M. Koehler; D. Floreano; A. M. Okamura 

2019. IEEE World Haptics Conference (WHC), Tokyo, JAPAN, Jul 09-12, 2019. p. 61 – 66. DOI : 10.1109/WHC.2019.8816126.

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2018

All‐Fabric Wearable Electroadhesive Clutch

V. Ramachandran; J. Shintake; D. Floreano 

Advanced Materials Technologies. 2018. Vol. 4, num. 2, p. 1800313. DOI : 10.1002/admt.201800313.

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Variable stiffness strip with strain sensing for wearable robotics

A. Tonazzini; J. Shintake; C. Rognon; V. Ramachandran; S. Mintchev et al. 

2018. 2018 IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft), Livorno, April 24-28, 2018. p. 485 – 490. DOI : 10.1109/ROBOSOFT.2018.8405373.

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Jacket for embodied interaction with virtual or distal robotic device

D. Floreano; C. Rognon; S. Mintchev; A. Concordel; D. Atienza Alonso et al. 

US10860014; US2019258239; EP3509801; WO2018047102.

2018.

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Ultra-stretchable strain sensors using carbon black-filled elastomer composites and comparison of capacitive versus resistive sensors

J. Shintake; Y. Piskarev; S. Jeong; D. Floreano 

Advanced Materials Technologies. 2018. Vol. 3, p. 1700284. DOI : 10.1002/admt.201700284.

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Data-driven body–machine interface for the accurate control of drones

J. C. Miehlbradt; A. T. Cherpillod; S. Mintchev; M. Coscia; F. Artoni et al. 

Proceedings Of The National Academy Of Sciences Of The United States Of America (PNAS). 2018.  p. 201718648. DOI : 10.1073/pnas.1718648115.

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Haptic Guidance with a Soft Exoskeleton Reduces Error in Drone Teleoperation

C. Rognon; A. R. Wu; S. Mintchev; A. Ijspeert; D. Floreano 

2018. 11th International Conference on Haptics – Science, Technology, and Applications (EuroHaptics), Pisa, ITALY, Jun 13-16, 2018. p. 404 – 415. DOI : 10.1007/978-3-319-93399-3_35.

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Haptic Guidance with a Soft Exoskeleton Reduces Error in Drone Teleoperation

C. Rognon; A. Wu; S. Mintchev; A. Ijspeert; D. Floreano 

2018. Eurohaptics 2018, Pisa, Italy, June 13-16 2018. p. 404 – 415. DOI : 10.1007/978-3-319-93399-3_35.

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FlyJacket: An Upper Body Soft Exoskeleton for Immersive Drone Control

C. Rognon; S. Mintchev; F. I. T. Dell’Agnola; A. T. Cherpillod; D. Atienza Alonso et al. 

IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters. 2018. Vol. 3, num. 3, p. 2362 – 2369. DOI : 10.1109/LRA.2018.2810955.

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2016

A Pocket Sized Foldable Quadcopter for Situational Awareness and Reconnaissance

S. Mintchev; D. Floreano 

2016. International Symposium on Safety, Security and Rescue Robotics (SSRR 2016), Lausanne, Switzerland, October 23-27th, 2016. p. 396 – 401. DOI : 10.1109/SSRR.2016.7784333.

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Variable Stiffness Fiber with Self-Healing Capability

A. Tonazzini; S. Mintchev; B. Schubert; B. Mazzolai; J. Shintake et al. 

Advanced Materials. 2016. Vol. 28, num. 46, p. 10105. DOI : 10.1002/adma.201602580.

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2015

An artificial elementary eye with optic flow detection and compositional properties

R. Pericet-Camara; M. K. Dobrzynski; R. Juston; S. Viollet; R. Leitel et al. 

Journal of the Royal Society Interface. 2015. Vol. 12, p. 20150414. DOI : 10.1098/rsif.2015.0414.

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2013

VisionHat Development of a wearable collision alert system supported by flexible optic flow sensors

M. K. Dobrzynski / D. Floreano (Dir.)  

Lausanne, EPFL, 2013. 

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2012

Quantifying information transfer through a head attached vibrotactile display: principles for design and control

M. Dobrzynski; S. Mejri; S. Wischmann; D. Floreano 

IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering. 2012. Vol. 59, num. 7, p. 2011 – 2018. DOI : 10.1109/TBME.2012.2196433.

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Contactless deflection sensing of concave and convex shapes assisted by soft mirrors

M. Dobrzynski; I. Halasz; R. Pericet Camara; D. Floreano 

2012. IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2012, Vilamoura, Algarve, Portugal, October 7-12, 2012. p. 4810 – 4815. DOI : 10.1109/IROS.2012.6385505.

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2011

SleepPic. Hardware Developments for a Wearable On-line Sleep and Wake Discrimination System

W. Karlen; D. Floreano 

2011. BIOSIGNALS 2011 – International Conference on Bio-inspired Systems and Signal Processing, Rome, Italy, January 26-29, 2011. p. 132 – 137.

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CURVACE – CURVed Artificial Compound Eyes

R. Pericet Camara; M. Dobrzynski; G. L’Eplattenier; J-C. Zufferey; F. Expert et al. 

2011. 2nd European Future Technologies Conference and Exhibition 2011 (FET 11), Budapest, Hungary, May 4-6, 2011. p. 308 – 309. DOI : 10.1016/j.procs.2011.09.040.

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Vision Tape – a novel class of flexible vision sensor for robots and humans

M. Dobrzynski; G. L’Eplattenier; R. Pericet Camara; D. Floreano 

IEEE Swiss Image and Vision Sensors Workshop 2011 (SIVS 2011), Zurich, Switzerland, September 8, 2011.

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Contactless deflection sensor for soft robots

M. Dobrzynski; R. Pericet Camara; D. Floreano 

2011. IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), San Francisco, USA, September 25-30, 2011. p. 1913 – 1918. DOI : 10.1109/IROS.2011.6048425.

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2010

Enhancing Pilot Performance with a SymBodic System

W. Karlen; S. Cardin; D. Thalmann; D. Floreano 

2010. 32nd Annual International IEEE EMBS Conference, Buenos Aires, Argentina, August 31 – September 4, 2010. p. 6599 – 602. DOI : 10.1109/IEMBS.2010.5627127.

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Adaptive Sleep-Wake Discrimination for Wearable Devices

W. Karlen; D. Floreano 

IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering. 2010. Vol. 58, num. 4, p. 920 – 926. DOI : 10.1109/TBME.2010.2097261.

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2009

Evolutionary Selection of Features for Neural Sleep/Wake Discrimination

P. Dürr; W. Karlen; J. Guignard; C. Mattiussi; D. Floreano 

Journal of Artificial Evolution and Applications. 2009. Vol. 2009, p. 1 – 10. DOI : 10.1155/2009/179680.

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Sleep and Wake Classification With ECG and Respiratory Effort Signals

W. Karlen; C. Mattiussi; D. Floreano 

IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Circuits and Systems. 2009. Vol. 3, p. 71 – 78. DOI : 10.1109/TBCAS.2008.2008817.

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Adaptive wake and sleep detection for wearable systems

W. Karlen / D. Floreano (Dir.)  

Lausanne, EPFL, 2009. 

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2008

Improving Actigraph Sleep/Wake Classification with Cardio-Respiratory Signals

W. Karlen; C. Mattiussi; D. Floreano 

2008. 30th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, Vancouver, BC, 20.-25.8.2008. p. 5262 – 5265. DOI : 10.1109/IEMBS.2008.4650401.

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2007

Adaptive Sleep/Wake Classification Based on Cardiorespiratory Signals for Wearable Devices

W. Karlen; C. Mattiussi; D. Floreano 

2007. Biomedical Circuits and Systems Conference, BioCAS 2007, Montreal, 27.-30.11.2007. p. 203 – 206. DOI : 10.1109/BIOCAS.2007.4463344.

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Wearable Human Sleep/Wake Classification

W. Karlen; C. Mattiussi; D. Floreano 

BMES Annual Chapter Conference, Lausanne, 31.10.2007.

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Evolutionary morphogenesis for multi-cellular systems

D. Roggen; D. Federici; D. Floreano 

Genetic Programming and Evolvable Machines. 2007. Vol. 8, num. 1, p. 61 – 96. DOI : 10.1007/s10710-006-9019-1.

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