Brian Cera

University of California, Berkeley, Rice University

Papers

Total Citations

115

H-Index

About

Brian Cera is a robotics researcher whose work centers on the development and control of spherical tensegrity robots for extreme environment exploration. His major contributions lie in advancing locomotion strategies for these unique, lightweight structures, which combine the strength of tensegrity with the mobility of a rolling sphere. Cera’s most cited work, "Hopping and rolling locomotion with spherical tensegrity robots" (2016, 66 citations), introduces a 10 kg probe capable of delivering a 1 kg payload over 1 km on the Moon by merging cable-driven rolling with thruster-based hopping—a breakthrough for precise, long-distance planetary mobility. He further expanded this capability in "Inclined surface locomotion strategies for spherical tensegrity robots" (2017, 41 citations), demonstrating robust climbing on steep slopes through a novel multi-cable actuation scheme. Beyond planetary rovers, Cera has also contributed to medical robotics, designing compliant force-feedback systems for fMRI-compatible sensorimotor protocols. His work bridges the gap between bio-inspired design and practical deployment, earning recognition for enabling efficient, resilient robots that can traverse challenging terrains from lunar surfaces to hospital scanners.