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About

Elias Hampp is a pioneering roboticist whose work bridges the gap between terrestrial rescue technology and extraterrestrial exploration. His primary research focuses on dynamic legged locomotion and soft robotics for extreme environments. Hampp is best known for leading the development of **SpaceBok**, a 20 kg quadrupedal robot inspired by the springbok, designed to traverse low-gravity terrains on the Moon and Mars. His foundational 2019 paper on SpaceBok (119 citations) introduced a novel leg configuration enabling energy-efficient jumps, while subsequent work (66 citations) demonstrated how the robot exploits lunar gravity for repetitive, vertical hopping. Hampp also spearheaded **RoBoa** (79 citations), a steerable vine robot that everts its tip to navigate collapsed buildings, aiding search-and-rescue teams in locating trapped survivors. His 2022 study (43 citations) further showcased SpaceBok’s ability to adapt to steep, granular Martian slopes—a feat unachievable by traditional wheeled rovers. With over 300 cumulative citations, Hampp’s contributions are redefining mobility in the most challenging environments, from disaster zones to the surface of other worlds.