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About

Espen Knoop is a pioneering robotics researcher whose work spans soft robotics, computational design, human-robot interaction, and robotic character animation. He is perhaps best known for his landmark 2019 paper "MakeSense: Automated Sensor Design for Proprioceptive Soft Robots" (116 citations), which introduced a groundbreaking computational method for endowing soft robots with self-sensing capabilities — a critical step toward robots that can safely operate alongside humans and navigate unstructured environments. His broader portfolio of computational design tools extends to automated muscle-fiber routing and differentiable simulation frameworks for soft robots, offering researchers powerful new ways to engineer compliant robotic systems. A distinctive thread in Knoop's research is the science of human-robot physical interaction. Through a series of influential studies on robotic handshaking, he has systematically investigated haptic perception, force control, stiffness, and synchronization, revealing subtle but important factors that make robot-human touch feel natural. His work on robotic characters — including motion retargeting, vibration minimization, and a bipedal robotic performer — bridges engineering and entertainment, pushing expressive robots into real-world audiences. With over 400 cumulative citations, Knoop's research consistently advances both the technical foundations and the human-centered dimensions of modern robotics.