Max Robotics — Global Service Robot Directory + US Certification

About

Jennifer M. Rieser is a physicist and biomechanist whose research sits at the dynamic intersection of animal locomotion, soft-matter physics, and robotics. Her work investigates how organisms—from early vertebrates to modern snakes and quadrupeds—navigate complex, deformable substrates like sand, mud, and soil, yielding fundamental principles that bridge evolutionary biology and engineering. Her highly cited 2016 study (95 citations) demonstrated that tail use dramatically improves locomotion on soft substrates, offering key insights into the evolutionary transition from aquatic to terrestrial life. Subsequent work has uncovered elegant mechanical principles governing limbless locomotion in granular media, revealing surprising simplicity underlying the diverse body movements animals employ (48 citations). Rieser has also made significant contributions to understanding body-leg coordination in quadrupeds, showing how lateral back-bending enhances mobility and informing the design of more agile multi-legged robots. Across her portfolio, she employs geometric mechanics and robophysical modeling—using robots as experimental tools to test biological hypotheses—a philosophy she articulated explicitly in a widely read 2018 perspective piece. With over 370 cumulative citations, her interdisciplinary approach continues to reshape understanding of locomotion across biological and artificial systems.