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About

Jennifer Molnar is a leading researcher in soft robotics, with a focus on bio-inspired design, sensing, and control for locomotion and manipulation. Her work bridges the gap between soft material systems and practical robotic applications, particularly in unstructured environments. Molnar’s major contributions include developing low-cost optical sensing methods for soft pneumatic manipulators, enabling more precise motion control in continuum robots—a key advancement for safe human-robot interaction. She also designed a multi-segmented soft robot inspired by earthworm morphology, demonstrating how peristaltic locomotion can be achieved in soft-bodied systems, with implications for search-and-rescue and medical devices. Her research on soft foot sensors for dynamic legged locomotion has advanced terrain classification, allowing bipedal robots to adapt to rugged outdoor environments. More recently, Molnar has explored user-centered teleoperation, using trajectory similarity analysis to cluster user preferences and personalize control schemes—addressing a critical challenge in assistive and remote robotics. With over 50 citations across her most-cited works, Molnar’s research is recognized for its innovation in integrating sensing, control, and biomechanics into soft robotic platforms.