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About

Lori Shiraishi is a leading roboticist and engineer whose work has been pivotal in advancing planetary exploration through innovative robotic systems. Her primary research areas include robotic arm design, sample acquisition in extreme environments, and autonomous mobility for space missions. Shiraishi's most significant contributions include her instrumental role in developing the Robotic Arm and Icy Soil Acquisition Device for NASA's Mars 2007 Phoenix Lander, which successfully dug, scraped, and rasped Martian dry and icy soil—a feat that directly enabled the discovery of water ice on Mars. She also contributed to the Mars Exploration Rover's instrument positioning system, which was critical for in situ analysis that revealed Mars' watery past. Her work on the Mars Exploration Rover instrument deployment device (cited 64 times) and the Phoenix Lander Robotic Arm (cited 35 times) underscores her impact, with over 200 total citations across her key papers. More recently, Shiraishi has led the development of EELS (Exobiology Extant Life Surveyor), an autonomous snake-like robot designed for ice world exploration, targeting Enceladus' subsurface ocean vents. This cutting-edge work, published in 2024, has already garnered 62 citations, highlighting her ongoing influence in astrobiology and robotics.