Mason Murray-Cooper

Papers

Total Citations

209

H-Index

About

Mason Murray-Cooper is a pioneering roboticist whose research bridges soft robotics, bio-inspired design, and subterranean locomotion. His most influential work, "Controlling subterranean forces enables a fast, steerable, burrowing soft robot" (2021, 186 citations), tackles one of the last frontiers in robotic mobility: navigation below ground. By harnessing principles from biological root systems, Murray-Cooper demonstrated that a soft robot could rapidly burrow and steer through soil—a feat previously hindered by the unpredictable forces of granular media. This breakthrough has profound implications for applications in agriculture, environmental monitoring, and underground exploration. In related work, he explored how nutation—the oscillatory movement seen in plant roots—enables heterogeneous substrate exploration (2019, 18 citations), and co-authored a multiscale investigation of root circumnutation (2020, 5 citations), revealing the molecular and mechanical underpinnings of this growth strategy. Murray-Cooper’s contributions exemplify how deep biological insight can inspire novel engineering solutions, positioning him as a leading voice in the emerging field of robophysical root systems.