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About

Mathieu Baril is a leading researcher in the design of safe, dexterous robotic systems, with a primary focus on physical human-robot interaction and underactuated mechanisms. His seminal 2009 paper, "A flexible robot skin for safe physical human robot interaction" (91 citations), introduced a novel, flexible robot skin capable of whole-body contact sensing—a critical advancement for enabling safe collaboration between humans and robots. This work laid the foundation for more intuitive and hazard-aware robotic systems. Baril has also made significant contributions to the mechanics of anthropomorphic hands. His 2010 study on "Static Analysis of Single-Input/Multiple-Output Tendon-Driven Underactuated Mechanisms for Robotic Hands" (22 citations) systematically analyzed how underactuation can reduce complexity while maintaining adaptive grasping. Building on this, his 2012 work on "Mechanically Programmable Underactuated Anthropomorphic Robotic and Prosthetic Grippers" (5 citations) introduced innovative features like a reconfigurable thumb, pushing the boundaries of lightweight, compact, and easy-to-control prosthetic and robotic grippers. Through his research, Baril has directly addressed key challenges in creating robots that are both safer for human interaction and more capable in unstructured environments.