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About

Siddharth Sanan is a leading researcher in soft robotics, with a focus on developing safe, compliant robotic systems for physical human interaction and medical applications. His pioneering work centers on inflatable and fabric-based soft actuators, where he has made foundational contributions to the design and control of pneumatic systems that can bend, twist, and conform safely. Notably, his 2018 paper on exploiting textile mechanical anisotropy for fabric-based pneumatic actuators has garnered over 210 citations, establishing new methods for tailoring whole-body deformation in soft robots. He also developed an EMG-controlled soft robotic glove for assisting with activities of daily living (173 citations), demonstrating the practical impact of his work in assistive technology. Sanan introduced the concept of robots with inflatable links and created novel pneumatic torsional actuators, advancing the field of inherently safe robotics. His research extends to surgical applications, including a robotic platform for natural orifice distal pancreatectomy and simultaneous compliance estimation for robotic surgery. With a career spanning foundational soft robotics principles to applied medical devices, Sanan’s work has been instrumental in making robots safer and more effective for human-centered environments.