“Who are we, if not measured by our impact on others? That’s who we are! We’re not who we say we are, we’re not who we want to be – we are the sum of the influence and impact that we have, in our lives, on others."
- Carl Sagan
WHO ARE WE
LAB DIRECTOR
Dr. Matthew Robertson is active in the fields of bioinspired, soft, and multi-material robotic systems design. His work is dedicated to redefining the boundaries of performance, morphology, and applications of robots that can operate in more complex and challenging “real world” environments by utilizing advanced manufacturing, embedded control, and holistic system design techniques. His past work has involved the use of novel and smart materials - silicone polymers, fiber-reinforced composites, shape memory alloys - as well as diverse and unique fabrication methods - laser micromachining, layer-manufacturing, heat bonding, casting - to develop and study novel robotic platforms. He has published work in several high impact scientific journals including Science Robotics, Soft Robotics, and the International Journal of Robotics Research and has presented at a number of international robotics conferences. Dr. Robertson received his PhD from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland in the area of robotics in 2019, following a Master’s degree from the University of Michigan, and Bachelor’s degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Mechanical Engineering. In 2020, Dr. Robertson joined the faculty at Queen’s University in Canada as an assistant professor in the Mechanical and Materials Engineering Department.