Subject

Bioinspired Robotics, Department of Engineering

Degrees

PhD Mechanical Engineering (University of California San Diego)

MSc Mechanical Engineering (University of California San Diego)

BSc Mechanical / Nuclear Engineering (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute)

Research interests

My research focuses on interdisciplinary bio-inspired robotics in which researchers take observations about nature to design novel robots and/or build robots to test hypotheses about biological systems and organisms. My current focus is on robotics for understanding the evolution of legged, in-air locomotion from fish that were primarily optimized for swimming. Because these fish are extinct, we believe that creating robots using information found by studying fossils will help test hypotheses about how these fish first began to walk on land. Previously, I have worked on research related to soft robot design and actuation and on bio-inspired underwater robots.

Teaching Interests

Introduction to engineering, mechanism design and analysis

Awards and prizes

National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship (2019)

National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship Honorable Mention (2018)

Publications (selected)

Jadhav S. , Glick P. E., Ishida M., Chan C., Adibnazari I., Schulze J. P., Gravish N., Tolley M. T. (2023) "Scalable Fluidic Matrix Circuits for Controlling Large Arrays of Individually Addressable Actuators", Advanced Intelligent Systems, 5 (8), 2300011.

Ishida M., Sandoval, J. A., Lee, S. D., Huen, S., Tolley, M. T. (2022) “Locomotion via active suction in a sea star-inspired soft robot”, IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, vol. 7, no. 4, pp. 10304-10311.

Sandoval, J. A.*, Ishida, M.*, Jadhav, S., Huen, S., Tolley, M. T. (2022) "Tuning the morphology of suction discs to enable directional adhesion for locomotion in wet environments", Soft Robotics, 9 (6), pp. 1083-1097.

Hermes, M.*, Ishida, M.*, Luhar, M., Tolley, M. T., (2020) “Bioinspired shape-changing soft robots for underwater locomotion: actuation and optimization for crawling and swimming”, in Paley, D., Wereley, N., (Eds.), Bioinspired Sensing, Actuation, and Control in Underwater Soft Robotic Systems, Springer.

Other interests

Sports (baseball, beach volleyball, ice hockey) and analytics, travelling, building/DIY projects, science communication