Publications de Josephine Anna Eleanor Hughes

Synergy-based robotic quadruped leveraging passivity for natural intelligence and behavioural diversity

Josephine Anna Eleanor Hughes, Francesco Stella

Quadrupedal animals show remarkable capabilities in traversing diverse terrains and display a range of behaviours and gait patterns. Achieving similar performance by exploiting the natural dynamics of the system is a key goal for robotics researchers. Here ...

NATURE PORTFOLIO2025

Mod-VSA: A Modular Variable Stiffness Actuator for Multi-fingered Robotic Hands

Josephine Anna Eleanor Hughes, Kai Christian Junge

Regulating contact forces is crucial for robotic manipulation, but achieving stiffness variation in multi-fingered hands is challenging due to design complexity. This work presents Mod-VSA, a modular variable stiffness actuator for multi-fingered tendon-dr ...

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.2025

Robotic optimization of powdered beverages leveraging computer vision and Bayesian optimization

Josephine Anna Eleanor Hughes

The growing demand for innovative research in the food industry is driving the adoption of robots in large-scale experimentation, a shift that offers increased precision, repeatability, and efficiency in product manufacturing and evaluation. This paper add ...

2025

Soft Pneumatic Gripper With Interchangeable Fingertips by Using Reversible Polymers: The GraspBerry, a Raspberry Picking Case Study

Josephine Anna Eleanor Hughes, Kai Christian Junge

Fingerprints primarily enhance grasping by modulating friction, as the surface pattern affects the friction needed for effective grasping and manipulation. A versatile gripper was developed with a more realistic distal phalange inspired by the human index ...

2025

Reliable and robust robotic handling of microplates via computer vision and touch feedback

Francesco Stellacci, Josephine Anna Eleanor Hughes

Laboratory automation requires reliable and precise handling of microplates, but existing robotic systems often struggle to achieve this, particularly when navigating around the dynamic and variable nature of laboratory environments. This work introduces a ...

FRONTIERS MEDIA SA2025

Spatially distributed biomimetic compliance enables robust anthropomorphic robotic manipulation

Josephine Anna Eleanor Hughes, Kai Christian Junge

The impressive capabilities of humans to robustly perform manipulation stems from compliant interactions, enabled by the structure and materials distributed in the hands. We propose that mimicking this spatially distributed compliance in an anthropomorphic ...

Springer Science and Business Media LLC2025

A Versatile Neural Network Configuration Space Planning and Control Strategy for Modular Soft Robot Arms

Josephine Anna Eleanor Hughes, Qinghua Guan

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)2025

Mechanoreceptive soft robotic molluscoids made of granular hydrogel-based organoelectronics

Esther Amstad, Josephine Anna Eleanor Hughes, Nana Obayashi, Lorenzo Lucherini, Francesca Bono

The viscoelasticity of many soft polymers renders flexible sensors susceptible to hysteresis and signal drift that limit their accuracy. To reduce the impact of viscoelasticity on the signal without compromising the softness of the material, we introduce e ...

2025

3D printing of self-healing longevous multi-sensory e-skin

Esther Amstad, Josephine Anna Eleanor Hughes, Sudong Lee, Francesca Bono

Electrically conductive hydrogels can simulate the sensory capabilities of natural skin, such that they are well-suited for electronic skin. Unfortunately, currently available electronic skin cannot detect multiple stimuli in a selective manner. Inspired b ...

Springer Science and Business Media LLC2025

Robotic locomotion through active and passive morphological adaptation in extreme outdoor environments

Josephine Anna Eleanor Hughes, Max Mirko Polzin, Qinghua Guan

Robotic locomotion has shown substantial advancements, yet robots still lack the versatility and agility shown by animals navigating complex terrains. This limits their applicability in complex environments where they could be highly beneficial. Unlike exi ...

AMER ASSOC ADVANCEMENT SCIENCE2025