Publications by Nana Obayashi | EPFL Graph Search

Mechanoreceptive soft robotic molluscoids made of granular hydrogel-based organoelectronics

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

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

Environmentally-Driven Morphogenesis of Reconfigurable Floating Structures using Markov Models

Nana Obayashi, Josephine Anna Eleanor Hughes, Kai Christian Junge

The morphology and structure play a crucial role in shaping the behavior and functionality of both biological and robotic systems. In this work, we are inspired by morphogenesis, a fundamental biological process that encompasses the emergence of organs and ...

IEEE2025

Embodied intelligence paradigm for human-robot communication

Nana Obayashi, Josephine Anna Eleanor Hughes

Animals leverage their full embodiment to achieve multimodal, redundant, and subtle communication. To achieve the same for robots, they must similarly exploit their brain-body-environment interactions or their embodied intelligence. To advance this approac ...

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)2025

A democratized bimodal model of research for soft robotics: Integrating slow and fast science

Nana Obayashi, Josephine Anna Eleanor Hughes

A shift toward a democratized, bimodal model of research would allow soft robotics to realize its full potential. ...

AMER ASSOC ADVANCEMENT SCIENCE2025

Improving the Fluency of Robot-Human Interaction Through Embodied Expression of Emotion via Foundation Models

Nana Obayashi, Yi-Shiun Wu, Josephine Anna Eleanor Hughes

Fluent human-robot interactions are essential for robots to be accepted and used in social scenarios including education, healthcare, or entertainment. Foundation models and Large Language Models (LLMs) in particular facilitate natural generation of text i ...

Springer Nature2025

Non-Contact Manipulation of Objects in Fluid with Soft Robots Through Behavioral Primitives and Finite State Machine

Nana Obayashi, Josephine Anna Eleanor Hughes

Non-contact, fluid-mediated manipulation of objects using underactuated soft robots or structures presents unique control challenges, demanding a nuanced understanding of fluid dynamics and innovative control methods. In this study, we investigate methods ...

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.2024

Online Hydraulic Stiffness Modulation of a Soft Robotic Fish tail for Improved Thrust and Efficiency

Nana Obayashi, Josephine Anna Eleanor Hughes, Kai Christian Junge

This paper explores online stiffness modulation within a single tail stroke for swimming soft robots. Despite advances in stiffening mechanisms, little attention has been given to dynamically adjusting stiffness in real-time, presenting a challenge in deve ...

2024

Non-contact robotic manipulation of floating objects: exploiting emergent limit cycles

Nana Obayashi, Josephine Anna Eleanor Hughes

The study of non-contact manipulation in water, and the ability to robotically control floating objects has gained recent attention due to wide-ranging potential applications, including the analysis of plastic pollution in the oceans and the optimization o ...

Frontiers Media Sa2023

Proprioceptive Sensing of Soft Tentacles with Model Based Reconstruction for Controller Optimization

Karen Ann J Mulleners, Nana Obayashi, Josephine Anna Eleanor Hughes, Francesco Stella

2023

Control and Morphology Optimization of Passive Asymmetric Structures for Robotic Swimming

Nana Obayashi, Josephine Anna Eleanor Hughes, Kai Christian Junge, Kamran Shakir, Andrea Vicari

Aquatic creatures exhibit remarkable adaptations of their body to efficiently interact with the surrounding fluid. The tight coupling between their morphology, motion, and the environment are highly complex but serves as a valuable example when creating bi ...

IEEE-INST ELECTRICAL ELECTRONICS ENGINEERS INC2023

An experimental validation of the polynomial curvature model: identification and optimal control of a soft underwater tentacle

Nana Obayashi, Josephine Anna Eleanor Hughes, Francesco Stella

The control possibilities for soft robots have long been hindered by the lack of accurate yet computationally treatable dynamic models of soft structures. Polynomial curvature models propose a solution to this quest for continuum slender structures. Nevert ...

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.2022

Robotic automation and unsupervised cluster assisted modeling for solving the forward and reverse design problem of paper airplanes

Nana Obayashi, Josephine Anna Eleanor Hughes, Stefan Ilic, Kai Christian Junge

Although often regarded a childhood toy, the design of paper airplanes is subtly complex. The design space and mapping from geometry to distance flown is highly nonlinear and probabilistic where a single airplane design exhibits a multitude of trajectory f ...

Nature Research2022

Exploration of Human-Robot Collaboration Methods for Iterative Design Optimization of Paper Airplanes

Nana Obayashi, Josephine Anna Eleanor Hughes, Kai Christian Junge

To develop engineered systems with enhanced functionality, improving their design is essential. Robots and humans each have specialized competence advantageous to design. Robots excel in terms of fabrication reliability and observation of trends in data wh ...

Springer2022

Soft Passive Swimmer Optimization: From Simulation to Reality Using Data-Driven Transformation

Nana Obayashi, Josephine Anna Eleanor Hughes, Carlo Bosio

2022

Controlling Maneuverability of a Bio-Inspired Swimming Robot Through Morphological Transformation

Nana Obayashi, Josephine Anna Eleanor Hughes, Kai Christian Junge, Francesco Stella

Biology provides many examples of where body adaption can be used to achieve a change in functionality. The feather star, an underwater crinoid which uses feather arms to locomote and feed, is one such system; it releases its arms to distract prey and vary ...

IEEE-INST ELECTRICAL ELECTRONICS ENGINEERS INC2022