David Zarrouk, Bioinspired and Medical Robotics, Ben Gurion University of the Negev

The research focus of this lab, headed by David Zarrouk, is the modeling, designing, and manufacturing of unique robots. This includes miniature crawling robots and serial crawling robots for search & rescue applications, space, maintenance, agricultural and medical purposes. They specialize in designing minimally actuated robots that are easy to control and operate. They also focus on modeling the interaction between the robots and slippery and compliant environments. Their manufacturing techniques include machining, laser cutting, and 3D printing. Besides crawling robots, they are also developing unique serial robotic mechanisms for space, agricultural, search & rescue and medical applications. Their robots have been featured 5 times on IEEE Spectrum and dozens of times in media outlets. As stated, much of their research focuses on the interaction between the legs of the robots and the surface with a special focus on slippery and compliant contacts. One example of such an interesting interaction is the “one step forward and three steps back” which characterized the locomotion of a 4 cell worm robot. Amongst many other awards, David Zarrouk held a Fulbright postdoctoral Fellowship.

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