Monica Li

My research focuses on the physical contact interface between robot and world, to develop robots capable of real-world dexterous manipulation. I believe that robots whose end-effectors are compliant (soft) and sensitive are better suited for tasks in unstructured environments. I am an experimentalist that uses analytical models to deepen our understanding of the physical world and guide mechanical design. My current interests include understanding soft contact dynamics and fluid-structure interaction in the context of robot grasping, as well as exploring tactile sensor design and sound as a sensing modality for robot perception.I am an incoming assistant professor at the University of Washington, starting Fall 2026. I have previously held positions as a research scientist at Berkshire Grey and postdoctoral associate at Yale. I received my Ph.D. from UC Berkeley and my B.S. from Caltech, both in mechanical engineering.

Select Prior Publications

STUDYING THE PROPERTIES OF LIQUID METAL TOWARDS STRETCHABLE ELECTRONICS

Liquid metal, specifically eutectic gallium indium (eGaIn), is a highly conductive material that is liquid at room temperature. It can be used to make flexible, stretchable traces for robotics applications, including tactile sensing. Here, we shed light on the electromechanical properties of the material through experimental measurements and an alternative analysis of the strain-resistance curve.

Li, M., Woodman, S. J., Shah, D., Kramer-Bottiglio, R. (2026). "Liquid metal is a bulk conductor." Advanced Materials Technologies.

DESIGN AND TESTING OF GRANULAR ASSEMBLY TO UNDERSTAND SOFT CONTACT DYNAMICS

Studying soft granular interactions extrapolates more generally to soft contact dynamics, which I am interested in applying to robot grasping. In this particular work, we were developing granular metamaterials, a framework where the properties of individual grains can dictate the bulk behavior. We designed a soft robotic grain with independently controllable size and stiffness, to study behaviors contact interactions including particle deformation and force chains.

Li, M., Do, B. H., Le, C. L., O'Hern, C., Kramer-Bottiglio, R. (2025). "Variable stiffness and variable size particles for reconfigurable granular metamaterials." IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft).

ACOUSTAC: SOUND-BASED ELECTRONICS-FREE TACTILE SENSOR DESIGN

We rely heavily on sense of touch in our everyday lives. In robots, tactile sensing enables adaptive control strategies. Robustly integrating conventional tactile sensors is difficult, as wires and sensors may break from fatigue loading or unintentional collisions with the world. Equipping soft actuators with sensing is even more challenging as they undergo large material deformations. We designed a tactile sensor with no electronics near the end-effector. Resonant sound encodes contact and force and is monitored by a remotely located microphone. We demonstrate this sensor design on a soft gripper and soft skin.

Li, M., Stuart, H. S. (2025). “AcousTac: Tactile sensing with acoustic resonance for electronics-free soft skin." Soft Robotics, doi: 10.1089/soro.2023.0082
Li, M., Huh, T. M., Yahnker, C. R., Stuart, H. S. (2022). “Resonant pneumatic tactile sensing for soft grippers." Robotics and Automation Letters, vol. 7, no.4, pp. 10105-10111, doi: 10.1109/LRA.2022.3191186

SOFT SURFACE FEATURES FOR FRICTIONAL GRASPING IN WET AND SUBMERGED CONDITIONS

Robots impart forces through physical contacts, and designing for these adversarial contact conditions is critical. Intuitively, grasping something wet is more difficult than something clean and dry, as contact surfaces may become slippery due to fluid lubrication. Inspired by the pruning of human fingertips from prolonged exposure to water, we investigated how surface patterns on a robot's finger pads can increase friction. We found that in lubricated conditions, a few surface features exhibit higher friction force than a pad that is smooth or finely textured.

Li, M., Melville, D., Chung, E., Stuart, H. S. (2020). “Milliscale Features Increase Friction of Soft Skin in Lubricated Contact." Robotics and Automation Letters, vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 4781-4787, doi: 10.1109/LRA.2020.3003880

ROBOTS IN THE REAL WORLD

Working with robots in the field (1) makes me aware of the gap between the lab and real-world deployment and (2) inspires my research direction. Early in my PhD, I designed end-effectors for marine sampling and tested them on an underwater robot. From my time at Berkshire Grey, I have industry experience in warehouse automation, mainly with suction-based grasping.

Li, M., Zande, R., Hernandez, A., Bongaerts, P., Stuart, H. S. (2019). “Gripper Design with Rotation-Constrained Teeth for Mobile Manipulation of Hard, Plating Corals with Human-Portable ROVs.” OCEANS 2019 MTS/IEEE Marseille.

Personal

Outside of research, I like to run. I also enjoy making art and have recently taken up biking and climbing.

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