Principle Investigator

    Jun Sheng

     Assistant Professor

     Department of Mechanical Engineering

     University of California Riverside

     Office: Bourns Hall A311 

     Lab: Bourns Hall B231

     Phone: 951-827-6257

     Email: jun.sheng@ucr.edu

Visiting Faculty

​

    Yu-Sheng Lu

     Professor, Department of Mechatronic Engineering, National Taiwan Normal University

     Research interests: Control systems, sensor and actuator

     Email: yushengl@ucr.edu

Postdoctoral Scholars

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    Jajun Ryu

     Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering, Pusan National University, South Korea (2024)

     M.S. Mechanical Engineering, Pusan National University, South Korea (2019)

     B.S. Mechanical Engineering, Iowa State University, Ames, IA (2016)

     Research interests: Tendon-driven Robots, Soft Robots

     Research applications: Neurosurgery Robots, Surgical Robots

     Email: jajunr@ucr.edu

Graduate Students

   Saeed Rezaeian

    Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Riverside (2021 - present)   

    M.Sc. Mechanical Engineering, University of Tehran, Iran (2021)

    B.Sc. Mechanical Engineering, University of Tehran, Iran (2018)

    Research interests: Tendon-driven Robots, Smart Materials 

    Research applications: MRI-compatible Robots, Surgical Robots

    Email: saeed.rezaeian@email.ucr.edu

​

   Ryan Deuling

    Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Riverside (2023 - present)

    B.Sc. Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Riverside (2022)

   Research interests: Tendon-driven, continuum robots, MEMS robots

   Research applications: Agricultural - harvesting robots

   Email: Ryan.Deuling@email.ucr.edu

   Arshia Akbari

    Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Riverside (2023 - present)

    B.Sc. Mechanical Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Iran (2022) 

   Research interests: Tendon-driven, continuum robots

   Research applications: Agricultural Robots

    Email: arshia.akbari@email.ucr.edu

   Parmida AfshariNejad

    Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Riverside (2023 - present)  

    B.Sc. Mechanical Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Iran (2023)

   Research interests: Medical Robots, Soft Robots

   Research applications: Wearable Robots

   Email: parmida.afsharinejad@email.ucr.edu

​

   Seth Gil 

    Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Riverside (2025 - present)

    B.S. Electrical Engineering, California Baptist University, Riverside (2020 - 2023)

   Research interests: Soft robotics

   Research applications: Medical robotics

    Email: seth.gil@email.ucr.edu

​​

   Shenglin Yang

    Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Riverside (2025 - present)

    M.Sc. Mechanical Engineering, University of California, San Diego (2024)

    B.Sc. Mechanical Engineering, University of California, San Diego (2022)

   Research interests: Tendon-driven Robots, Soft Robots

   Research applications: MRI-compatible Robots, Surgical Robots

    Email: shenglin.yang@email.ucr.edu

Undergraduate Students

  Annabelle Yang

  B.Sc. Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Riverside (2023 - present)

   Research interests: Agricultural robots, soft robots

   Email: annabelle.yang@email.ucr.edu

  Colin Daily

  B.Sc. Bioengineering, University of California, Riverside (2022-present)

   Research interests: Soft robots, sensing, wearable robots

   Email: colin.daily@email.ucr.edu

  Aadya Penchala

  B.Sc. Bioengineering, University of California, Riverside (2024 - present)

   Research interests: Soft robotics, Surgical robots

   Email: aadya.penchala@email.ucr.edu

  Naman Athavale

  B.Sc. Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Riverside (2025 - present)

   Research interests: Wearable robots, underwater robots, soft robots

   Email: natha003@ucr.edu

  Eric Jung

  B.Sc. Bioengineering, University of California, Riverside (2025-present)

   Research Interests: Soft Robotics, Cardiovascular Robots

   Email: ejung038@ucr.edu

  Meadow Chiu

  B.Sc. Robotics Engineering, University of California, Riverside (2024 - present)

   Research Interests: Wearable robots, Soft robots

   Email: mchiu028@ucr.edu

Alumni

Sarvesh Saini (postdoc, 2023-2024, joining University of Miami as a postdoc fellow)

Kyungjoon (Harry) Lee (Ph.D., 2026)

Boshen Qi (Ph.D., 2026)

Hengjie Chen (Ph.D., 2025, co-advised with Dr. Xiaoping Hu, joining United Imaging Healthcare, China)

Keiju Oda (M.Sc., 2025, Alcon, Irvine, USA)

Xinyu Lu (M.Sc., 2025)

Akhil Joshi (M.Sc., 2025)

Chandan Sidhu (M.Sc., 2023)

Shalini Bansal (M.Sc., 2021)

Xinyao Wang (M.Sc., 2021)

Ziqing Yu (M.Sc., 2021)

Le Chen (M.Sc., 2020)

Weihang Zhou (M.Sc., 2020)

Siqu Liu (M.Sc., 2020)

Bryan Yeh (B.Sc., transferred to UCSD 2026)

Andrew Kimbirk (B.Sc., transferred to UCSD 2026)

Samantha Fu (B.Sc., transferred to UCSD 2026)

Steven Vu (B.Sc., 2026)

Daniel Chow (B.Sc., 2026)

Jungwon Lee (B.Sc., 2026)

Matthew Vu (B.Sc., 2026)

Vinesh Manian (B.Sc., 2025, joining Dr. Markvicka's group @UNL as a Ph.D. student)

Ethan Hsu (B.Sc., 2025)

Patrick Fong (B.Sc., 2025)

Alyssa Shen (B.Sc., 2025)

Jennifer Zheng (B.Sc., 2025)

Sophia Sevic (B.Sc., 2024)

Lucas Tian (B.Sc., 2024)

Griffith Gatpandan (B.Sc., 2022)

Chau Minh Giang (B.Sc., 2022)

Changhao Ge (B.Sc., 2020)

Yizhi Zhou (B.Sc., 2020)