Jan Petrš

Jan Petrš is a Researcher at the Laboratory of Intelligent Systems within the Institute of Mechanical Engineering at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). His work focuses on advancing robotic systems through bio-inspired designs, particularly in the domain of compliant and lightweight structures.

His research centers on soft robotics, tensegrity mechanisms, and pneumatic artificial muscles. He employs evolutionary algorithms to optimize joint designs for balance between flexibility and load-bearing capacity, enabling applications in crawling robots and adaptive grippers. A key innovation includes integrating artificial muscles directly into tensile networks to achieve efficient motion replication of biological systems.

Petrš' 2025 publication explores the co-design of spine-like tensegrity joints using McKibben actuators and elastic cords, validated in functional robotic platforms. The work demonstrates significant improvements in locomotion speed (110 mm/s) and payload capacity compared to prior tensegrity systems.