Sonia Roberts

Sonia Roberts is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Wesleyan University, specializing in soft robotics and computational fabrication for human-environment interaction.

Her educational background includes a PhD in Electrical and Systems Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania (2021), a postdoctoral fellowship at Northeastern University's Institute for Experiential Robotics (2023), and an undergraduate degree from Vassar College.

Professor Roberts' research pioneers soft interactions between robots and deformable environments, focusing on robot locomotion through granular media (sand, snow, leaf litter) and knitting-based computational methods for creating soft sensors. Her work addresses critical challenges in enabling robots to safely navigate unstructured natural terrains and interact with delicate objects like fabrics, fruits, and humans through innovative soft robot skins and actuators.