Robots by design, not by default
A creative, innovation-focused robotics subgroup in the Barman Lab, pushing the boundaries of aerial and soft robotics, underwater exploration, autonomous sensing, precision motion control, and intelligent imaging systems.
We build new classes of robots—autonomous aerial swarms for launch and recovery, computationally designed soft actuators,
fish-inspired underwater propulsion systems, and robotic tools for agriculture in space. Our design-first philosophy rejects generic,
off-the-shelf hardware. Instead, we use computational design, custom actuation, and rapid fabrication to create robots that are inherently
suited to their environments and missions.
Robots designed for autonomous deployment, retrieval, and swarm coordination. Built with custom frames, predictive control, and mission-specific mechanical architecture.
Soft robotic elements produced through physics-guided optimization. Programmed deformation, tunable stiffness, and morphology generated through computational design.
Autonomous systems built for low-gravity crop tending, sensor-driven and directed irrigation, and growth optimization in extraterrestrial habitats.
HOW WE WORK
We use optimization, simulation, and generative design to create morphologies and mechanisms that conventional engineering cannot. Our tools span voxel-based design, evolutionary algorithms, reinforcement-driven shape adaptation, and algorithmic structure synthesis—like our artificial vasculature networks.
We use optimization, simulation, and generative design to create morphologies and mechanisms that conventional engineering cannot. Our tools span voxel-based design, evolutionary algorithms, reinforcement-driven shape adaptation, and algorithmic structure synthesis—like our artificial vasculature networks.
From soft-contractile systems to multi-degree linkages and propulsion fins, we build actuation architectures tuned to each robot’s environment. Hardware-first engineering ensures that the robot’s form encodes its function.
Our robots integrate onboard sensing, lightweight autonomy, and mission-aware decision-making. We design control systems that are simple, robust, and hardware-synergistic—reducing the need for heavy software compensation.
We prototype rapidly through additive manufacturing, resin printing, soft material casting, and composite fabrication. This enables fast cycles of design → test → redesign.
TEAM
Professor Ishan Barman
The Barman Robotics initiative grows from a simple idea: when the tools we need don’t exist, we build them.
Under Dr. Ishan Barman’s leadership, our lab has always embraced the mindset that meaningful scientific progress often requires new instruments—not incremental patches on old ones. This robotics subgroup was created to push that philosophy further.
Rather than relying on commercial platforms or generic hardware, we design robots from the ground up to meet the demands of emerging scientific and technological frontiers. Whether in the air, underwater, or in off-world agricultural environments, our goal is to engineer systems purpose-built for the environments they must operate in.
Barman Robotics exists to explore new modes of motion, new forms of actuation, and new mechanical intelligence—expanding the kind of questions the lab can ask, and the kinds of experiments we can perform.
Ishan Barman, PhD
What started as a single-person experiment in May 2024 has evolved into a six-member team defined by creativity, technical range, and merit—not titles.
At Barman Robotics, every member shapes the future of the machines we build, because great ideas don’t care about academic rank.
Arnab Chatterjee, Robotics Lead, MSc,
PhD Candidate
Louis Lapp, Undergraduate Student
Gabriel Ruiz, Undergraduate Student
Owen Bartlett, Undergraduate Student
Bill Zhiyuan Wang, Undergraduate Student
Jianzhi (Judy) Tang, PhD Student
WANT TO COLLABORATE
OR EXPLORE OPPORTUNITIES
IN BARMAN ROBOTICS?
We're building new machines
for new worlds.
