Sarah Bergbreiter: Why I Make Robots the Size of a Grain of Rice

Associate Prof. Sarah Bergbreiter packs advanced technologies into tiny robots that can overcome obstacles 80 times their height. By studying the movement and bodies of insects such as ants, Prof. Bergbreiter and her team build incredibly robust, super teeny, mechanical versions of creepy crawlies — and then they add rockets!

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ABOUT Sarah Bergbreiter

Associate Professor Sarah Bergbreiter (Mechanical Engineering/ Institute for Systems Research) is the 2017 winner of the ISR Outstanding Faculty Award at the University of Maryland.

She is a gifted and talented researcher, a faculty member known for quality scholarship, a first-rate advisor and mentor, and a highly active member of the robotics and microsystems communities.

At Maryland she has developed a strong and exceptionally high quality research programme and is especially known for her interdisciplinary collaboration and contributions to the systems nature of research, as well as for her leadership, service and outreach.

Associate Prof. Bergbreiter has given 54 Invited Talks including Plenary and Keynote Presentations and received the 2008 Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Young Faculty Award, the 2010 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation Best Conference Paper Award, 2011 NSF CAREER Award, and the 2013 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) Award.

She was also included in the list of ‘25 Women in Robotics You Need to Know About” by the robotics online platform Robohub.

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