LabCompass

David J. Cappelleri

Physics and Astronomy · Purdue University West Lafayette

OpenAlex ORCID
Established · publishing since 1999
Micro and Nano RoboticsModular Robots and Swarm IntelligenceRobot Manipulation and LearningSoft Robotics and ApplicationsAdvanced Materials and Mechanics

Publications

154

Citations

2,835

Est. group size

~9

Recurring co-author estimate

Active years

28

Publishing since 1999

Research summary
AI-generated

This researcher works on robotics at multiple scales, ranging from tiny magnetically-controlled microrobots (robots smaller than a millimeter that are steered and gripped using magnetic fields) to larger field robots used for agricultural monitoring, such as scanning cornfields and orchards. Their work also includes robotic grasping and manipulation, including using computer simulations to train robots to pick up objects in cluttered environments. Prospective students would likely engage with both hands-on microfabrication/microrobotics hardware and software-driven robotics such as navigation, sensing, and machine-learning-based grasp planning.

Microrobotics and magnetic microrobot designRobotic grasping and manipulation using simulation-trained AIAgricultural robotics (field navigation, crop sensing, and sampling)Robot mapping and navigation (SLAM) in unstructured outdoor environmentsEducational tools and courses for robotics training

Publication output has been relatively steady over the last decade, dipping slightly in 2022-2023 before rebounding to earlier levels in 2025.

Generated by claude-sonnet-5 from public bibliographic data · Jul 20, 2026

Publication cadence
Publications per year over the last 10 years — averaging 8.2/year recently
2017: 9 publications172018: 12 publications182019: 12 publications192020: 14 publications14202021: 10 publications212022: 8 publications222023: 8 publications232024: 9 publications242025: 12 publications252026: 4 publications26
Recent publications
Publishes in
  • IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters×9
  • arXiv (Cornell University)×9
  • Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics×6
  • Journal of Micro-Bio Robotics×5
  • Micromachines×4
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This profile was generated automatically from public scholarly data (OpenAlex). Group size and activity levels are estimates derived from co-authorship patterns.

Last updated Jul 20, 2026.

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