Funding
Selected grants and funding programmes I have contributed to or currently manage, across Europe and the United States.
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MIMISK — MultI-Modal Robot Inspection and monitoring of Sea Kelp
CHF 799,152 · 3 years · Empa & EPFL · Croatian partners
Role: Co-Contributor — contributed to collaborative grant writing, budgeting, figure drafting, and preliminary ideas; currently managing the project
Developing novel aerial-aquatic robotics for real-time monitoring of blue carbon ecosystems, with the aim of transforming carbon sequestration efforts through minimally invasive ecological monitoring of sea kelp habitats.
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MetaMorpher — High Performance Metamorphic Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
CHF 402,762 · 3 years · Empa & EPFL · Croatian partners
Role: Contributed to grant writing process (neither PI nor Co-PI); currently managing the project
Developing a metamorphic aerial vehicle that can transition between spinning and gliding flight for energy-efficient locomotion, enabling the collection of ecological data in difficult-to-reach areas.
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ProteusDrone
€2,000,000 · 5 years · Empa & EPFL · Imperial College London
Role: Figure designer; contributed to preliminary ideas; currently managing the project (neither PI nor Co-PI)
Meta-morphic tri-modal mobility for aerial robotics. Awarded to Prof. Mirko Kovač in 2022 for developing a single aerial platform that morphs across flight, perching, and aerial-aquatic transition.
Supports: SIMBI — Soft Intelligent Module for Benthic Interactions , Biocompatible Ionic Polymer Membranes for Soft Actuators , Flexible Electromagnetic Actuators with Kresling-Origami Housing , Hybrid Soft Electrostatic Metamaterial Gripper
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Competence Center in Sustainability Robotics
Role: Contributed to grant writing, budgeting, and hiring
Inter-institutional initiative establishing sustainable robotics as a research and translation centre at Empa, in collaboration with EPFL and other ETH-domain institutions.
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EAGER: Distributed Iterative Control of Soft Robotic Arms
$143,100 · 3 years · Arizona State University
Role: Figure designer; contributed to preliminary results; assisted with project reporting (neither PI nor Co-PI)
Exploratory research developing distributed iterative learning control for soft robotic continuum arms.
Supports: Soft Poly-Limbs , Fabric Soft Poly-Limbs , Sensorized Soft Continuum Module
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Mechatronics Design Innovation (MDI) Course
Role: Course developer & lecturer
VentureWell-supported development of EGR 598: Mechatronics Device Innovation at ASU. The project-based course produced four U.S. utility patent applications in wearable and rehabilitative devices in collaboration with clinicians at the Barrow Neurological Institute.