OOIR: Observatory of International Research

Papers

(The TQCC of Science Robotics is 35. The table below lists those papers that are above that threshold based on CrossRef citation counts [max. 250 papers]. The publications cover those that have been published in the past four years, i.e., from 2022-05-01 to 2026-05-01.)

Article	Citations
Early science fiction got microbots surprisingly right	1203
Ted Chiang imagines a computational theory of robots	528
The cold truth about robotics research in the United Kingdom as a Caribbean woman	327
The greatest challenge for prosthetics may be social, not neural, connections	272
High-speed control and navigation for quadrupedal robots on complex and discrete terrain	266
Wireless flow-powered miniature robot capable of traversing tubular structures	246
Ajna: Generalized deep uncertainty for minimal perception on parsimonious robots	233
Culturally competent social robots target inclusion in Africa	219
Robot-mediated haptic feedback outperforms vision in violin duo coordination	218
Coordinated behavior of autonomous microscopic machines through local electronic pulse coupling	215
Biohybrid microrobots regulate colonic cytokines and the epithelium barrier in inflammatory bowel disease	182
Monte Carlo tree search with spectral expansion for planning with dynamical systems	182
Morphological computation and decentralized learning in a swarm of sterically interacting robots	166
From motor control to team play in simulated humanoid football	162
Adaptive active solids	161
Accelerating discovery in natural science laboratories with AI and robotics: Perspectives and challenges	146
Surmounting the ceiling effect of motor expertise by novel sensory experience with a hand exoskeleton	144
Embodied aerial physical interaction: Combining body and brain for robust interaction with unstructured environments	143
Achieving animal endurance in robots through advanced energy storage	143
A self-guided intubation device	142
Autonomous tracking of honey bee behaviors over long-term periods with cooperating robots	137
Toward self-contained bidirectional bionic limbs with high information throughput	132
Modular reconfiguration of DNA origami assemblies using tile displacement	132
The neuromechanics of animal locomotion: From biology to robotics and back	131
Reversible kink instability drives ultrafast jumping in nematodes and soft robots	126

Advancing physical intelligence for autonomous soft robots	120
Crawling, climbing, perching, and flying by FiBa soft robots	120
Remote control of muscle-driven miniature robots with battery-free wireless optoelectronics	119
Wearable robots for the real world need vision	114
Virus-blocking mosquitoes take flight in the fight against dengue	113
Erratum for the Research Article “Restoration of grasping in an upper limb amputee using the myokinetic prosthesis with implanted magnets” by M. Gherardini et al	110
Robotic manipulation of human bipedalism reveals overlapping internal representations of space and time	109
Fly motion vision maximizes signal energy transfer between mechanical input and sensor output	108
A bioinspired revolving-wing drone with passive attitude stability and efficient hovering flight	104
The role of low-cost robots in the future of spaceflight	102
AI search, physician removal: Bronchoscopy robot bridges collaboration in foreign body aspiration	99
Optogenetic neuromuscular actuation of a miniature electronic biohybrid robot	98
Magnetically actuated gearbox for the wireless control of millimeter-scale robots	98
Excitation of natural spinal reflex loops in the sensory-motor control of hand prostheses	97
Neural prosthesis control restores near-normative neuromechanics in standing postural control	96
The codevelopment of soft robotics and assistive technology	95
Representation granularity enables time-efficient autonomous exploration in large, complex worlds	91
Merging motoneuron and postural synergies in prosthetic hand design for natural bionic interfacing	90
Robotically steerable guidewires—Current trends and future directions	85
A pipeline inspection robot for navigating tubular environments in the sub-centimeter scale	84
Reconfigurable self-assembled DNA devices	83
Understanding humanoid robots could save your life	83
MOGrip: Gripper for multiobject grasping in pick-and-place tasks using translational movements of fingers	83
Assistive robotics should seamlessly integrate humans and robots	78
Head-mounted surgical robots are an enabling technology for subretinal injections	77
OpenExo: An open-source modular exoskeleton to augment human function	77
Vibrotactile feedback aids prosthesis usability	76
High-tech guardians: Robotics at the heart of the Future Circular Collider	76
Ultralight, strong, and self-reprogrammable mechanical metamaterials	75
A robotic honeycomb for interaction with a honeybee colony	75
Unlocking aerobatic potential of quadcopters: Autonomous freestyle flight generation and execution	74
Increasing the payload capacity of soft robot arms by localized stiffening	73
Tracking and navigation of a microswarm under laser speckle contrast imaging for targeted delivery	73
Effect of hip abduction assistance on metabolic cost and balance during human walking	73
Bioinspired designer DNA NanoGripper for virus sensing and potential inhibition	73
It is hard to be a robot in the wild	70
Would you risk humanity’s survival on a robot built in two years?	69
Enhancing social connectedness with companion robots using AI	68
Explosion-powered eversible tactile displays	68
Autonomous boat navigation in the real world	68
Clearing away barriers to oral drug delivery	65
Teaching robots the art of human social synchrony	65
Cross-robot behavior adaptation through intention alignment	64
A hyperelastic torque-reversal mechanism for soft joints with compression-responsive transient bistability	64
Soft robotic artificial left ventricle simulator capable of reproducing myocardial biomechanics	64
Magnetic robots make headway in medicine	63
AI-driven aerial robots advance whale research	63
Tracking hand movements with a smart glove	62
Development of compositionality through interactive learning of language and action of robots	60
Autonomous surface sampling for the Europa Lander mission concept	60

RoboBallet: Planning for multirobot reaching with graph neural networks and reinforcement learning	60
The force has limits: Molecular motors in robotics	60
Knowledge before faith is the motto of a robot pope	59
How can educational robots enhance family life? Through careful integration	59
Scalable robot collective resilience by sharing resources	59
Acrobatics at the insect scale: A durable, precise, and agile micro–aerial robot	59
Neuroprosthesis converts brain activity to speech	58
How much initiative should a service robot have?	58
Bot self-destruction memes are no laughing matter in science fiction	57
Deep domain adaptation eliminates costly data required for task-agnostic wearable robotic control	56
Float like a butterfly, swim like a biohybrid neuromuscular robot	55
An ingestible capsule for luminance-based diagnosis of mesenteric ischemia	54
Good old-fashioned engineering can close the 100,000-year “data gap” in robotics	54
Estimating human joint moments unifies exoskeleton control, reducing user effort	53
Solar-powered shape-changing origami microfliers	52
Electrofluidic fiber muscles	52
Surgical embodied intelligence for generalized task autonomy in laparoscopic robot-assisted surgery	51
Self-organizing nervous systems for robot swarms	50
Hexagonal electrohydraulic modules for rapidly reconfigurable high-speed robots	49
A review of learning-based dynamics models for robotic manipulation	48
Robotic manipulation of cardiomyocytes to identify gap junction modifiers for arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy	48
A retrospective of Isaac Asimov at 102 and his Three Laws	47
Soft deployable airless wheel for lunar lava tube intact exploration	45
Reconfigurable aerial robot for subterranean mine inspection	44
Dexterous helical magnetic robot for improved endovascular access	43
Cooperative robotic exploration of a planetary skylight surface and lava cave	43
Biohybrid hand actuated by multiple human muscle tissues	42
Insect-inspired AI for autonomous robots	40
Equalizing access: How robotics and AI can transform surgical care worldwide	39
Robot therapy pets get a starring role in Lightyear and in real life	39
Remote magnetic navigation enables precision telesurgery	39
Light-emitting, self-healing robotic fibers	39
Bilateral Back Extensor Exosuit for multidimensional assistance and prevention of spinal injuries	37
Microscopic robots with onboard digital control	37
User preference optimization for control of ankle exoskeletons using sample efficient active learning	37
Restoration of tactile sensation in bionic hands	36
Visual route following for tiny autonomous robots	36
The original “I, Robot” featured a murderous robot and the Frankenstein complex	36
Erratum for the Research Article “Fully neuromorphic vision and control for autonomous drone flight” by F. Paredes-Vallés et al .	35