PARSES Lab
PARSES logo. A red 8-bit art stylized letter "P" and the word PARSES in all caps to its right.

Programmable and Reconfigurable Soft Engineered Systems

A photograph of a finger and a thumb holding a piece of laser cut carbon fiber. Small and large shapes are visible as cutouts through the material.
A CAD drawing of an origami pattern
A photo of two hands holding a piece of cloth so that it curls on itself
A photo of a hexagonal, orange origami robot. Two electric mini grabbers are visible in the foreground.
Capacitive strain sensing band
A carbon fiber pressure sensor

PARSES (PI Kris Dorsey) is a multi-disciplinary group at Northeastern University in the departments of Electrical and Computer Engineering (College of Engineering) and Physical Therapy, Movement, and Rehabilitation Sciences (PTMRS, BouveĢ College of Health Sciences).

We work on challenges related to the design and engineering of soft robots and wearable devices. Some of the challenges we tackle in our work include:

  • Reconfiguring and tuning soft structure performance

  • Sensing the deformation of soft robots

  • Enhancing selectivity in soft mechanical sensors