Dr. Jialei Shi

Conducting research in soft robotic endoscopy, medical robotics, robot intelligence, and translational healthcare technologies.

• Led the development of a soft robotic colonoscope from concept to in vivo validation.
• Coordinated multidisciplinary collaborations involving engineers and clinicians.
• Published first-author papers in IEEE Transactions on Robotics and secured a patent.
• Awarded £70,000 in UKRI Impact Acceleration Account funding as Researcher Co-Investigator and co-applicant.
• Supervised undergraduate, MSc, and PhD researchers.

Developed a wearable soft robotic haptic interface for tactile perception restoration and clinical neuroscience.

• Designed and integrated a portable soft haptic device.
• Designed and conducted human-participant studies with clinical collaborators.
• Delivered a TRL-5 prototype that received national media coverage.

Developed reduced-order finite-element models and closed-loop control for miniaturised soft robotic manipulators.

• Awarded a UK Turing Scheme Mobility Grant.
• Developed reduced-order finite-element models and digital-twin simulations.
• Co-authored an IEEE RoboSoft publication.

Thesis: Static Modelling and Control for Pneumatic-Driven Soft Continuum Robots

• Developed analytical modelling and control frameworks for soft continuum robots.
• Designed miniature fibre-reinforced soft manipulators.
• Awarded a £140,000 departmental scholarship.
• Selected for RSS Pioneers 2024.
• Awarded the UCL Dean's Prize Research Scholarship.
• Received the UCL Mechanical Engineering Highly Commended PhD Thesis Award.

• Conducted research at Tsinghua University as a visiting master's student.
• Awarded the First Prize Postgraduate Scholarship.

• Ranked first for graduate-school recommendation.
• Served as Team Leader of the HIT Racing Team.
• Won the Formula Student Electric China Championship.
• Received the Best Electrical System Design Award at Student Formula Japan.

UKRI Impact Acceleration Account funding totalling £70,000.

• Researcher Co-Investigator and co-applicant.
• Led proposal conception and development.

Imperial Dame Julia Higgins Postdoctoral Collaborative Research Fund award totalling £4,950.

• Co-Investigator.
• Contributed to proposal conception and development.

UK Turing Scheme Mobility Grant totalling £1,100.

• Principal applicant.
• Supported collaborative research at Inria Lille on modelling and control of soft robots.

Reviewer for The International Journal of Robotics Research, IEEE Transactions on Robotics, IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics, Soft Robotics, Hamlyn Symposium on Medical Robotics, ICRA, IROS, and RoboSoft; reviewer for the EPSRC New Investigator Award.