A De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) researcher has won a prestigious research fellowship to investigate whether 3D printing could be used to create artificial muscles for a new generation of soft robots.
Dr Meisam Abdi is one of just eight engineers across the UK to receive a 2026/27 Royal Academy of Engineering/Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowship.
The award will allow him to spend up to a year focusing on research into materials and structures that could one day allow robots to move, sense and respond more like living organisms.
Most robots today rely on rigid mechanical components. But as robots increasingly move into environments where they may work closely alongside people from hospitals and care settings to homes and workplaces, researchers are investigating how to make them softer, safer and more adaptable.
Dr Abdi’s work is inspired by how human muscles function and explore whether carefully designed 3D-printed structures made from smart materials could reproduce some of those abilities.
Rather than trying to copy the physical structure of a human muscle exactly, he will use his expertise in additive manufacturing to design new architected structures whose geometry gives them particular properties.
Using computer-aided engineering, different combinations of piezoelectric, conductive and structural materials and architectures will be modelled before being 3D printed and tested in the laboratory to see how they respond to electrical stimulation.
The longer term aim is to develop artificial muscles capable not only of producing movement and sensing it’s environment, but also of harvesting small amounts of electrical energy from mechanical movement or vibration.
Meisam said: “If we want people to interact safely with robots in places such as hospitals, we need to move away from completely rigid structures and think about how we can give robots some of the attributes we see in living systems.
“Biological systems are remarkable because they can combine movement, sensing and responses to external stimuli. The question for us is whether we can design and manufacture an artificial structure that can reproduce some of those functions.
“We aren't trying to copy something that already exists in nature. By changing the materials and the geometry of these structures, we want to see whether we can create properties that don't currently exist naturally.”
The project will investigate piezoelectric materials – materials that can convert mechanical deformation into electrical energy and can also deform when an electrical field is applied.
Existing high-performance piezoelectric materials are often relatively stiff and brittle, while some of the most widely used materials contain lead. This creates challenges for developing soft, flexible and more sustainable artificial muscles..
Meisam’s approach is therefore to investigate how material composition can be combined with specially designed 3D-printed cellular structures to achieve the required properties while remaining soft and flexible.
Meisam added: “This is an ambitious project. There is already significant research into soft robotics, but creating something that can begin to replicate the multiple functions of living muscle remains a major challenge.
“My ambition during the fellowship is to develop a prototype that demonstrates what is possible and can provide the foundation for further research.”
The Royal Academy of Engineering/Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowships support mid-career engineers by funding replacement academic staff, allowing Fellows to dedicate the majority of their time on research for up to a year.
The Royal Academy of Engineering said this year's eight fellowships support research tackling a range of engineering challenges, including surgical robots, artificial vision, energy harvesting and AI, alongside Meisam's work developing soft robots capable of improved interaction with humans.
Posted on Tuesday 20 October 2026