Ravinder Dahiya

Dahiya received his Bachelor of Engineering in electrical engineering from Kurukshetra University, his M.Tech in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi in 2001, and his doctorate in humanoid technologies from the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia and the University of Genoa.^[2][4]

Following his doctorate, Dahiya was a Marie Curie Fellow at the Fondazione Bruno Kessler in Trento, Italy.^[5] Following this he was researcher at University of Cambridge and from there he joined the University of Glasgow as a faculty member in the James Watt School of Engineering, where he became Professor of Electronics and Nanoengineering and an Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Research Fellow. At Glasgow, he directed the Electronics Systems Design Centre (ESDC) and led the Bendable Electronics and Sensing Technologies (BEST) research group.^[2]

Dahiya subsequently joined Northeastern University as Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, where he continues to lead the BEST group.^[1]

Dahiya's multidisciplinary research at the frontiers of materials science and electronics has catalyzed transformative advances in human-centric robotics, intelligent interactive systems, and wearable platforms. His work has evolved through addressing real-world challenges in robotics and wearable technologies. His multidisciplinary approach fosters the convergence of materials, devices, and systems, enabling innovations that directly enhance the performance, functionality, and human-centric design of next-generation robotics and interactive platforms.

Dahiya's research centres on tactile skin or electronic skin (e-skin), using advanced sensors and adaptive electronic hardware to mimic the human sense of touch. In 2017, his group at Glasgow demonstrated a graphene-based solar-powered electronic skin for prosthetic hands, a development covered by Reuters.^[6] His group also developed a solar-powered e-skin that uses an array of miniaturised solar cells for both energy generation and touch sensing, eliminating the need for dedicated touch sensors.^[7][8]

In 2022, his group published work demonstrating a printed neuromorphic e-skin with synaptic transistors that enabled a robotic hand to sense stimuli and process tactile data locally, analogous to the human peripheral nervous system. The work was covered by Scientific American, the University of Glasgow, and The Tribune.^[9][10][11]

Dahiya's group works on fabricating electronic devices on unconventional substrates such as plastics and paper using printing and transfer techniques. His research has addressed high-performance printed transistors on biodegradable substrates for transient electronics, contact-transfer printing methods, and energy harvesting devices on textiles and plant surfaces.^[1] He has also investigated the environmental implications of transient electronics, finding that some biodegradable devices break down into harmful microplastics rather than fully dissolving.^[1]

Dahiya co-authored "A roadmap for AI in robotics".^[1] His broader work spans soft robotics, haptics, and intelligent interactive systems, with applications in prosthetics, wearable health monitoring, autonomous underwater vehicles and environment and agriculture monitoring.^[2]

Dahiya is serving on the Board of Directors of IEEE,^[2] as Director of Division X, which comprises nine societies and councils of IEEE. He served as President of the IEEE Sensors Council (2022–2023).^[2] He is the editor-in-Chief of npj Flexible Electronics (Nature Portfolio). He was the founding editor-in-chief of the IEEE Journal on Flexible Electronics from 2022 to 2023.^[2] He has served as a Distinguished Lecturer of the IEEE Sensors Council and on the editorial boards of IEEE Sensors Journal and IEEE Transactions on Robotics.

• Dahiya, Ravinder S.; Valle, Maurizio (2013). Robotic Tactile Sensing: Technologies and System. Springer. ISBN 978-94-007-0578-4.
• Dahiya, Ravinder S.; Metta, Giorgio; Valle, Maurizio; Sandini, Giulio (2010). "Tactile Sensing—From Humans to Humanoids". IEEE Transactions on Robotics. 26 (1): 1–20. doi:10.1109/TRO.2009.2033627.
• Dahiya, Ravinder S. (2019). "Large Area Soft eSkin: The Challenges Beyond Sensor Designs". Proceedings of the IEEE. 107 (10): 2016–2033. doi:10.1109/JPROC.2019.2941366.
• Dahiya, Ravinder S.; Mittendorfer, Philipp; Valle, Maurizio; Cheng, Gordon; Lumelsky, Vladimir J. (2013). "Directions Toward Effective Utilization of Tactile Skin: A Review". IEEE Sensors Journal. 13 (11): 4121–4138. doi:10.1109/JSEN.2013.2279056.