Microrobotics Lab
University of Toronto
The Diller Microrobotics Lab at the University of Toronto is developing the next generation of tiny robots which can be wirelessly piloted. We are focused on enabling a radically-new approach to non-invasive medical procedures, micro-factories and new scientific tools. To achieve this we are shrinking the mechanical and electrical components of robots to centimeter, millimeter or even micrometer size.
Based on an understanding of the scaling of physical forces and our development of novel microfabrication and control techniques, we use magnetic fields and other smart-material actuation methods to make mobile functional devices. We envision a future where drug delivery and surgery can be done in a fast, painless and focused way, and where new materials and devices can be manufactured using swarms of tiny gripping, cutting, and sensing wireless robots.
Check out our Research and Publications pages for a few examples of what we are working on to make these ideas reality! Below is a recent talk given by Prof. Diller highlighting some of our recent work.
Our current lab group is shown below, with details on the People page. We in the Microrobotics Lab are devoted to providing an inclusive research training environment for a diverse group of researchers.
Summer 2024
From left to right: (Top row) Christopher Knight, Erik Fredin, Majid Roshanfar, Vincent Gu, Gediyon Girma, Edward Yang; (Second row) Chloe Pogue, Haley Mayer, Daniel Sieben, Eric Diller (lab leader); (Third row) Taeyoung Lee, Alex Zhang, Anastasia Aubeeluck; (Fourth row) Nirmal Pol, Larissa Jin, Ann Ping
Previous Lab Group Photos
Fall 2023
From left to right: (Top row) Zhaoxin (Jason) Li, Anastasia Aubeeluck, Erik Fredin, Daniel Sieben, Eric Diller (lab leader), Taeyoung Lee; (Middle row) Yuanzhe (Felix) Deng, Chloe Pogue, Ann Ping, Majid Roshanfar; (Bottom row) Larissa Jin, Haley Mayer, Xiaoyun Liu
Summer 2023
From left to right: (Top row) Changyan He, Zhaoxin (Jason) Li, Yuanzhe (Felix) Deng, Shreesh Mahapatra, Daniel Sieben, Taeyoung Lee, Nirmal Pol, Nayaab Ali, Ardavan Alaei Fard; (Bottom row) Erik Fredin, Chloe Pogue, Anastasia Aubeeluck, Haley Mayer, Eric Diller (lab leader), Xiaoyun Liu.
Fall 2022
From left to right: (Top row) Eric Diller (lab leader), Chenqi Li, Zhaoxin (Jason) Li; (Second row) Haley Mayer, Chloe Pogue, Changyan He; (Bottom row) Christopher Knight, Cameron Forbrigger, Erik Fredin, Daniel Sieben.
Summer 2020
From left to right: (Top row) Xiaoyun Liu, Cameron Forbrigger, Alexi Tracey, Zhaoxin (Jason) Li, Robin Liu; (Second row) Mohammad Salehizadeh, Monisha Naik, Eric Diller (lab leader), Mihai Nica, Youyang Li; (Third row) Priscilla Lai, Adam Schonewille, Chloe Pogue, Jaekwang Nam, Lyle Gauthier; (Bottom row) Svet Leniuk, Daniel Esser, Nancy Wu.
Fall 2019
From left to right: (Front row) Sajad Salmanipour, Priscilla Lai, Chloe Pogue; (Second row) Monisha Naik, Nancy Wu, Onaizah Onaizah; (Third row) Jaekwang Nam, Xiaoyun Liu, Mihai Nica; (Fourth row) Lyle Gauthier, Andrew Lim, Eric Diller (lab leader); (Back row) Zhaoxin (Jason) Li, Cameron Forbigger, Mohammad Salehizadeh, Adam Schonewille.
Summer 2019
From left to right: (Front row) Shenrui Pan; (Middle row) Jaekwang Nam, Tianqi Xu, Sumanth Kandala, Eric Diller (lab leader), Onaizah Onaizah, Priscilla Lai; (Back row) Zhaoxin (Jason) Li, Mihai Nica, Mohammad Salehizadeh, Lyle Gauthier, Adam Schonewille, Cameron Forbigger, Peyman Shokrollahi. Not shown: Sajad Salmanipour
Fall 2018
From left to right: (Bottom row) Sajad Salmanipour, Onaizah Onaizah, Priscilla Lai, Omid Youssefi; (2nd row) Tianqi Xu, Omar Ismail, Shenrui Pan, Mohammad Salehizadeh, Peyman Shokrollahi; (3rd row) Mihai Nica, Eric Diller (lab leader), Cameron Forbigger; (Upper row) Adam Schonewille, Zhaoxin (Jason) Li, Sagar Jaiswal.
Summer 2018
From left to right: (1st row) Cameron Forbigger, Sajad Salmanipour, Ernest Lau, Priscilla Lai, Onaizah Onaizah, Omid Youssefi; (2nd row) Jiachen Zhang, Gurtej Bhasin, Alexandre Poersch, Peyman Shokrollahi, Eric Diller (lab leader), Tianqi Xu, , Mohammad Salehizadeh.
Summer 2017
From left to right: Peyman Shokrollahi, Omid Youssefi, Jiachen Zhang, Sajad Salmanipour, Mohammad Salehizadeh, Onaizah Onaizah, Eric Diller (lab leader), Jessica Campos, Tianqi Xu.
Winter 2016
From left to right: Onaizah Onaizah, Sajad Salmanipour, Omid Youssefi, Eric Diller, Seifeldin Hassan, Tianqi Xu, Mohammad Salehizadeh, and Jiachen Zhang.
Spring 2016
From left to right: Onaizah Onaizah, Zhe Li, Patrick Ryan, Jiachen Zhang, Sajad Salmanipour, Mohammad Salehizadeh, Eric Diller, and Dongsub Shim.
2015
From left to right: Jiachen Zhang, Zhe Li, Patrick Ryan, Omid Youssefi, Piyush Jain, Eric Diller, Mohammad Salehizadeh, Ahmed Ujjainwala.