HI, I'm

Colter Decker

Ph.D. Candidate in Mechanical Engineering at Harvard University

I study how to improve the safety, reliability, and performance of robots through hardware design. I'm advised by Professor Robert Wood.

Right now, I'm making robotic hands and sensors, and studying how hardware decisions can improve the performance of learned policies.

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Research

Selected publications.

Publications

2026

Noncircular rolling contact joints enable programmed behavior in robotic linkages

Colter J. Decker, Tony G. Chen, Michelle C. Yuen, Robert J. Wood

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2026

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2025

Magnetic sensing for proprioception of rolling contact joints

Michelle C. Yuen, Colter J. Decker, Tony G. Chen, Robert J. Wood

IEEE RoboSoft, 2025

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2024

Thermally accelerated curing of platinum-catalyzed elastomers

Te Faye Yap, Anoop Rajappan, Marquise D. Bell, Rawand M. Rasheed, Colter J. Decker, Daniel J. Preston

Cell Reports Physical Science, 2024

PDF
2022

Programmable soft valves for digital and analog control

Colter J. Decker, Haihui Joy Jiang, Markus P. Nemitz, Samuel E. Root, Anoop Rajappan, Jonathan T. Alvarez, Jovanna Tracz, Lukas Wille, Daniel J. Preston, George M. Whitesides

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2022

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2022

Logic-enabled textiles

Anoop Rajappan, Barclay Jumet, Rachel A. Shveda, Colter J. Decker, Zhen Liu, Te Faye Yap, Vanessa Sanchez, Daniel J. Preston

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2022

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2021

Effect of daily temperature fluctuations on virus lifetime

Te Faye Yap, Colter J. Decker, Daniel J. Preston

Science of The Total Environment, 2021

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