Martin F Stoelen is a researcher working at Western Norway University of Applied Sciences and the University of Plymouth, with a background spanning aerospace, electronics and robotics. He holds a PhD and three Master’s degrees in those fields. His best-known creation is the GummiArm, an open-source robotic arm developed in 2015 that mimics the variable stiffness of the human arm, and which has since been replicated in several research labs around the world. He also founded Fieldwork Robotics Ltd in 2016, a company that in spring 2022 sold the first raspberries picked entirely autonomously by robots for fresh consumption.
Key facts
- Occupation: researcher
- Employer: Western Norway University of Applied Sciences; University of Plymouth
Education and fellowships
Stoelen’s academic path combined aerospace engineering, electronics and robotics across his three Master’s degrees before he completed a PhD. He received a Fulbright Stipend to support his research work, and was later awarded a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship that funded further research in the US and UK.
The GummiArm and early robotics research
In 2015 Stoelen developed the GummiArm, an open-source robotic arm built to mimic the variable stiffness found in the human arm. The design has been replicated in several research labs around the world. He co-authored a 2016 paper on the project exploring actuator antagonism and bio-inspired control, presented at the International Conference on Simulation of Adaptive Behavior. Earlier, in 2011, he had co-authored a paper in IEEE Transactions on Robotics on the kinematic design of a symmetric assistive climbing robot.
At the University of Plymouth he led the Soft and Adaptive Robotics (SAR) research group, which grounded his later commercial work in soft and modular robots for horticulture.
Fieldwork Robotics and agricultural automation
Stoelen founded Fieldwork Robotics Ltd in 2016 as a spin-out from the University of Plymouth, based on his research into soft and modular robots for horticulture. The company’s main office is in Cambridge, UK. In spring 2022 it sold its first raspberries picked autonomously for fresh consumption, work that also contributed to his selection among Codex World’s Top 50 Innovators in 2022.
Beyond raspberries, Stoelen worked on a tomato harvesting project with Sun Qiao at Shanghai Jiaotong University in China, funded through the Agri-Tech in China: Newton Network+ (ATCNN) fund. He also developed cauliflower-picking applications after receiving funding from Agri-Tech Cornwall, a three-year, £10 million initiative part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund. In 2017 he co-authored a study in Precision Agriculture on a robot platform for automated harvesting of sugar snap peas. Across these projects he has won research and development funding together worth more than £4 million.
Later work
In 2025 Stoelen co-authored a paper in Frontiers in Robotics and AI on learning computer-aided manufacturing from demonstration, applied to robot wood carving, extending his robotics work beyond agriculture.
Did you know
- In spring 2022, Fieldwork Robotics sold the very first raspberries picked entirely autonomously by robots for fresh consumption. (csar.org.uk)
- Fieldwork Robotics, based in Cambridge, UK, was spun out of University of Plymouth research in 2016 and has since run commercial field trials in Odemira, Portugal. (csar.org.uk)
Data sources
Data updated: 2026-11-12