Journal Publications:
  • Drago, A., Marcouiller, N., Kadapa, S., Fish, F. E., & Tangorra, J. L. (2025). Propulsive Force Characterization of a Bio-Robotic Sea Lion Foreflipper: A Kinematic Basis for Agile Propulsion. Biomimetics, 10(12), 831. https://doi.org/10.3390/biomimetics10120831
  • Kadapa, S., Marcouiller, N., Drago, A. C., Tangorra, J. L., & Kwatny, H. G. (2025). Development of a Numerical Model of a Bio-Inspired Sea Lion Robot. Biomimetics, 10(11), 772. https://doi.org/10.3390/biomimetics10110772
  • A. Drago, S. Kadapa, N. Marcouiller, H. G. Kwatny, and J. L. Tangorra, “Using Reinforcement Learning to Develop a Novel Gait for a Bio-Robotic California Sea Lion,” Biomimetics, vol. 9, no. 9, Art. no. 9, Sept. 2024, doi: 10.3390/biomimetics9090522. https://www.mdpi.com/2313-7673/9/9/522
  • Mignano, A. P., Kadapa, S., Drago, A. C., Lauder, G. V., Kwatny, H. G., & Tangorra, J. L. (2024). Fish robotics: multi-fin propulsion and the coupling of fin phase, spacing, and compliance. Bioinspiration & biomimetics, 19(2), 026006.
  • G. N. Carryon and J. L. Tangorra, “The effect of sensory feedback topology on the entrainment of a neural oscillator with a compliant foil for swimming systems,” Bioinspiration & Biomimetics, vol. 15, no. 4, p. 046013, June 2020, doi: 10.1088/1748-3190/ab76a0.
  • Mignano AP, Kadapa S, Tangorra JL, Lauder GV. Passing the Wake: Using Multiple Fins to Shape Forces for Swimming. Biomimetics. 2019; 4(1):23. https://doi.org/10.3390/biomimetics4010023
  • Deeksha Seth, Brooke E. Flammang, George V. Lauder, James L. Tangorra; Development of a vortex generator to perturb fish locomotion. J Exp Biol 15 March 2017; 220 (6): 959–963. doi: https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.148346

  • J. C. Kahn and J. L. Tangorra, “The Effects of Fluidic Loading on Underwater Contact Sensing with Robotic Fins and Beams,” in IEEE Transactions on Haptics, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 184-195, 1 April-June 2016, doi: 10.1109/TOH.2015.2485200.

  • J. C. Kahn, D. J. Peretz, and J. L. Tangorra, “Predicting propulsive forces using distributed sensors in a compliant, high DOF, robotic fin,” Bioinspiration & Biomimetics, vol. 10, no. 3, p. 036009, May 2015, doi: 10.1088/1748-3190/10/3/036009.
  • Lauder, G.V., Lim, J., Shelton, R., Witt, C., Anderson, E., Tangorra, J., Robotic Models for Studying Undulatory Locomotion in Fishes, Marine Technology Society Journal, 2011 (invited)
  • Tangorra, J.L., Gericke, T., Lauder, G.V., Learning from ray-finned fins for propulsors for unmanned undersea vehicles, Marine Technology Society Journal, 2011 (invited)
  • Lauder, G., Madden, P. G. A., Tangorra, J., Anderson, E. and Baker, T.V., Bioinspiration from fish for smart material design and function, Smart Materials and Structures, 2011 (invited)
  • Tangorra, J.L. and Lauder, G.V., Biorobotic Models of Highly Deformable Fins for Studies of the Mechanics and Control of Fin Forces, Integrative and Comparative Biology, June 2011 doi: 10.1093/icb/icr036
  • Tangorra, J. L., Lauder, G. V., Hunter, I. W., Mittal, R., Madden, P. G., Bozkurttas, M., The Effect of Fin-Ray Flexural Rigidity on the Propulsive Forces Generated by a Biorobotic Fish Pectoral Fin , J. Exp. Biol., 213, 4043-4053, 2010
  • Phelan, C., Tangorra, J.L., Lauder G.V., Hale, M., Biorobotic Fins for Investigations of Fish Sensorimotor Control, Bioinsp. Biomimet., 5, 2010 (invited)
  • Gottlieb, J., Tangorra, J.L., Lauder, G.V., A biologically derived pectoral fin for yaw turn maneuvers, Applied Bionics and Biomechanics, 7: 1, 41-55, 2010
  • Bozkurttas, M., Tangorra, J.L., Lauder, G.V., Mittal, R., Understanding the Hydrodynamics of Swimming: From Fish Fins to Flexible Propulsors for Autonomous Underwater Vehicles, Advances in Science and Technology, 58, 2008
  • Lauder, G. V., Anderson, E. J., Tangorra, J., Madden, P. G., Fish biorobotics: kinematics and hydrodynamics of self-propulsion, J. Exp. Biol. 210; pp 2767-2780, 2007 (cover article) 
  • Tangorra, J. L., Davidson, S. N., Hunter, I. W., Madden, P. G. A., Lauder, G. V., Dong, H., Bozkurttas, M., Mittal, R. The development of a biologically inspired propulsor for unmanned underwater vehicles, IEEE J. Oceanic Eng., 32, No 3, July 2007
  • Tangorra, J. L., Anquetil, P.A., Fofonoff, T. Chen, A., Del Zio, M., Hunter, I.W., The application of conducting polymers to a biorobotic fin propulsor, Bioinsp. Biomimet. 2007; 2, S6-S17 (invited submission, cover article, included in highlights from 2006 through 2007)
  • Tangorra, J.L, Jones, L.A., Hunter, I.W., System Identification of the VOR During Head-free Tracking, Journal of Vestibular Research, Vol.14, No. 6, pp 419-442, 2004
  • Tangorra, J.L, Jones, L.A., Hunter, I.W., Dynamics of the Human Head-Neck System in the Horizontal Plane: Joint Properties with Respect to a Static Torque, Annals of Biomedical Engineering, Vol. 31, pp 606-620, 2003
Conference Publications:
  • Drago, A., Carryon, G., & Tangorra, J. (2022, May). Reinforcement learning as a method for tuning CPG controllers for underwater multi-fin propulsion. In 2022 International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) (pp. 11533-11539). IEEE.
  • Seth, D., Lauder, G., Flammang, B. E., & Tangorra, J. L. (2020, March). Fish Fin Compliance: A Perturbation Technique to Determine Compliance During Free Swimming. In INTEGRATIVE AND COMPARATIVE BIOLOGY (Vol. 60, pp. E211-E211). JOURNALS DEPT, 2001 EVANS RD, CARY, NC 27513 USA: OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC.
  • Haecker, A, Carryon, GN, Tangorra, JL, & Sattel, T. “Neural-Based Control of Compliant Foils With Spanwise Flexibility.” Proceedings of the ASME 2019 Dynamic Systems and Control Conference. Volume 3, Rapid Fire Interactive Presentations: Advances in Control Systems; Advances in Robotics and Mechatronics; Automotive and Transportation Systems; Motion Planning and Trajectory Tracking; Soft Mechatronic Actuators and Sensors; Unmanned Ground and Aerial Vehicles. Park City, Utah, USA. October 8–11, 2019. V003T20A004. ASME. https://doi.org/10.1115/DSCC2019-9045
  • Carryon, G. C., Kahn, J. C., & Tangorra, J. L. (2018, March). Sensory mediated control and touch in biorobotic fins. In INTEGRATIVE AND COMPARATIVE BIOLOGY (Vol. 58, pp. E30-E30). JOURNALS DEPT, 2001 EVANS RD, CARY, NC 27513 USA: OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC.
  • Seth, D., Flammang, B., Lauder, G., & Tangorra, J. (2017, March). Perturbation Studies to Investigate Compliance Modulations in the Caudal Fin of a Bluegill Sunfish. In INTEGRATIVE AND COMPARATIVE BIOLOGY (Vol. 57, pp. E152-E152). JOURNALS DEPT, 2001 EVANS RD, CARY, NC 27513 USA: OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC.

  • J. C. Kahn and J. L. Tangorra, “Distributed sensing and nonlinear MISO models for predicting the propulsive forces of flexible, multi-DOF robotic fins,” 2016 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Stockholm, Sweden, 2016, pp. 4729-4736, doi: 10.1109/ICRA.2016.7487674.

  • J. C. Kahn and J. L. Tangorra, “Application of a micro-genetic algorithm for gait development on a bio-inspired robotic pectoral fin,” 2013 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, Tokyo, Japan, 2013, pp. 3784-3789, doi: 10.1109/IROS.2013.6696897.

  • J. C. Kahn, B. E. Flammang and J. L. Tangorra, “Hover kinematics and distributed pressure sensing for force control of biorobotic fins,” 2012 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, Vilamoura-Algarve, Portugal, 2012, pp. 1460-1466, doi: 10.1109/IROS.2012.6386066.

  • Moseson, A.J., Lama, L.R., Tangorra, J.L., Sustainable Development by Technology Seeding, IEEE Global Humanitarian Technology Conference, Seattle, WA 30 Oct-01 Nov 2011
  • Tangorra, J.L., Mignano, A., Carryon, G., Kahn, J., Biologically Derived Models of the Sunfish for Experimental Investigations of Multi-Fin Swimming, IEEE IROS 2011, San Francisco, CA, September 2011, invited
  • Tangorra, J.L., Esposito, C.J., Phelan, C.T., Lauder, G.V., Controlling Propulsive forces in Flexible Fins by Actively Modulating the Fin’s Mechanical Properties, Proceedings of the International Conference on Applied Bionics and Biomechanics, Venice Italy, Oct 2010
  • Tangorra, J. L., Esposito, C. J., Lauder, G. V., Biorobotic Fins for Investigations of Fish Locomotion, IEEE IROS 2009, St. Louis MO, Oct. 2009
  • Phelan, C., MacDonald, R., Tangorra, J.L., Artificial Muscle Actuators in Biorobotic Fish Fins, IEEE EMBS 2009, Minneapolis MN, September 2009 (invited) 
  • Gottlieb, J., Tangorra, J.L., Gibilisco, L., Lauder, G.V., The development of a flapping fin for maneuvering, IEEE Biorobotics 2008, Scottsdale, AZ, Oct 2008
  • Tangorra, J. L., Lauder, G. V., Madden, P. G., Mittal, R., Bozkurttas, M., Hunter, I. W., A Biorobotic Flapping Fin for Propulsion and Maneuvering, IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation 2008, Pasadena CA, May 2008
  • Bozkurttas, M., Dong, H., Mittal, R., Tangorra, J.L., Hunter, I.W., Lauder, G.V., Madden, P.G., CFD based Analysis and Design of Biomimetic Flexible Propulsors for Autonomous Underwater Vehicles”. AIAA-2007-4213 37th AIAA Fluid Dynamics Conference, Miami, FL, June 2007
  • Tangorra, J.L., Anquetil, P.A., Wiedeman, N.S., Fofonoff, T., Hunter, I.W., Applications of conducting polymers: robotic fins and other devices, Proceedings of the SPIE Smart Structures and Materials, March 2007 (invited submission)
  • Tangorra, J.L., Davidson, N., Madden, P.G., Lauder, G.V., Hunter, I.W., A Biorobotic Pectoral Fin for Autonomous Undersea Vehicles, Proceedings of the Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, New York, NY, August 2006
  • Lauder, G.V., Madden, P.W., Hunter, I.W., Tangorra, J.L., Davidson, S.N., Proctor, L., Mittal, R., Dong, H., Bozkurttas, M., Design and Performance of a Fish-Like Propulsor for AUVS, Proceedings of the 14th UUST Symposium, Durham, NH, August 2005
  • Tangorra, J.L, Jones, L.A., Hunter, I.W., A Stochastic Method for Generating Signals with Jointly Specified Probability Mass, Spectral, and Correlation Properties for the Identification of Physiological System, Proceedings of the Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, San Francisco, CA, September 2004
  • George, A.R., Tangorra, J.L., The Wind Noise of Motorcycle Helmets, Proceedings of the International Motorcycle Conference: Safety and Future, Munich, Germany, January 1991