The aim of the project is to develop a nonlinear observer such that the deformations of an elastic structure can be dynamically reconstructed through fusing an array of sensory data, e.g., strain data, inertial data, and force data. As the continuous elastic body theoretically possesses infinite DOF’s, it is important to account for the trade-off between the quantity of sensory data and the quality of the shape reconstruction. It might also be interesting to investigate the possibility of environmental perception (e.g., stiffness perception) through soft contact – infinitesimal deformations at the end-effector such that stiffness can be perceived. One possibility is to develop a soft structure with embedded sensing through additive manufacturing, e.g., FMD.