COE/Structural Mechanics Seminar

Title:

Harnessing Structure and Materials Intelligence for High-Performance Soft Robots

Speaker:

Prof. Jie Yin

Affiliation:

North Carolina State University

When:

Tuesday, April 26, 2022 at 11:00:00 AM   

Where:

MRDC Building, Room 4211

Host:

Dr. Yuhang Hu
yuhang.hu@me.gatech.edu
404-894-2555

Abstract

Traditional rigid robots are precise (low error tolerance), rigid (non-deformable), and “cold” (non-responsive to external environment). By contrast, soft-bodied robots are flexible (high tolerance for adaptivity), soft (highly deformable for safe interaction), and smart (embodied structure and materials intelligence). Soft robotics opens a new avenue for renovating traditional robotic designs, which has attracted growing and broad interest in materials, mechanics, sensing, robotics, dynamics, control, and computer science. In this talk, I will discuss our recent work in embodying mechanical intelligence of structural designs and/or materials intelligence of soft active materials in soft robotics, for achieving delicacy in manipulation, high speed and high efficiency in locomotion, and autonomy and intelligence. First, I will talk about utilizing the ancient paper cutting art of kirigami for programming 3D curved shape shifting via geometric mechanics guided design, as well as its application in nondestructive and delicate grasping. Then, I will discuss how to leverage bistablity and multistablity for achieving high-speed and high-efficient terrestrial and aqueous soft robots. Finally, I will discuss an example of integrating structural designs with soft active materials for achieving autonomy and intelligence in soft robots.


Biography

Dr. Jie Yin is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at NC State University. Prior to join NC State, he was an Associate Professor at Temple University. Dr. Yin received his Ph.D. from Columbia University. He is the recipient of NSF Career Award and Extreme Mechanics Letter (EML) Young Investigator Award. His group’s current research focuses on mechanical metamaterials, mechanics guided design of soft robotics, and mechanics and functionality of soft materials.