【09.15 讲座】Biologically inspired soft devices in robotics

主讲人：Yiğit Mengüç 美国俄勒冈州立大学副教授

时  间：2015年9月15日上午9:30

地  点：先进制造大楼B702

主持人：吴志刚 教授

邀请单位：华中科技大学柔性电子研究中心

          beat365手机版官方网站

          数字制造装备与技术国家重点实验室

Biologically inspired soft devices in robotics

Incredible biological mechanisms have emerged through evolution, and can provide a wellspring of inspiration for engineers. One promising area emerging from biological inspiration is the design of devices and robots made of compliant materials, as part of a larger field of research in “soft robotics.” In this talk, the topics of designing soft, biologically inspired mechanisms will be presented in two case studies: controllable adhesives and soft wearable sensors. Additionally, the talk will cover the methods of fabricating soft devices through 3D printing, soft lithography, and laser micromachining. Surfaces covered in arrays of micro-fibers, inspired by the toes of a gecko, rely on compliance to repeatedly and controllably adhere to almost any surface while simultaneously shedding dirt. Sensors made of liquid metal encapsulated in rubber as soft as skin can track motion of the human body while naturally moving with its kinematics. However, these exciting soft mechanisms have certain challenges. The biological mechanisms that serve as a source of inspirations are made of materials that are vastly more compliant than the metal and plastic that engineers and roboticists normally use. To imitate and improve on nature’s design, we must create mechanisms with materials like fabric and rubber. It is difficult to characterize these hyperelastic, viscoelastic, and generally nonlinear materials, and it is difficult to integrate them into traditional fabrication techniques, but the development of such soft robotic devices promises to bring robots more and more into our daily lives.

Yiğit Mengüç教授简介：

Dr. Yiğit Mengüç works at the interface of mechanical science and robotics, creating soft devices inspired by nature and applied to robotics. He received his B.S., 2006, at Rice University in Houston and both his M.S., 2008, and Ph.D., 2011, in Mechanical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. More recently, he completed his postdoctoral work at Harvard University’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering in 2014 and is now an assistant professor of Robotics and Mechanical Engineering at Oregon State University. He is the founder and head of the mLab at OSU, which focuses on creating better robots with soft active materials, biologically inspired mechanisms, and rapid digital manufacturing.