Soft robotics · Deployable structures · Origami structures · Mechanical intelligence
I'm Ziyang Zhou, a Ph.D. Candidate in Mechanical Engineering at Virginia Tech. I design soft and origami-inspired robotic systems that use geometry, instability, and mechanical intelligence to do more with less control.
Research profile
I am a Mechanical Engineering Ph.D. candidate at Virginia Tech in the Dynamic and Architected Robot and structurE (DARE) Lab, supervised by Dr. Suyi Li. My research focuses on soft and bio-inspired robotics, origami-inspired mechanisms, multistable structures, deployable systems, and embodied physical computing.
My work asks how geometry, instability, and smart materials can give robotic systems useful behavior before conventional control is added. I develop these ideas across electronics-free locomotion, reconfigurable space manipulators, physical reservoir computers, and entangling origami grippers - combining mechanics-based modeling, simulation, fabrication, and experiments.
Research portfolio
These projects investigate how structures can sense, decide, move, and reconfigure through their physical design.
Deployable robotics · Origami
A multistable origami backbone that packs compactly, deploys autonomously, and reconfigures into task-specific workspaces for robotic manipulation.
One tendon set and one pneumatic line steer the boom along complex 3D paths while a 0.2 kg structure supports a 5.7 kg payload.
Manuscript in preparation
Deployable structures · Origami
A generalized Yoshimura pattern that deliberately breaks conventional flat-foldability constraints to create metastable, load-bearing configurations.
At the golden-ratio sector angle, a boom with m modules can theoretically access 8^m geometrically distinct configurations; prototypes demonstrate compact deployment, reconfiguration, and structural load bearing.
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Robotic manipulation · Entanglement
A 16-tentacle, tendon-driven origami gripper that uses programmed coiling and stochastic entanglement to capture objects across extreme variations in scale and environment.
Mechanics-based folding models and Cosserat-rod simulations connect crease design to looping, braiding, and robust grasping behavior.
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Soft locomotion · Smart materials
A soft crawler whose mechanical circuit autonomously produces coordinated rhythmic motion from a constant DC input - without electronics or a microcontroller.
Snap-through curved beams amplify the stroke of SMA coils, while modular coordination increases the distance traveled per cycle.
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Soft robotics · Physical computing
A unifying framework for building sensing, control, and computation into soft robotic bodies, reducing their dependence on conventional rigid electronics.
The framework links input encoding, a reprogrammable physical computing kernel, and output decoding across analog oscillators, physical reservoir computing, and physical algorithmic computing.
Read moreIEEE IROS
Conference websiteSPIE Smart Structures + NDE
Conference programManuscript in preparation
Manuscript in preparationManuscript in preparation
Manuscript in preparationEducation
Ph.D. Candidate, Mechanical Engineering
2022 - expected 2027B.S. Mechanical Engineering · Minor in Mathematical Sciences
2018 - 2022Recognition & service
Recent updates
Work on embodied physical computing, fiber-network reservoirs, and origami-tentacle grasping appears in leading journals.
Received the Best Poster Award at the inaugural Virginia Robotics Symposium, where the DARE Lab presented its robotics research.
Together with Yogesh Phalak, presented Hyper-Yoshimura geometry and its robotic applications at the Workshop on Multi-Stable and Origami-Based Robotics.
Contributions to bio-inspired and deployable robotic systems were featured in Virginia Tech News.
Read the Virginia Tech featureWith Vishrut Deshpande and Yogesh Phalak, published the Golden Ratio Yoshimura study in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A.
Presented research on a self-sustained mechanical oscillator with shape-memory alloy actuation for controller-free locomotion.
Published a first-author study on self-sustained, coordinated SMA deformations for controller-free locomotion in Advanced Intelligent Systems.
Let's connect
I'm always glad to exchange ideas, discuss research, and explore collaborations.
zzhou4@vt.edu