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Research
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 moreRelated research
Research extending the same themes of mechanics and physical intelligence.
Physical computing · Compliant structures
Exploratory work on compliant fiber networks that use nonlinear, memory-rich deformation to process time-varying inputs directly in their physical structure.