At the invitation of Professor Ding Huafeng, Dean of the School of Mechanical Engineering and Electronic Information, Zhao Huichan, an Associate Professor of Tsinghua University, delivered an academic report.
Title: Flexible Artificial Muscle Technology and Its Robotic Applications
Reported by: Zhao Huichao
Report time: 9:00-11:00 a.m., October 25, 2022
Report form: Tencent Meeting: Meeting No.: 454-970-176
Profile of the reporter:
Zhao Huichan is an associate professor and PhD supervisor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Tsinghua University, the associate editor for IEEE Transactions on Robotics, and the winner of National Natural Science Foundation for Distinguished Young Scholars. She received her bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Tsinghua University in 2012, her Ph.D. degree from Cornell University in 2017, and her postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University from 2017 to 2018, and has been teaching in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Tsinghua University since July 2018. In recent years, she has been mainly engaged in the research on soft robots, robot high power density drive technology and flexible sensors, and has published academic papers on Nature, Science Robotics, Nature Communications, IEEE Transactions on Robotics, Advanced Functional Materials, etc. She has been selected as the “Forbes China under 30” and “MIT Technology Review Innovators Under 35 China”, and won the 17th Excellent Mentor Award, Tsinghua University, Xiong Youlun Zhihu Outstanding Young Scholar Award, and Damo Academy Young Fellow, etc.
Report summary:
In recent years, soft robotics materials based on soft materials has developed rapidly. Soft robots generally have more flexible, safer and less energy-intensive movement patterns. The new theories and technologies generated in the development of soft robots enrich and expand the connotation and ideas of robotics research, and drive technology is one of them. The research on soft driver is expected to develop the high-performance general-purpose artificial muscles that can replace or combine with the motor and motor drives, promoting the development of the robotics field. However, the current soft drive has not yet been developed into an artificial muscle technology with stable performance and large-scale application. In this report, I will analyze the development status of dielectric elastomer flexible actuators, report the recent research progress in the preparation, modeling, design and robotic application of such actuators, and explore their future development direction.
School of Mechanical Engineering and Electronic Information
Oct. 22, 2022
