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SUMMARY:MechE Colloquium: Material-Enabled Technologies for Soft and Fluid
 ic Robots
DTSTART:20231121T120000
DTEND:20231121T130000
DTSTAMP:20260508T053809Z
UID:85f6b62a1c0f44e03b83de2d5a65e9785cd04875609a08422b8ce1ea
CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars
DESCRIPTION:Prof Daniel J Prestion\, Rice University\nAbstract: The emer
 ging field of soft robotics\, which incorporates unconventional or complia
 nt materials in autonomous systems\, has simultaneously reshaped tradition
 al robotics applications and introduced new use cases for robots. However\
 , many useful classes of materials remain relatively unexplored\, and furt
 hermore\, the vast majority of soft robotics research has targeted actuati
 on and sensing\, with power and control schemes still relying on bulky\, r
 igid electronic components. My research program addresses open questions i
 n these domains by applying our expertise in energy\, fluids\, and materia
 ls. For instance\, biotic materials—non-living materials derived from li
 ving organisms—have remained underutilized in robotics\, despite having 
 played a role in human development since the times our early ancestors wor
 e animal hides as clothing and used bones for tools. In the first part of 
 my talk\, I describe how we repurposed an inanimate spider as a ready-to-u
 se actuator requiring only a single fabrication step\, initiating the area
  of “necrobotics” in which biotic materials are used as robotic compon
 ents. The second part of my talk focuses on assistive wearable robots\, wh
 ich currently rely on bulky and hard control systems and power supplies\, 
 or alternatively require cumbersome tethers to external infrastructure. To
  address this limitation\, my group has developed completely soft fluidic 
 digital logic components fabricated entirely from textiles. Our fluidic lo
 gic platform enables integrated memory\, decision making\, and the ability
  to interact with and adapt to stimuli and the environment\, all without t
 he use of rigid valves or electronics. Meanwhile\, we address limitations 
 in power delivery by developing “self-powered” textile-based wearable 
 robots that harvest energy from the motion of the human body. The integrat
 ion of fluidic logic and energy harvesting in textile architectures repres
 ents an important step toward fully soft\, self-sufficient wearable robots
  that are as comfortable\, resilient\, and practical as everyday clothing.
 \n\n\nBiography: Dr. Daniel J. Preston directs the Preston Innovation Lab
 oratory at Rice University conducting robotics research at the intersectio
 n of enegy\, materials\, and fluids. He is a recipient of the NSF CAREER A
 ward\, the ASME Old Guard Early Career Award\, and the Energy Polymer Grou
 p Certificate of Excellence. His group’s recent work has been published 
 in PNAS\, Science Advances\, Science Robotics\, Nano Letters\, and Advance
 d Science. His lab is funded by NASA\, the National Science Foundation\, a
 nd the Department of Energy\, among other sources. Dr. Preston earned his 
 B.S. (2012) in mechanical engineering from the University of Alabama and h
 is M.S. (2014) and Ph.D. (2017) in mechanical engineering from the Massach
 usetts Institute of Technology. Following his graduate degrees\, he traine
 d as a postdoctoral fellow from 2017–2019 at Harvard University in the D
 epartment of Chemistry and Chemical Biology prior to joining Rice Universi
 ty as an assistant professor in July 2019\n 
LOCATION:MED 0 1418 https://plan.epfl.ch/?room==MED%200%201418 https://epf
 l.zoom.us/j/61626448592
STATUS:CONFIRMED
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