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SUMMARY:MechE Colloquium: From Soft to Strong: Designing Active and Adapti
 ve Robotic Materials
DTSTART:20261117T120000
DTEND:20261117T130000
DTSTAMP:20261109T170127Z
UID:de81def729627c30bb8082dafb4863def5e4d9583249c6ed0e1db4ad
CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars
DESCRIPTION:Prof. Wang Yifan\, School of Mechanical and Aerospace Enginee
 ring\, Nanyang Technological University\, Singapore\nAbstract: Robotic m
 aterials must reconcile two competing requirements: they should be soft en
 ough to deform\, adapt\, and interact safely\, yet strong enough to carry 
 loads and perform useful work. In this talk\, I will present our approach 
 to bridging these regimes by programming material architecture\, connectiv
 ity\, and active response across multiple scales.\nI will first show how g
 eometric and topological design can overcome the trade-off between shape m
 orphing and stiffness. Scale-inspired layered structures combine complex d
 eformation with controllable load-bearing capacity\, while topologically i
 nterlocked fabrics use collective interactions and jamming to transition f
 rom conformable sheets to stiff structures. Active fibers and hierarchical
  tessellations further enable programmable three-dimensional morphing and 
 customized human assistance. I will also introduce granular metamaterials 
 with reconfigurable bonds that assemble\, disassemble\, and rearrange to a
 chieve adaptive mechanical and robotic functions. Finally\, I will discuss
  coaxial direct ink writing as a strategy for embedding conductive pathway
 s\, dielectric insulation\, and actuation directly into three-dimensional 
 structures. The resulting electrostatic fibers and lattices enable program
 mable clutches\, shape morphing\, artificial muscles\, and swimming robots
 . Together\, these studies establish a pathway from soft matter to strong\
 , active\, and adaptive robotic systems.\n\nBiography: Dr. Yifan Wang is 
 an Associate Professor in the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineeri
 ng at Nanyang Technological University\, Singapore\, where he leads the Ro
 botic Materials Group. He received his PhD in soft matter physics from the
  University of Chicago in 2016 and his BS in physics from Peking Universit
 y in 2011. Before joining NTU in 2020\, he was a postdoctoral fellow in th
 e Department of Mechanical and Civil Engineering at the California Institu
 te of Technology. Professor Wang’s research integrates applied physics\,
  mechanics\, materials science\, and advanced manufacturing to develop ada
 ptive robotic materials\, soft robotic systems\, and human–machine inter
 faces. His work has appeared in leading journals\, including Nature\, Scie
 nce Robotics\, Science Advances\, Advanced Materials\, Physical Review Let
 ters\, Matter\, and Nature Communications. He serves as an Associate Edito
 r of Mechanics of Materials. His honors include the Healthy Longevity Glob
 al Grand Challenge Catalyst Award\, the Nanyang Assistant Professorship\, 
 and the Grainger Foundation Graduate Fellowship in Experimental Physics.
LOCATION:MED 0 1418 https://plan.epfl.ch/?room==MED%200%201418 https://epf
 l.zoom.us/j/61360740951
STATUS:CONFIRMED
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