BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Memento EPFL//
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:MechE Colloquium: Softer Faster Better Stronger: Elastomer Actuato
 rs
DTSTART:20201215T121500
DTEND:20201215T131500
DTSTAMP:20260531T185927Z
UID:e6038998a11b7dc5b507f75a956f01935ced05cc93dd82b11d88cbc6
CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars
DESCRIPTION:Prof. Herbert Shea\, Soft Transducers Laboratory\, EPFL School
  of Engineering (STI)\, Institute of Microengineering (IMT)\nAbstract:\nOu
 r research at EPFL-LMTS centers on mm- to cm-scale elastomer-based actuato
 rs driven by electrostatic forces. Using examples from our work in soft ro
 botics and wearable haptics\, I will illustrate how we have addressed seve
 ral key limitations of directly electrically-driven soft actuators\, inclu
 ding obtaining high forces (16 N holding force from a 1 g device)\, high s
 peeds (5 kHz)\, complex motion\, and reducing drive voltage to 300 V\, a l
 evel at which we can use SMD components for very compact control electroni
 cs. This enabled us to make fast untethered soft robots\, robust yet sub-m
 m thick wearable haptic interfaces\, high-force textile clutches for VR gl
 oves\, and compliant grippers able to delicately manipulate fruit and vege
 tables. Our ongoing work is aimed at embedding intelligence into these sof
 t machines.\n\nBio:\nHerb Shea is a professor at the École Polytechnique 
 Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)\, where he leads the Soft Transducers Lab (E
 PFL-LMTS). His research is centered on elastomer-based actuators for weara
 ble haptics and for soft robotics. He is the president of the EuroEAP Soci
 ety since 2018. Herb holds a PhD in physics from Harvard University (1997)
 \, and worked for 7 years at IBM Research and Bell Labs prior to joining E
 PFL in 2004.
LOCATION:Zoom https://epfl.zoom.us/s/87688979401
STATUS:CONFIRMED
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR