ICON Seminar in Robotics: Prof. Yufeng (Kevin) Chen (MIT)
| Event Date: | January 31, 2025 |
|---|---|
| Speaker: | Yufeng (Kevin) Chen |
| Time: | 3:00-4:00 pm |
| Priority: | No |
| School or Program: | College of Engineering |
| College Calendar: | Show |
Time: 3-4 pm Eastern Time, Jan 31 (Friday), 2025
Location: MSEE 112
Coffee and snacks will be provide.
Insect-scale Aerial Robots Driven by Soft Artificial Muscles
Abstract:
Flapping-wing flight at the insect-scale is increbly challenging. Insect muscles not only power flight but also absorb in-flight collisional impact, making these tiny flyers simultaneously agile and robust. In contrast, existing aerial robots have not demonstrated these properties. Rigid robots are fragile against collisions, while soft-driven systems suffer limited speed, precision, and controllability. In this talk, I will describe our effort in developing a new class of bio- inspired micro-flyers, ones that are powered by high bandwidth soft actuators and equipped with rigid appendages. We constructed the first heavier-than-air aerial robot powered by soft artificial muscles, which can demonstrate a 1000-second hovering flight. In addition, our robot can recover from in-flight collisions and perform somersaults within 0.10 seconds. This work demonstrates for the first time that soft aerial robots can achieve agile and robust flight capabilities absent in rigid-powered micro-aerial vehicles, thus showing the potential of a new class of hybrid soft-rigid robots. I will also discuss our recent progress in incorporating onboard sensors, electronics, and batteries.
Speaker:
Yufeng (Kevin) Chen is an associate professor at the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, MIT, USA. He received his PhD in Engineering Sciences at Harvard University in 2017 and his bachelor’s degree in Applied and Engineering Physics from Cornell University in 2012. His research interests include high bandwidth soft actuators, microrobotics, and aerial robotics. He has published in top journals including Nature, Science Robotics, Advanced Materials, PNAS, Nature Communications, IEEE TRO, and Journal of Fluid Mechanics. He is a recipient of the Steven Vogel Young Investigator Award, the NSF CAREER Award, the Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award, multiple best paper awards (TRO 21, RAL 20, IROS 15), and the Ruth and Joel Spira Teaching Excellence Award.
Organizers: Ziran Wang (ziran@purdue.edu), Nak-seung Patrick Hyun (nhyun@purdue.edu), & Yan Gu (yangu@purdue.edu)
2025-01-31 15:00:00 2025-01-31 16:00:00 America/Indiana/Indianapolis ICON Seminar in Robotics: Prof. Yufeng (Kevin) Chen (MIT) Purdue University Add to Calendar