Among the most essential sought-after pursuits in science and engineering are (a) mimicking nature to attain optimal materials properties and (b) achieving the capability to design materials with properties superior to natural systems. My research interest in Architectured materials and soft robotics encompass both pursuits to obtain efficient and scalable material and robotic systems.
The traditional materials do not entirely map the material-property space and are limited in their available properties. The way to overcome this limitation is to explore architectured materials. Architectured materials (also known as mechanical metamaterials) have been gaining a lot of interest in the field of material design for their unique attributes such as light weight, high strength, enhanced energy absorption, high impact, and fracture resistance. However, the architectured material design has been limited due to (i) availability of computationally inexpensive design methodologies that can provide intuitive insights, and (ii) practical and scalable manufacturing techniques.
In the field of robotics, there is broad interest in bioinspired soft robots due to their healthy human-robot interaction and their capability of conforming to a shape. These advantages have led to applications in the field of medical and assistive devices, shape morphing structures, and wearable devices. Mimicking the robustness and conformability of natural systems has been limited due to the lack of synergy between the materials, mechanisms (actuation), and manufacturing.
The traditional materials do not entirely map the material-property space and are limited in their available properties. The way to overcome this limitation is to explore architectured materials. Architectured materials (also known as mechanical metamaterials) have been gaining a lot of interest in the field of material design for their unique attributes such as light weight, high strength, enhanced energy absorption, high impact, and fracture resistance. However, the architectured material design has been limited due to (i) availability of computationally inexpensive design methodologies that can provide intuitive insights, and (ii) practical and scalable manufacturing techniques.
In the field of robotics, there is broad interest in bioinspired soft robots due to their healthy human-robot interaction and their capability of conforming to a shape. These advantages have led to applications in the field of medical and assistive devices, shape morphing structures, and wearable devices. Mimicking the robustness and conformability of natural systems has been limited due to the lack of synergy between the materials, mechanisms (actuation), and manufacturing.
Soft Robotics
Mechanical Metamaterials
Compliant Mechanisms
Aerial Robots
