Soft Modular Robots: From Modular Tensegrity Structures to Bioinspired Sea Robots
Abstract: Modular robotic systems enable reconfigurability, reusability, and repair, while soft materials ensure safety, simplicity, and compliance. My research combines these strengths to design soft modular robotic systems for locomotion, manipulation, and structure formation. These systems can explore diverse terrains in terrestrial and marine environments, perform various manipulation tasks—such as carrying objects, functioning as stretchers, or executing non-prehensile manipulation—and, with the assistance of drones, assemble into infrastructure like tents and bridges for outdoor applications. This talk will cover four key projects: (1) tensegrity-inspired soft modular robots; (2) aquatic soft modular robots designed for tasks such as trash collection, forming drone-landing platforms, and snake-like amphibious locomotion; (3) bioinspired designs including dolphin robots; and (4) STEM education kits that enable users to build biomimetic soft robots, such as snakes and starfish.
Bio: Luyang Zhao is a Ph.D. candidate in Computer Science at Dartmouth College, where she is advised by Prof. Devin Balkcom. Her research bridges soft and modular robotics, creating adaptive robotic platforms capable of exploring diverse terrains, performing versatile manipulation tasks, and forming dynamic structures. Luyang’s work integrates tensegrity-inspired designs, bioinspired robotics, and scalable modular systems to address challenges in disaster response, aquatic exploration, and STEM education. Luyang’s research also explores automation and learning, including computational design using large language models, and simulations for optimizing robot performance. Recognized with the Neukom Outstanding Graduate Research Prize, her work has been featured in ACM News, Dartmouth News, and Tech Xplore.