Speakers

• Bio: Hugo Rodrigue is currently an Associate Professor at Sungkyunkwan University in South Korea. He is currently serving as Vice President of IEEE RAS Technical Activities Board, and has also served as Co-chair of the TC on Soft Robotics and Program Chair of RoboSoft in 2025. He will be co-Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Transactions in Soft Robotics when it launches in Q4 2026.

Group Website: https://sites.google.com/view/sorolabo/home

• Talk Title: Harnessing synergies in thermo-pneumatic-smart materials-based soft actuators.

Abstract: Conventional soft artificial muscles generally rely on a single actuation mechanism to produce work, which means that a plurality of actuators should be used to produce complex motions and behaviors. Adding a second type of actuator often means simply having a separate energy input for a separate work input into the system. This talks introduces the synergy that can be gained by combining thermally-driven pneumatic actuators together with thermally-driven smart materials to produce different modes of actuation.

• Bio: Dae-Young Lee is an associate professor in the department of aerospace engineering at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). He received his PhD in mechanical engineering from Seoul National University in 2017 for his work on the design and fabrication of variable-diameter wheels based on origami structures. Before joining KAIST, he was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University’s Microrobotics Lab, where he focused on textile-embedded actuators and soft robotic systems. His research group is known for pioneering work in origami engineering and deployable structures that utilize mathematical folding principles to create highly efficient, reconfigurable mechanical systems. Their recent work has expanded to focus on the application of soft robotics in extreme environments, such as developing transformable rover wheels and deployable systems for lunar exploration where adaptability and resilience are paramount.

Group Website: https://arml.kaist.ac.kr/

• Talk Title: Reliability through Softness: A Soft Robotics Approach to Space Exploration

Abstract: In a space system, ensuring system reliability is critical, and this goal is often pursued by minimizing the complexity of sensors and actuators. Although the term "soft" may imply vulnerability, soft robotics offers a paradigm for physical intelligence that can render robots surprisingly robust and resilient compared to traditional rigid systems. By embedding functionality directly within the robot’s morphology, architected soft materials allow for autonomous interaction and adaptation, thereby reducing the need for extensive computational control. This presentation examines how these principles can be applied to space missions, highlighting recent developments such as deployable soft wheels for lunar cave exploration and deployable grippers for orbital debris removal. Through these examples, we will discuss how bridging material-level design with system-level embodiment offers a promising pathway toward robust and adaptive robotic systems for extreme space environments.

• Bio: Jeffrey Lipton Ph.D. is an assistant professor at Northeastern University in the Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Department. Previously he was at the University of Washington in the Mechanical Engineering Department with a courtesy appointment in the Paul G. Allan School of Computer Science and Engineering and a founding Director of the Center for Digital Fabrication. He was a Post Doctoral Associate at the MIT’s CSAIL in the Distributed Robotics Lab under Daniela Rus. He received his BS in Applied and Engineering Physics and PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Cornell. His Ph.D. work was under Hod Lipson in the Creative Machines Lab. His work is currently focused on 3D printing and robotics. His past work on 3D printed foods and 3D printing for the hospitality industry has influenced two of the largest 3D printing companies in America and garnered media attention from the New York Times, BBC, and others. He was the lead developer for the Fab@Home project which supported life science and food science researchers’ 3D printing needs on all six habitable continents.

Personal Website: https://jeffreyianlipton.com/

• Talk Title: Robots with a twist

Abstract: Robot bodies abilities depend on the materials they are made from. Soft robotics has aimed to transform the material basis of robotics by making everything squishy. This has come at the cost of losing motors as a primary actuation source. In this talk we will show how to bridge traditional and soft robotics using metamaterials that respond to torque. I will show how metamaterial robotics allows us to improve how robots can grasp, walk and interact with people while leveraging traditional robotic actuation and control. We will talk about the design pipeline from math, through materials to moving robots with applications in manufacturing.

• Bio: Cynthia Sung is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics (MEAM) and a member of the General Robotics, Automation, Sensing & Perception (GRASP) lab at the University of Pennsylvania. She received a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT in 2016 and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Rice University in 2011. Her research interests are computational methods for robot co-design, with a particular focus on origami-inspired and compliant robots. She is the recipient of a 2024 ARO Early Career Award, 2023 ONR Young Investigator award, and a 2019 NSF CAREER award.

Group Website: https://sung.seas.upenn.edu/

• Talk Title: Origami Robots with Integrated Sensing and Actuation

Abstract:  Soft and compliant robots provide new opportunities for machines that are flexible, adaptable, safe, and robust. Origami-inspired engineering enables custom robots to be designed and fabricated within days, or even hours. These robots are capable of executing a variety of shape-changing tasks by taking advantage of their folded shape and programmable mechanics. I will discuss how we can design origami patterns to produce desired kinematic and compliance specifications, and how we incorporate sensing, actuation, and electronics for fully integrated robots.

• Bio: Xiaoyang Zheng is an assistant professor at the Graduate School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo, Japan. He received his Ph.D. from University of Tsukuba, Japan, in 2023. Following his doctoral studies, he worked at National Institute for Materials Science, Japan, and Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland. His research focuses on materials design using computational simulation, deep learning, and additive manufacturing, with a particular emphasis on mechanical metamaterials and their applications in robtics.

Personal Website: https://sites.google.com/view/xiaoyang-zheng

• Talk Title: Metamaterial Robotics

Abstract: Mechanical metamaterials with customized microstructures are increasingly shaping robotic design and functionality, enabling the integration of sensing, actuation, control, and computation within the robot body. This presentation will talk about how metamaterial design principles—mechanics-inspired architectures, shape-reconfigurable structures, and material-driven functionality—enhance adaptability and distributed intelligence in robotics. It will start with the introduction of the design of metamaterial microstuctures using simulations and generative artificial intelligence (AI). Further, it will discuss how AI supports metamaterial robotics in design, modeling, and control, advancing systems with complex sensory feedback, learning capability, and adaptive physical interactions. Particularly. The presentation will cover not only the research from my team, but aslo related works from other researchers. It aims to inspire the community to explore the transformative potential of metamaterial robotics, fostering innovations that bridge the gap between materials engineering and intelligent robotics.