RI Seminar: Yong-Lae Park : Bio-Inspired Soft Robotics: New Ways of Sensing and Actuation

Bio-Inspired Soft Robotics: New Ways of Sensing and Actuation
Yong-Lae Park
Assistant Professor, Carnegie Mellon, Robotics Institute

September 19, 2014

Abstract
Innovation in sensing and actuation technologies is extremely important for future robots with human-like or human-involved applications, such as wearable robotics, rehabilitation robotics, surgical robotics, humanoids, haptics, tele-robotics where close interactions between human and machines are critical.

This talk will describe the novel design and manufacturing processes for developing smart robotic structures with soft materials, and examples of robotic systems integrated with soft sensors and actuators, focusing on three specific areas: artificial skin sensors, artificial muscle actuators, and soft robots for human assistance and rehabilitation. Advanced manufacturing technologies for building multi-material and multi-functional 3-D soft smart composite microstructures will be also discussed during the talk.

Speaker Biography
Yong-Lae Park is an Assistant Professor in the Robotics Institute and the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). Prior to joining CMU in 2013, Prof. Park completed his Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University, in 2010, and conducted postdoctoral research in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University. He is founder of the CMU Soft Robotics and Bionics Laboratory. His current research interests include artificial skins and muscles, soft robots, wearable devices and robots, and smart structures and materials. He is the winner of the Best Paper Award from the IEEE Sensors Journal, in 2013, a NASA Tech Brief Award from the NASA Johnson Space Center, in 2012, and a Technology Development Fellowship for independent postdoctoral research from the Wyss Institute at Harvard University, in 2010. His recent paper on soft artificial skin was selected as a cover article of the IEEE Sensors Journal, and his work on soft wearable robots was recently featured in Discovery News and New Scientist.