AME Seminar

Speaker: Carmel Majidi, Carnegie Mellon University

Talk Title: Soft-Matter Engineering for Robotics and Wearables

Abstract: Progress in soft lithography and soft materials integration have led to extraordinary new classes of soft-matter sensors, circuits, and transducers. These material technologies are composed almost entirely out of soft matter -“ elastomers, gels, and conductive fluids like liquid metal -“ and represent the building blocks for machines and electronics that are soft, flexible, and stretchable. Because of their intrinsic compliance and elasticity, such devices can be incorporated into soft, biologically-inspired robots or be worn on the body and operate continuously without impairing natural body motion. In this talk, I will review recent contributions from my research group in creating soft multifunctional materials for wearable electronics and soft robotics using these emerging practices in soft-matter engineering. In particular, I will focus on soft robots powered using shape memory materials and soft material architectures for highly stretchable digital electronics, wearable energy harvesting, and electrically-responsive actuation. When possible, I will show how the design and operation of these soft-matter technologies can be guided by theoretical modeling methods based on principles of mechanics and discrete differential geometry. In addition to presenting my own research in the field, I will also briefly review broader efforts and emerging challenges in utilizing soft multifunctional materials for applications in wearable electronics, bioelectronic interfaces, and soft robotics.

Biography: Carmel Majidi is the Clarence H. Adamson Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, where he leads the Soft Machines Lab. His lab is dedicated to the discovery of novel material architectures that allow machines and electronics to be soft, elastically deformable, and biomechanically compatible. Currently, his research is focused on modeling, design, and control of soft robotic systems as well as the developoment of multifunctional materials that exhibit unique combinations of mechanical, electrical, and thermal properties and can function as artificial skin, nervous tissue, and muscle. Carmel has received grants from industry and federal agencies along with early career awards from DARPA, ONR, AFOSR, and NASA to explore challenges in soft-matter engineering and robotics. Prior to arriving at CMU, Prof. Majidi had postdoctoral appointments at Harvard and Princeton Universities and received his PhD in Electrical Engineering at UC Berkeley.

Host: AME Department

More Info: https://ame.usc.edu/seminars/

Webcast: https://usc.zoom.us/j/98121141178?pwd=VGEyaXVWYnRaazFYWUVhbVAycGVWQT09 Meeting ID: 981 2114 1178 Passcode: NhXrDOqQU8

Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 202

WebCast Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/98121141178?pwd=VGEyaXVWYnRaazFYWUVhbVAycGVWQT09 Meeting ID: 981 2114 1178 Passcode: NhXrDOqQU8

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Tessa Yao

Event Link: https://ame.usc.edu/seminars/