Speaker
Shuhei Miyashita, Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States
Topic
Universal manufacturing method for synthetic electromechanical devices
Abstract
Nature offers spontaneous assembly methods to construct functional 3D compounds through molecular synthesis. Reproduction of this marvelous capability at alternative scales opens possibilities for a universal and rapid manufacturing method of functional and miniature electromechanical devices. Microscale, where it is believed that top-down engineering approach meets bottom-up biology approach, however, is actually the world where neither of the approaches offers a sufficient set of exploratory tools. The engineering challenges here are how to recreate the conditions that biomolecules experience at non-molecular scales, and how to coordinate the large degrees of freedom in a distributed manner. In this talk, aiming at rapid, efficient, and versatile miniature units composition methods at unreachable sites, we will introduce two bio-inspired synthetic approaches, self-assembly and origami-inspired self-folding. We will first outline the fundamental bottlenecks in self-assembly, and propose methods to address them. We will then introduce self-folding techniques and show a spontaneous fabrication of an actuatable robot developed with a layered planar fabrication technique. During this presentation, I will highlight the potential applications in synthetic manufacturing, advanced materials, and biomedical engineering.
Speaker's biography
Shuhei Miyashita is a postdoctoral associate in the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Prior to joining MIT, he was a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Carnegie Mellon University. He received his PhD in Informatics from University of Zurich. His research pursuit has been focused on a formal understanding of artificial compounds synthesis in non-molecular domains, seeking novel manufacturing methods for elecromechanical devices.
Invited by the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering