Our group focuses on the co-development of material chemistries and advanced manufacturing to build soft, highly deformable machines for wearable and robotic applications. To date, most soft devices are of limited complexity and functional density which limits performance and utility. We seek to create a step-function change in the capabilities of such devices by creating new (1) soft-multifunctional matter (e.g. autonomous materials and embodied intelligence) and (2) overcoming limitations in heterogeneous (e.g. soft-stiff) integration. Additionally, we seek to (3) consider the entire life-cycle of these technologies and develop strategies for stability during operation and reprocessibility after use.
Our ultimate goal is to build and develop impactful technologies that address societal issues. While individual projects will vary, persistent themes in the group are photo/orthogonal chemistries and light-based 3D printing (stereolithography [SLA], volumetric additive manufacturing [VAM]) due to the high spatio-temporal resolution of light and the potential to rapidly scale these advances commercially.