Bioinspired Robotic Matter

Welcome to visit Dr. Hongbin Fang’s research at the Institute of AI and Robotics, Fudan University.

 

Our missions are to resolve long-standing problems and to create new opportunities for advancements in the fields of robotics. We focus on the design, fabrication and fundamental understanding of various robots that are capable of autonomously altering their configurations and properties in response to environmental variations and external stimuli.  To achieve this goal, we take inspirations from various examples in nature and art, such as the earthworms that possess excellent locomotion capabilities in various environments, and the rich topologies in origami paper folding. Lessons from these examples guide us to design novel materials and robots with tunable exceptional properties via the integrations of structure, metamaterials, and dynamic analysis.  This line of research uniquely explores the intricate relationships among geometries, mechanics, and functionalities, providing new and exciting innovations in the design of bio-inspired robots with unconventional reconfigurability, programmable and adaptive performance.