Embodying
complex behaviors,
such as autonomy,
in soft matter through
mechanical and fluidic
nonlinearities.

My research revolves around soft robotics and soft matter—machines and materials that display intricate and exciting physics when they deform. In particular, I study elastic solids and fluids that change shape in a nonlinear, dynamical, yet coordinated fashion, via mechanical and fluid instabilities.

These properties, at the levels of material and structure, lead to rich emergent behaviors for functional applications, such as brainless yet autonomous and adaptive machines.

Such systems operate less like conventional machines governed by centralized controllers, and more like natural organisms whose intelligence is embodied in their physical structure.