Session Chairs: Hani Naguib, Univ. of Toronto (Canada) and Asha Hall, DEVCOM Army Research Lab. (United States)

8:15 AM - 8:20 AM:
Welcome and opening remarks

8:20 AM - 8:30 AM:

• 2024 SSM Lifetime Achievement Award presented to Steven F. Griffin, Boeing LTS Inc. (United States)
• 2024 NDE Lifetime Achievement Award presented to Michael D. Todd, Univ. of California, San Diego (United States)

 

8:30 AM - 9:15 AM:
Acoustic and mechanical metamaterials for energy and sensing applications and beyond

Miso Kim Sungkyunkwan Univ. (Korea, Republic of)

Metamaterials are artificially engineered structures that can exhibit unconventional properties not easily observed in nature. These unique architectures offer a robust platform for manipulating acoustic or elastic wave properties for energy localization and focusing, thus broadening their potential applications in energy harvesting and sensing. I will provide a comprehensive overview of the latest breakthroughs in the design of phononic crystals and acoustic metamaterials. These advancements promise a substantial enhancement in energy harvesting performance when these materials are integrated with piezoelectric components. In addition to wave-based metamaterials, I will summarize our recent advances in vibration energy harvesting, sensing, and energy absorption applications, facilitated by the exciting field of mechanical metamaterials. These materials feature meta-atoms that respond to external stimuli, collectively displaying extraordinary material properties like negative stiffness, Poisson's ratio, and multistability. Notably, these architectures are not constrained by dynamic wavelength dependence, offering broader design opportunities across multiple scales.

Miso Kim is an assistant professor at the School of Advanced Materials Science and Engineering (AMSE) at Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU). She received her undergraduate degree in Materials Science and Engineering from Seoul National University, South Korea (2004). She received her M.S. (2007) and Ph.D. degrees (2012) in Materials Science and Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She was a senior research scientist at the Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS) from 2012 till Feb. 2021. She recently joined the School of AMSE at SKKU in February 2021 as a faculty member. Her primary research interests cover eco-friendly piezoelectric materials, acoustic and mechanical metamaterials, and 3D printing and additive manufacturing, including electrospinning and digital light processing, all topics targeted for but not limited to energy harvesting and self-powered sensing applications.

 

9:15 AM - 10:00 AM:
Soft actuators for wearable robotics

Herbert Shea Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (Switzerland)

Fabric-based exosuits, for VR body haptics or to generate muscular assistance, require compliant, efficient, fast, lightweight yet high-force actuators. Much prior work has focused on pneumatic principles, an effective solution, but that needs an external pump or compressor. I will present several electrically-driven fiber-format flexible actuators developed in my lab. Making actuators shaped like fibers is key to their integration in active textiles. Our devices operate on electrostatic principles, which offers high energy density and high efficiency. I report fiber-format pumps, 2 mm in diameter and several meters in length, that generate fluid flow with no moving parts, and can be woven into fabrics, allowing both thermal management and shape change. I also report fiber-shaped electrostatic sliding stepper motors, 4 mm in diameter, that serve as long thin muscles to power gloves for VR and back-support exoskeletons. I will discuss open challenges and opportunities in making active wearables.

Herb Shea is a professor of mechanical engineering at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland, where he leads the Soft Transducers Lab (EPFL-LMTS). He holds a PhD in physics from Harvard University (1997). His research is centered on electrically-driven elastomer-based actuators for wearables, haptics and soft robotics.

 

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Event Details

FORMAT: General session with live audience Q&A to follow each presentation.
MENU: Coffee, decaf, and tea will be available outside presentation room.
SETUP: Theater style seating.

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