Haitao Qing
Postdoc Fellow
Soft Robotics, Mechanical Intelligence, Shape Morphing Structures
haitao.qing@berkeley.edu
About
Haitao Qing is a postdoctoral research associate specializing in mechanically intelligent soft robotics, shape morphing structures, and functional actuators and materials. If you’re interested in his work, please check his Google Scholar Page.
Before joining the Morphing Matter Lab, he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Hanyang University, South Korea and his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from North Carolina State University.
IROS 2026 Workshop: Mechanically Intelligent Soft Robotics
2026/10/01 Pittsburgh, David L. Lawrence Convention Center
Traditional rigid robotics is largely built upon a controller-centric architecture, fundamentally separating sensing, computation, and actuation into distinct components. However, soft robots approach unstructured environments differently; they excel at safe, adaptive interactions by embedding intelligence directly into the physical body of the robot itself. By transitioning away from siloed electronic components, these systems simplify the overall system architecture while simultaneously driving improvements in robustness, adaptability, and autonomy.
We define Mechanical Intelligence in soft robots as enabling soft robots to sense, adapt, and make decisions by leveraging their inherent physical structure and mechanics. By embedding sensing, regulation, and decision-like behaviors directly into physical interactions, and transforming environmental inputs into coordinated motion and state transitions, mechanical intelligence minimizes reliance on computationally heavy processing and complex feedback loops. This paradigm is rapidly advancing through recent developments in bio-inspired design, fluidic oscillators, mono-/bi-/multi-stability, and mechanical logic gates.
This workshop brings together the soft robotics community with experts in mechanics, structures, and design to explore the emerging field of mechanically intelligent soft robotics. We will highlight state-of-the-art advancements, pinpoint grand challenges and evaluation metrics, and forge cross-disciplinary pathways. Ultimately, the workshop seeks to catalyze new interdisciplinary collaborations and advance the development of robotic systems that integrate mechanical intelligence.
