Haitao Qing

Haitao Qing is currently a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at North Carolina State University. He is expected to defend his Ph.D. dissertation in October 2025. Haitao received his M.S. and B.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Hanyang University in 2021 and 2019, respectively. His research focuses on mechanics-guided design of soft robotics, mechanical metamaterials, and smart functional materials.

Talk Title: Snapping mechanical intelligence in high-performance soft robotics

Snapping leverages rapid elastic instabilities to enhance the unprecedented dynamic performance of soft robots in terms of speed, efficiency, and maneuverability. The mechanical design of soft robots can simplify the required actuation for deformation and motion, as well as enable real-time feedback control-free locomotion and self-adaption. In this talk, I will first talk about a manta ray-inspired monostable soft flapping swimmer that achieves record-high swimming speeds and maneuverability in unstructured underwater environments. I will then introduce a strategy for leveraging delayed snapping in architected metashells to enable programmable, autonomous snapping and jumping after actuation is removed. The delayed time can be tuned from seconds to 2.4 days, with jumping heights ranging from over 9 to 0.5 body lengths. We demonstrate the utility of this mechanism in explosive seed dispersal systems, achieving wide-area, omnidirectional distribution and high post-dispersal survival rates.

Location: Morphing Matter Lab, Etcheverry Hall 5149, 2521 Hearst Ave, Berkeley, CA

Live stream online: https://youtube.com/live/9PQy4DNr3Ko?feature=share