Monte and Usha Ahuja Distinguished Lecture Series: Engineering Soft Robotics

"Soft Robotics for Controlled Interaction with the World"

As robots move beyond manufacturing applications to less predictable environments, they benefit from integrating sensing and control with passive properties provided by particular combinations and arrangements of materials and mechanisms. Many structures and mechanisms in nature are selectively soft, dependent upon how they are loaded. Bioinspired mobile robots with similarly tuned materials and mechanisms can benefit from energy storage and recovery, physical robustness, and decreased response time to sudden events when interacting with objects and surfaces in the environment.

Mark Cutkosky
Fletcher Jones Chair, School of Engineering
Stanford University

Mark Cutkosky’s expertise focuses on robotic manipulation and tactile sensing, and the design and fabrication of biologically inspired robots. He consults with companies on robotics and human/computer interaction devices and holds several patents for related technologies. Cutkosky’s honors include a Fulbright Faculty Chair, NSF Presidential Young Investigator Award and the Times Magazine Best Innovations for the Stickybot gecko-inspired robot. He is a fellow of ASME and IEEE and a member of Sigma Xi.

The Monte and Usha Ahuja Distinguished Lecture Series aims to attract highly accomplished and illustrious individuals, as well as those on their way to national and international renown. In addition to showcasing the work of current experts in the engineering field, this lecture series will inspire Ohio State students to achieve excellence and eminence in their own future careers in government, industry and academia.