Haitao Qing

Dec 10, 2024 | newatlas.com | Ben Coxworth |Haitao Qing

It was just two years ago that a tiny robotic manta ray became the world's fastest-swimming soft-bodied robot. Well, one of its descendants has now smashed that record – and it uses less energy than its predecessor, to boot. The 22.8-mm-long original robot was designed by Assoc. Prof. Jie Yin and colleagues at North Carolina State University. It featured two flexible polyester manta-ray-like wings, which were actually the left- and right-hand ends of a single curved bistable structure.

Dec 4, 2024 | science.org | Mohammad Asghari |Melica Nourmoussavi Brodeur |Horacio Maldonado |Haitao Qing

AbstractManta rays use wing-like pectoral fins for intriguing oscillatory swimming. It provides rich inspiration for designing potentially fast, efficient, and maneuverable soft swimming robots, which, however, have yet to be realized. It remains a grand challenge to combine fast speed, high efficiency, and high maneuverability in a single soft swimmer while using simple actuation and control.

Sep 29, 2024 | nature.com | Haitao Qing |Jie Yin

A miniature hydrogel launcher inspired by the squirting cucumber achieves record-high jumping height through water evaporation and fracture-driven power amplification.