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Current Research

I work on refining the design and fabrication method of the Leafout origami structure in the Laboratory for Engineered Materials and Structures (LEMS) at the University of Washington. I help gather empirical results to substantiate the findings from my lab mentor's simulation testing. By creating prototype Leafout structures that replicate our simulation results, we can validate the accuracy of the data we collect on the Project Chrono physics engine. This has allowed us to apply various machine learning techniques to the Leafout in order to determine optimized folding patterns. This research aims to prove the impact that structurally efficient designs can have on energy efficiency in the field of robotics through a utilization of rigid origami structures. 

Photographed above is myself and Hiromi Yasuda in the UW's LEMS

Research Interests

Many research labs are funded for being at the forefront of creating and supplying new technologies, with research that is often focused

on making devices more small, efficient, or economical. To better assimilate myself into all

three of these innovative spheres, I honed my research interests on creating more energy

efficient robotics by utilizing more structurally efficient systems that take advantage of

kinematic properties. I am interested in pursuing nanoscale actuators tailored to initiate small amplitude stimuli on bi-stable structures

with maximized energy wells. To do this I hope

to accumulate technical training from multiple fields in order to bolster my interdisciplinary

understanding of robotics, a skillset that will help me bridge interconnected postulates in the field of energy efficiency into a single, innovative system.

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Photographed above is myself and Rajesh Chaunsali in the Launchpad at QUT, Australia

EDUCATION

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Energy Efficient Robotic Structures

https://faculty.washington.edu/jkyang/overview.html 

2017 - Current

University of Washington

Electrical Engineering, Concentration: controls

Minor: Mathematics

Bio-inspired Origami with Micro-

electromechanical Actuators

http://mechanicaldesign.asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/article.aspx?articleid=2464662 

Summer 2018

Queensland University of Technology

Aeronautics & Astronautics Design of Novel Materials and Structures

2016 - 2017

University of Utah

Laboratory for Engineered Materials and Structures (LEMS)

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