Event Date
Novel Twisted String Artificial Muscles for Compliant, Compact, and Dexterous Robots
Dr. Jun Zhang, University of Nevada, Reno
Bio
Jun Zhang is an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Nevada, Reno. His research interests include dynamics, control, and robotics, smart materials, and artificial muscles. He is currently serving as the Vice Chair of the Technical Committee on Mechatronics within the ASME Dynamic System & Control Division, and the Invited and Special Sessions Chair of the 2026 Modeling, Estimation, and Control Conference.
Abstract
To make robots more ubiquitous, it is highly desirable but challenging to develop compliant, compact, and dexterous robots. Artificial muscles belong to an important class of compliant actuators. Artificial muscle-powered robots have demonstrated many unconventional robot functions. Despite the strong promise of artificial muscles, however, compliant, compact, and dexterous robots are still difficult to realize. Artificial muscles often exhibit complex material properties and poor performance in one or more key aspects. Twisted string actuators (TSAs) overcome many common limitations of existing artificial muscles. However, a conventional TSA is often not considered as an artificial muscle since it consists of a rigid string pair and an electric motor and is predominantly used for actuating rigid robots. Limited studies have been conducted on compliant TSAs with application to compliant robots. In this talk, I will first discuss how to develop compliant, selfsensing, and large-strain TSA artificial muscles by modifying the string materials and actuation strategies. Conventional stiff strings will be replaced by compliant, electrically conductive, and smart material-based strings. The strings will be overtwisted and coiled to produce larger actuation after being fully twisted. I will then present our work on soft robotic grippers and wearable assistive gloves driven by these new twisted string artificial muscles.