Renee Zhao: Multifunctional Origami Robots for Medical Applications
Friday, February 28, 2025 11am to 12pm
About this Event
29 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
Renee Zhao, Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University
Abstract:
Millimeter-scale origami robots hold great promise for biomedical applications due to their remarkable shape-morphing capabilities. In this talk, I will present our recent advancements in millimeter-sized origami robots designed for medical applications. These robots leverage their thin-shell structures to enable a range of functionalities: 1) Providing internal cavities for drug storage; 2) Utilizing torsion-induced contraction as a pumping mechanism for controlled liquid medicine dispensing; 3) Acting as propellers that spin for propulsion to swim, exemplified by a device we call the milli-spinner.
As an example, I will highlight our recent development of the magnetic milli-spinner as a mechanical thrombectomy technology for treating acute ischemic stroke and brain aneurysms. The milli-spinner can easily navigate in complex and highly torturous vasculature, mechanically debulk and extract blood clots by significantly densifying the fibrin network, achieving a clot volume reduction to less than 10% of its initial size. This new clot debulking mechanism has demonstrated exceptional efficacy in both in vitro and in vivo pig studies.
In the second part of my talk, I will briefly explore how structural instability can be harnessed to create new functional origami designs for a variety of engineering applications.
Bio:
Renee Zhao is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University, where she is also a Terman Faculty Fellow and Gabilan Faculty Fellow. She earned her Ph.D. in Solid Mechanics from Brown University and completed her postdoctoral training at MIT. Renee's research focuses on designing stimuli-responsive composites and shape-morphing mechanisms for multifunctional robotic systems. Renee has been awarded the NSF CAREER Award, AFOSR Young Investigator Program (YIP) Award, and ARO Early Career Program (ECP) Award. She is also recognized as a National Academy of Sciences Kavli Fellow and was named one of MIT Technology Review's 35 Innovators Under 35.
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