Department of Mechanical Engineering Fall Virtual Seminar Series: Kristen Dorsey

Description

Kristen Dorsey, an assistant professor of engineering at Smith College, will give a talk entitled "Soft, Shape, Sense: Fabricating Hierarchically-Patterned Soft Mechanical Sensors" for the Department of Mechanical Engineering Fall Virtual Seminar Series.

Abstract:

Physically-soft mechanical sensors are poised to unlock exciting new applications in wearable devices, robotics, and human-machine interfaces. This interdisciplinary area borrows from materials science, mechanical engineering, and electrical engineering to realize physically soft sensors that can measure deformations such as strain, torsion, and pressure. A promising development in soft mechanical sensors is hierarchically-patterned structures within the sensor, which enables both deformation selectivity and the ability to tune sensing properties.

I will discuss work and challenges related to fabricating hierarchically-patterned sensors. I will also present work in enhancing the selectivity of stretchable sensors, towards tuning a wearable sensor for measuring human body motions and using origami patterns to improve mechanical selectivity between pressure and strain.