Welcome to Smart Robotics Lab!
Mechanical Engineering
University of Nevada, Reno
Smart Robotics Lab is directed by Dr. Jun Zhang and located at the University of Nevada Reno's Mechanical Engineering department. Smart Robotics Lab's current research is mainly focused on smart material and artificial muscle technologies and applying them to biomimetic robots, soft robots, and assistive robots.
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Opportunities: Undergraduate students and master students currently at the University of Nevada, Reno are encouraged to contact Dr. Zhang for potential Research Assistantship opportunities. We are interested in undergraduates who can dedicate 12+ hours per week on projects for at least 2 semesters or the whole summer. Please attach your CV, transcripts, and a statement about your interests. |
What's New?
2021
- 01/2020: One paper on nonlinear modeling and control of artificial muscles is accepted for presentation by the 2021 American Control Conference (ACC)
- 01/2021: One RAL papers accepted on characterization and modeling of the self-sensing property of compliant twisted string actuators. This work is also chosen for presentation at RoboSoft'21
2020
- 10/2020: One paper on the design and characterization of a compliant twisted string actuator is accepted by the journal of Soft Robotics
- 07/2020: One RAL papers accepted on reinforcement learning in multiple-robot systems for predator avoidance
- 06/2020: Funding: Project entitled "
Advanced Manufacturing and Characterization of Self-coiled Polymer Muscles with Application to Wearable Resistive Exo-gloves" is funded by Nevada NASA Space Grant Consortium. Y. Jin (PI), J. Zhang (Co-PI). Total Award Amount: $52,784. - 05/2020: Funding: Project entitled "Enhancing system dynamics, control, and robotics education and research with robot manipulators" is funded by UNR College of Engineering Differential Fee Committee. J. Zhang (PI). Total Award Amount: $54,000.
- 03/2020: David is offered the prestigious UNR Graduate Dean's Merit Scholarship, starting Fall 2020, congratulations!
- 02/2020: Two RAL papers accepted, one on modeling of robotic artificial muscles, the other on force sensing. One is chosen for presentation at ICRA'20, the other at RoboSoft'20
- 02/2020: Dr. Zhang is invited to be Associate Editors for IEEE International Conference on Decision and Control and IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RAL)
- 01/2020: One paper on assistive robotic glove is accepted for presentation by the 2020 IEEE International Symposium on Medical Robotics (ISMR)
- 01/2020: One paper on design of artificial muscles are accepted for presentation by the 2020 IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft)
- 01/2020: One paper on design of robotic artificial muscles are accepted for presentation by the 2020 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)
2019
- 2019: Dr. Zhang was invited to serve on a proposal review panel for NSF
- 12/2019: Our paper on nonlinear modeling of robotic artificial muscles is accepted by the Proceedings of the SPIE Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices (EAPAD) Conference
- 07/2019: Funding: Project entitled "An Artificial Muscle-powered Versatile Robotic Grasper" is funded by Nevada NASA Space Grant Consortium. J. Zhang (PI), H. La (Co-PI). Total Award Amount: $49,000.
- 06/2019: Our paper on Modeling of Supercoiled Polymer (SCP) Artificial Muscles is accepted by the Proceedings of the ASME Dynamic Systems and Control Conference (DSCC'19)
- 05/2019: Our paper on Self-Sensing for Twisted String Actuators is accepted by the Proceedings of the ASME Conference on Smart Materials, Adaptive Structures and Intelligent Systems (SMASIS'19)
- 05/2019: Our survey paper on robotic artificial muscles is published by IEEE Transactions on Robotics
- 03/2019: Funding: Project entitled "REU Site: Biomimetic and Soft Robotics (BioSoRo): from Biological Inspirations to Engineered Mechanisms" is funded by National Science Foundation. Y. Shen (Co-PI), J. Hoy (Co-PI), P. Menezes (SP), M. Aureli (SP), J. Zhang (SP), H. Xu (SP), D. Mathew (SP). Total Award Amount: $491,713.
- 03/2019: Prof. Ankur Mehta from UCLA visited our group
2018
- 2018: Dr. Zhang was invited to serve on a proposal review panel for NSF
- 11/2018: Prof. Santosh Devasia from the University of Washington visited our group, welcome!
- 08/2018: Smart Robotics Lab at the University of Nevada, Reno was founded and directed by Dr. Zhang.