By Jack Boden
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
The Editorial Board of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) has selected a paper by researchers from NC State University’s Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering as one of six papers published by PNAS in 2022 to receive the prestigious Cozzarelli Prize.
Researchers at MAE’s Yin Lab and the University of Pennsylvania’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering published their award-winning paper, titled “Twisting for soft intelligent autonomous robot in unstructured environments,” was published in the May 23, 2022 issue of PNAS.
“We report twisting soft robots with embodied physical intelligence for adaptive, intelligent autonomous locomotion in various unstructured environments, without on-board or external controls and human interventions, the abstract states. “The soft robots are constructed of twisted thermal-responsive liquid crystal elastomer ribbons with a straight centerline. They can harvest thermal energy from environments to roll on outdoor hard surfaces and challenging granular substrates without slip, including ascending loose sandy slopes, crossing sand ripples, escaping from burying sand, and crossing rocks with additional camouflaging features.”
“These soft robots demonstrate a concept called ‘physical intelligence,’ meaning that structural design and smart materials are what allow the soft robot to navigate various situations, as opposed to computational intelligence,” corresponding author and MAE associate professor Jie Yin said to NC State News when the paper was published.
Along with Yin, authors of the paper include MAE postdoctoral researcher Yao Zhao; MAE doctoral students Yinding Chi, Yaoye Hong and Yanbin Li; and Dr. Shu Yang, Department Chair at the University of Pennsylvania’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering.
The Cozzarelli Prize recognizes outstanding contributions to the scientific disciplines represented by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). Papers were chosen from more than 3,200 research articles that appeared in the journal last year and represent the six broadly defined classes under which the NAS is organized.Those classes are Physical and Mathematical Sciences; Biological Sciences; Engineering and Applied Sciences; Biomedical Sciences, Behavioral and Social Sciences; and Applied Biological, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences. The aforementioned paper was selected winner in the Engineering and Applied Sciences class.
The Editorial Board recognized six additional papers—one in each class—as finalists for the 2022 Cozzarelli Prize.
The annual Cozzarelli Prize acknowledges papers that reflect scientific excellence and originality. The award was established in 2005 as the Paper of the Year Prize and was renamed in 2007 to honor late PNAS Editor-in-Chief Nicholas R. Cozzarelli. The 2022 awardees will be recognized at an awards ceremony during the NAS Annual Meeting in April 2023.
This post was originally published in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.
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