Kevin Y. Chen, Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science at MIT and Principal Investigator of the Soft and Micro Robotics Laboratory at RLE has received the Toshio Fukuda Young Professional Award at the IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS). The award recognizes Chen’s pioneering contributions to multimodal dynamic insect-scale robots and soft-actuated aerial robots.
At MIT, Chen leads his lab with the goal of developing microscale robotic systems that demonstrate insect-like locomotive capabilities in aerial, aquatic and terrestrial settings. Their research pursues three main thrusts: (1) the development of high-bandwidth and robust soft actuators and active materials for locomotion and manipulation; (2) the investigation and application of physical phenomena at the millimetre scale (such as surface tension, fluid-structure interaction, friction and electrostatics) in designing multifunctional robots; and (3) the creation of design and fabrication tools suitable for rapid prototyping of hybrid soft-rigid robots.
Chen’s group has achieved several notable research milestones that underscore the scope and impact of their work:
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The development of a sub-gram hopping and flying microrobot that can traverse challenging terrains including grass, ice and even a floating lotus leaf — achieved by combining flapping-wing lift with a passive elastic leg for hopping.
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The creation of a new generation of flapping-wing micro-aerial robots driven by soft artificial muscles — capable of hover times exceeding 1000 seconds, performing somersaults in 0.16 s, and precisely tracking challenging trajectories.
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The demonstration of damage-resilient soft actuators for aerial robots — where actuators can be pierced repeatedly and then “repaired” via laser-assisted recovery — opening the door to operation in harsh environments.
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Recognition of their work at the institutional and media level: for example, their insect-scale aerial robots were featured in MIT’s “Top 10 Research Stories of 2022” and in broader media outlets like CNN Tech of Good.
By leveraging soft-materials, advanced actuation methods and microscale design principles, Chen’s research is laying the groundwork for small-scale robotic systems that could one day perform inspection, surgical operations or environmental monitoring in places inaccessible to larger machines.
The IROS Young Professional Award highlights Chen’s growing prominence in the robotics community and strengthens MIT’s position at the forefront of next-generation robotic locomotion and manipulation research.