Dongsheng Chen Defends Dissertation on Jet-Propelled Soft Robotics News / July 20, 2026 Beginning his Ph.D. during the COVID-19 pandemic, Chen developed new motion control strategies for jet-propelled soft robots, advancing underwater robotics while discovering the value of pursuing research driven by passion. Read More
Dancing Through Life: From Origami Robotics to Sculptural Art News / June 2, 2026 An artist-in-residence collaboration between Penn’s Sung Robotics Lab and The Arts League of Philadelphia shows how origami-inspired robotics can transform contemporary art, resulting in kinetic sculptures that blur the boundaries between engineering, creativity, and public engagement. Read More
Helping Robots Work Together to Explore the Moon and Mars News / September 29, 2025 In early August, the crisp dawn sky above White Sands National Park glows faintly blue, gradually brightening as streaks of marigold and soft pink pierce the clouds with the rising sun. But although the powder-white sand of the 30-foot gypsum dunes is cool at dawn, air temperatures become blistering hot... Read More
Stentix Wins 2025 Y-Prize Competition News / February 26, 2025 This year’s Y-Prize competition winner is an ambitious team of undergraduates aiming to bring Penn-developed technology to patients suffering with bile duct obstructions. Their proposed product, Stentix, has been awarded $10,000 to get this work off the ground with preliminary research and prototype design throughout the next five years. The Y-Prize, a... Read More
Cynthia Sung Receives Army Early Career Award to Make Robots Move Like Animals News / June 17, 2024 Inspired by the variety of muscles that control movement in animals, Cynthia Sung, Gabel Family Term Assistant Professor in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics (MEAM) at Penn Engineering, aims to advance movement and stiffness control in today’s robots to make future robotic platforms more adaptable and efficient. Her project, “Multiscale Actuation and Control for... Read More
Cynthia Sung On How We Can Increase Girls’ Participation in Engineering and Robotics News / June 4, 2024 Despite the growing importance of engineering and robotics in shaping our future, women remain significantly underrepresented in these fields. This series aims to explore and address the barriers that discourage girls from pursuing careers in engineering and robotics. We are talking to educators, industry leaders, pioneering women engineers, and robotics... Read More
Teaching Doglike Robots to Walk on the Moon’s Dusty, Icy Surface News / April 18, 2024 At an elevation of around 6,000 feet near Mount Hood, located roughly 70 miles east of Portland, an interdisciplinary team comprising members from the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Southern California, Texas A&M University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Oregon State University, Temple University, and NASA, embarked on a field mission. The group of engineers, cognitive... Read More
‘Kinegami’ Paper receives Honorable Mention for 2023 TRO Best Paper Award News / April 15, 2024 Congratulations to Wei-Hsi Chen, ESE PhD ’13 and postdoctoral researcher in Electrical and Systems Engineering (ESE) and the Sung Robotics Lab, Woohyeok Yang, MEAM MSE ’21, and Lucien Peach, Robotics MSE ’23, for receiving honorable mention for the 2023 IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) Transactions on Robotics (TRO) King-Sun Fu Memorial... Read More
Penn Receives $2 Million NASA Grant for TRUSSES Project to Study Lunar Robotics News / November 28, 2023 The University of Pennsylvania has been awarded a $2 million grant from NASA to conduct groundbreaking research on lunar robotics. The TRUSSES Project: Temporarily, Robots Unite to Surmount Sandy Entrapments, then Separate, led by Cynthia Sung, Gabel Family Term Assistant Professor in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics (MEAM) at Penn Engineering, aims to develop innovative methods for teams of robots... Read More
A Centimeter-Scale Quadruped Leverages Curved-Crease Origami News / October 25, 2023 (Photo: Sung Lab) Centimeter-scale walking and crawling robots are in demand both for their ability to explore tight or cluttered environments and for their low fabrication costs. Now, pulling from origami-inspired construction, researchers led by Cynthia Sung, Gabel Family Term Assistant Professor in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics (MEAM), have crafted a... Read More
