Min Jun Kim
MinJun Kim, Ph.D.
Robert C. Womack Endowed Chair Professor in Engineering,
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Southern Methodist University,
PO Box 750337, Dallas, TX 75275-0337,
Tel: 214-768-3972 Fax: 214-768-1473
Email: mjkim@lyle.smu.edu
Website: http://bastlabs.org
Biography:
Dr. MinJun Kim is presently the Robert C. Womack Endowed Chair Professor of En-gineering at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Southern Methodist Universi-ty. He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Yonsei University in Korea and Texas A&M University, respectively. Dr. Kim completed his Ph.D. degree in Engineering at Brown University, where he held the prestigious Si-mon Ostrach Fellowship. Following his graduate studies, Dr. Kim was a postdoctoral research fellow at the Rowland Institute in Harvard University. He joined Drexel University in 2006 as Assistant Professor and was later promoted to Professor of Me-chanical Engineering and Mechanics. Dr. Kim has been exploring biological transport phenomena including cellular/molecular mechanics and engineering in novel nano/microscale architectures to produce new types of nanobiotechology, such as na-nopore technology and nano/micro robotics. His notable awards include the National Science Foundation CAREER Award (2008), Drexel Career Development Award (2008), Human Frontier Science Program Young Investigator Award (2009), Army Research Office Young Investigator Award (2010), Alexander von Humboldt Fel-lowship (2011), KOFST Brain Pool Fellowship (2013 & 2015), Bionic Engineering Outstanding Contribution Award (2013), Louis & Bessie Stein Fellowship (2008 & 2014), ISBE Fellow (2014), ASME Fellow (2014), Top10 Netexplo Award (2016), KSEA & KOFST Engineer of the Year Award (2016), IEEE Senior Member (2017), Sam Taylor Fellowship (2018), and Gerald J. Ford Research Fellowship (2018).
Abstract:
Micro-Assembly Exploiting SofT Robotics (MAESTRO)
There is an urgent need for miniaturized actuators, and their control schemes, capable of accomplishing micro-scale robotic assembly. Due to the difficulty in fabricating na-noscale motors and developing microscale power sources, actuation and control are two significant challenges in micro-scale robotics. We seek to combine microscale cell-like actuators, termed artificial cells, and novel swarm control algorithms for micro patterning. Specifically, we use artificial cell actuators, encapsulating targeted materi-als, which are organized into complex configurations using only global control signals. Our recent project is to develop a new type manufacturing by combining soft robotics and swarm control to construct assemblies (e.g. living cells, inorganic particles) in 2D and 3D. The approach seeks to use the soft robots themselves as building blocks for desired patterns. Their microrobotic artificial cells excel in encapsulating a wide range of micro- and nanosized particles, for example, living cells and magnetic nanoparticles. Furthermore, artificial cells can efficiently release their payloads using external stimuli (e.g. optical). This microrobotic system has been complemented with novel swarm control algorithms using obstacle-based particle computations. This obstacle-based po-sitional control makes the position of microrobots fully controllable using just a single control input. Actuation of the stimuli-responsive artificial cells in microfluidic obsta-cle-laden environments presents a paradigm shift in fabrication technology.
Robert C. Womack Endowed Chair Professor in Engineering,
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Southern Methodist University,
PO Box 750337, Dallas, TX 75275-0337,
Tel: 214-768-3972 Fax: 214-768-1473
Email: mjkim@lyle.smu.edu
Website: http://bastlabs.org
Biography:
Dr. MinJun Kim is presently the Robert C. Womack Endowed Chair Professor of En-gineering at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Southern Methodist Universi-ty. He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Yonsei University in Korea and Texas A&M University, respectively. Dr. Kim completed his Ph.D. degree in Engineering at Brown University, where he held the prestigious Si-mon Ostrach Fellowship. Following his graduate studies, Dr. Kim was a postdoctoral research fellow at the Rowland Institute in Harvard University. He joined Drexel University in 2006 as Assistant Professor and was later promoted to Professor of Me-chanical Engineering and Mechanics. Dr. Kim has been exploring biological transport phenomena including cellular/molecular mechanics and engineering in novel nano/microscale architectures to produce new types of nanobiotechology, such as na-nopore technology and nano/micro robotics. His notable awards include the National Science Foundation CAREER Award (2008), Drexel Career Development Award (2008), Human Frontier Science Program Young Investigator Award (2009), Army Research Office Young Investigator Award (2010), Alexander von Humboldt Fel-lowship (2011), KOFST Brain Pool Fellowship (2013 & 2015), Bionic Engineering Outstanding Contribution Award (2013), Louis & Bessie Stein Fellowship (2008 & 2014), ISBE Fellow (2014), ASME Fellow (2014), Top10 Netexplo Award (2016), KSEA & KOFST Engineer of the Year Award (2016), IEEE Senior Member (2017), Sam Taylor Fellowship (2018), and Gerald J. Ford Research Fellowship (2018).
Abstract:
Micro-Assembly Exploiting SofT Robotics (MAESTRO)
There is an urgent need for miniaturized actuators, and their control schemes, capable of accomplishing micro-scale robotic assembly. Due to the difficulty in fabricating na-noscale motors and developing microscale power sources, actuation and control are two significant challenges in micro-scale robotics. We seek to combine microscale cell-like actuators, termed artificial cells, and novel swarm control algorithms for micro patterning. Specifically, we use artificial cell actuators, encapsulating targeted materi-als, which are organized into complex configurations using only global control signals. Our recent project is to develop a new type manufacturing by combining soft robotics and swarm control to construct assemblies (e.g. living cells, inorganic particles) in 2D and 3D. The approach seeks to use the soft robots themselves as building blocks for desired patterns. Their microrobotic artificial cells excel in encapsulating a wide range of micro- and nanosized particles, for example, living cells and magnetic nanoparticles. Furthermore, artificial cells can efficiently release their payloads using external stimuli (e.g. optical). This microrobotic system has been complemented with novel swarm control algorithms using obstacle-based particle computations. This obstacle-based po-sitional control makes the position of microrobots fully controllable using just a single control input. Actuation of the stimuli-responsive artificial cells in microfluidic obsta-cle-laden environments presents a paradigm shift in fabrication technology.