MEMS Seminar – 2025 George W. Pearsall Distinguished Lecture: Yonggang Huang, Northwestern University

Duke’s Thomas Lord Department of Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science welcomes Yonggang Huang of Northwestern University to deliver the 2025 George W. Pearsall Distinguished Lecture-noon, March 5, 2025, in Schiciano Auditorium. Reception to follow.
Title:
Bioelastic State Recovery for Haptic Sensory Substitution
Abstract:
The rich set of mechanoreceptors found in human skin offers a versatile engineering interface for transmitting information and eliciting perceptions, potentially serving a broad range of applications in patient care and other important industries. Targeted multisensory engagement of these afferent units, however, faces persistent challenges, especially for wearable, programmable systems that need to operate adaptively across the body. Here, we present a miniaturized electromechanical structure that, when combined with skin as an elastic, energy-storing element, supports bistable, self-sensing modes of deformation. Targeting specific classes of mechanoreceptors as the basis for distinct, programmed sensory responses, this haptic unit can deliver both dynamic and static stimuli directed as either normal or shear forces. Systematic experimental and theoretical studies establish foundational principles and practical criteria for low-energy operation across natural anatomical variations in the mechanical properties of human skin. A wireless, skin-conformable haptic interface, integrating an array of these bistable transducers, serves as a high-density channel capable of rendering input from smartphone-based 3D scanning and inertial sensors. Demonstrations of this system include sensory substitution designed to improve the quality of life for patients with visual and proprioceptive impairments.
Bio:
Yonggang Huang is the Achenbach Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Civil & Environmental Engineering, and Materials Science & Engineering at Northwestern University. He is interested in the mechanics of stretchable and flexible electronics and deterministic 3D assembly. He has published two books and more than 700 journal papers, including 15 in Science and eight in Nature. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, National Academy of Sciences, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a foreign member of the Royal Society. His undergraduate teaching was recognized with the Cole-Higgins Award for Excellence in Teaching from the McCormick School of Engineering at Northwestern from 2016 to 2024.