MSE Talks: Ryan Sochol

Speaker: Dr. Ryan Sochol, University of Maryland

Title: 3D Micro/Nanoprinted Soft Robots: From Super Mario Bros. to Minimally Invasive Surgery

Abstract: Over the past decade, the field of “soft robotics” has established itself as uniquely suited for applications that would be difficult or impossible to realize using traditional, rigid-bodied robots. The reliance on compliant materials that are often actuated by fluidic (e.g., hydraulic or pneumatic) means presents a number of inherent benefits for soft robots, particularly in terms of safety for human-robot interactions and adaptability for manipulating complex and/or delicate objects—characteristics that are advantageous for biomedical applications. Despite this potential, progress has been impeded by broad challenges associated with manufacturing such systems at smaller length scales. In this seminar, Prof. Ryan D. Sochol will discuss how his Bioinspired Advanced Manufacturing (BAM) Laboratory is leveraging the capabilities of two alternative types of additive manufacturing (or “three-dimensional (3D) printing”) technologies to address these barriers. Specifically, Prof. Sochol will describe his lab’s recent strategies for using the inkjet (material jetting) 3D microprinting technique, “PolyJet 3D Printing”, to engineer soft robotic systems that comprise integrated fluidic circuitry—including a soft robotic “hand” that plays Nintendo—and the 3D nanoprinting approach, “Two-Photon Direct Laser Writing”, to enable new classes of soft robotic surgical tools.

Bio: Prof. Ryan D. Sochol is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering within the A. James Clark School of Engineering at the University of Maryland, College Park. Prof. Sochol received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Northwestern University in 2006, and both his M.S. and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, in 2009 and 2011, respectively, with Doctoral Minors in Bioengineering and Public Health. Prior to joining the faculty at UMD, Prof. Sochol served two primary academic roles: (i) as an NIH Postdoctoral Trainee within the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences & Technology, Harvard Medical School, and Brigham & Women’s Hospital, and (ii) as the Director of the Micro Mechanical Methods for Biology (M3B) Laboratory Program within the Berkeley Sensor & Actuator Center at UC Berkeley. Prof. Sochol also served as a Visiting Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Tokyo. In 2019, Prof. Sochol was elected Co-President of the Mid-Atlantic Micro/Nano Alliance. His group received IEEE MEMS Outstanding Student Paper Awards in both 2019 and 2021 and the Springer Nature Best Paper Award (Runner-Up) in 2022. Prof. Sochol received the NSF CAREER Award in 2020 and the Early Career Award from the IOP Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering in 2021, and was recently honored as an inaugural Rising Star by the journal, Advanced Materials Technologies, in 2023.