Helena Young

Papers

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About

Dr. Helena Young is a pioneering roboticist whose work bridges the gap between soft actuation and high-performance motion control. Her research centers on soft robotics, mechanism design, and bio-inspired actuation, with a particular focus on developing compliant systems that can achieve dynamic, large-displacement movements—a longstanding challenge in the field. Her most-cited work, "Force and Speed in a Soft Stewart Platform" (2025), introduces a novel parallel 6-degree-of-freedom Stewart-Gough mechanism powered by Handed Shearing Auxetic (HSA) actuators. This breakthrough demonstrates that soft robots can rival their rigid counterparts in speed and force while using one-third fewer mechatronic components, dramatically simplifying system complexity. With 3 citations already in its first year, this paper is rapidly gaining attention for its practical implications in areas like medical devices and adaptive manufacturing. Dr. Young’s contributions are reshaping how engineers think about soft robotics, proving that compliance need not come at the cost of capability. Her work stands as a testament to elegant design and functional efficiency, inspiring a new generation of researchers to reimagine what soft machines can achieve.