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About

Mario Lok is a researcher specializing in power electronics and integrated circuit design for miniaturized robotic systems, with a particular focus on insect-scale flapping-wing micro air vehicles. His work has been central to solving one of the most formidable engineering challenges in microrobotics: developing ultra-lightweight, energy-efficient electronics capable of driving the high-voltage piezoelectric actuators that power bee-sized flying robots like the celebrated RoboBee. Lok's most impactful contribution, a low-mass power electronics unit for piezoelectric actuators (2017, 47 citations), introduced innovative power-saving techniques — including envelope tracking, dynamic common mode control, and charge sharing — that dramatically reduce energy consumption without sacrificing performance. Building on this, he co-developed a fully integrated system-on-chip in 40-nm CMOS (2017, 24 citations) capable of closed-loop autonomous flight control within the extreme weight and power constraints of pico-aerial vehicles. His earlier foundational work on multi-chip systems and integrated actuator drivers further established the design principles underpinning these advances. With over 118 cumulative citations, Lok's research has meaningfully advanced the frontier of autonomous microrobotics, providing enabling hardware technologies that bring fully untethered, insect-scale robotic flight closer to practical reality.