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About

Mingqi Zhang is a pioneering researcher in soft robotics and advanced actuator systems, whose work has fundamentally expanded our understanding of untethered, biologically inspired machines operating in extreme environments. Zhang is perhaps best known for the landmark 2021 paper "Self-powered soft robot in the Mariana Trench," which garnered over 1,100 citations and demonstrated that soft robotic systems could function at the deepest points of Earth's oceans — a breakthrough with profound implications for deep-sea exploration. Building on this, Zhang has consistently advanced the field of underwater soft robotics, developing untethered jellyfish-inspired robots and innovative jelly-like artificial muscles that combine dielectric elastomer actuators with hydrogel properties, offering rapid electro-response, transparency, and self-repair capabilities. His contributions to dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) — including fabrication with 3D-printed frames, pneumatic-hydraulic coupling analysis, and model-based nonlinear control — have helped mature these "artificial muscles" into practical, controllable systems. With work spanning chemo-mechanical robots, trajectory planning, and bioinspired design, Zhang's research portfolio reflects a comprehensive vision for next-generation soft robotics, earning him well over 1,300 cumulative citations and a distinguished place in the field.