Max Robotics — Global Service Robot Directory + US Certification

About

Ran Jing is a rising leader in soft robotics, specializing in the computational and mechanical challenges that have long limited the field’s real-world deployment. Her research centers on three interconnected areas: physics-based simulation, pose estimation for compliant structures, and high-force actuation using smart materials. Jing’s most impactful work, “DisMech” (2024, 16 citations), introduces a discrete differential geometry-based physical simulator that achieves fast, accurate, and generalizable simulations for soft robots and structures—a critical enabler for design and control that overcomes the limitations of rigid-only frameworks. She has also advanced pose estimation for thermally-actuated soft limbs (2023, 3 citations), systematically comparing mechanics simplifications to make these systems tractable. In 2025, Jing pioneered real-time trajectory generation for soft manipulators using differential flatness, enabling motion planning despite their nonlinear dynamics. Her work on maximizing consistent high-force output from shape memory alloy artificial muscles (2024, 2 citations) directly addresses the force constraints that have prevented soft robots from scaling to larger sizes. Together, these contributions establish Jing as a key figure bridging simulation, control, and actuation for next-generation soft robotic systems.