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About

Iek Man Lei is pioneering the frontier of soft robotics and advanced manufacturing, with a research portfolio that seamlessly integrates 3D printing, flexible electronics, and bio-inspired design. Lei’s most impactful work, "Integrated 3D printing of flexible electroluminescent devices and soft robots" (2022, 178 citations), revolutionizes the fabrication of stretchable light-emitting systems, overcoming the cost and complexity barriers of conventional techniques. This breakthrough has far-reaching implications for wearable tech, displays, and soft robotics. Lei further advances the field with "Recent advances in wearable electromechanical sensors—Moving towards machine learning-assisted wearable sensing systems" (2022, 107 citations), which bridges sensor innovation with AI for smarter, adaptive wearables. In materials science, Lei’s "Soft Hydrogel Shapeability via Supportive Bath Matching in Embedded 3D Printing" (2023, 38 citations) establishes new rules for printing soft, non-self-supporting hydrogels, while "Concentric ice-templating of ultracompressible tough hydrogels" (2025, 10 citations) creates bioinspired structures mimicking natural tissues like arteries. Lei’s hackable, modular 3D printer (2022, 32 citations) democratizes soft material fabrication, and the bio-inspired aquatic robot (2025, 5 citations) achieves high-speed, steerable motion at insect scale. With over 370 total citations, Lei’s work is shaping the future of soft, intelligent, and printable systems.