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About

J.W. Wan is an emerging researcher at the forefront of soft robotics and additive manufacturing, with a particular focus on developing biologically inspired mobile robots through advanced 3D printing techniques. Their work bridges the gap between novel materials science and practical robotic locomotion, producing systems capable of navigating complex, unstructured environments. Wan's most influential contribution — a worm-like crawling soft robot fabricated via Selective Laser Sintering of thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) powder — has garnered 31 citations since 2022, demonstrating significant community interest in their pneumatically actuated design that overcomes the single-locomotion limitations of earlier soft crawling systems. Building on this foundation, Wan introduced a fully 3D-printed tortoise-inspired mobile robot (17 citations) celebrated for its multi-scenario adaptability and suitability for human-robot interaction. Their 2023 investigation into Digital Light Processing (DLP)-based soft actuators (15 citations) further broadens the manufacturing toolkit available to the soft robotics community. Collectively, Wan's research advances our understanding of how additive manufacturing technologies — from SLS to DLP — can unlock more versatile, adaptive, and accessible soft robotic platforms, making their work essential reading for students and engineers exploring the next generation of compliant robotic systems.