Mable Wan
Papers
1
Total Citations
39
H-Index
1
About
Mable Wan is a pioneering researcher in microrobotics and swarm control, whose work addresses the fundamental challenge of directing large populations of microscale agents with limited actuation. Her most-cited paper, "Steering a Swarm of Particles Using Global Inputs and Swarm Statistics" (2017, 39 citations), introduced a paradigm-shifting approach: rather than controlling individual microrobots, she demonstrated how to manipulate entire swarms using only global inputs—such as magnetic fields—by leveraging statistical properties of the collective. This work, which elegantly bridges control theory and statistical mechanics, has become a cornerstone for researchers tackling targeted drug delivery, microassembly, and minimally invasive surgery. Wan’s contributions are particularly notable for their practical elegance—she showed that by measuring and responding to swarm statistics like variance and centroid position, one can achieve precise steering without the need for individual robot feedback or complex hardware. Her research has inspired follow-up work in stochastic control and multi-agent systems, and she continues to push boundaries in how we think about manipulating the very small through the power of the many.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1Steering a Swarm of Particles Using Global Inputs and Swarm Statistics39 citations · 2017