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About

Wenbo Duan is a robotics researcher whose work focuses on creating versatile, high-performance robots for challenging environments. His primary research areas include search and rescue robotics, multi-legged locomotion, and amphibious vehicle design. Duan’s most significant contribution is the development of an optional passive/active transformable wheel-legged mobility concept, detailed in his 2018 paper, which has garnered 94 citations. This work addresses a critical challenge in search and rescue: enabling robots to seamlessly transition between rapid wheeled travel on flat terrain and agile legged movement over rubble. He further advanced legged locomotion with the involute-arc-leg design for multi-legged robots, achieving high stability and low energy consumption. Duan has also made notable strides in amphibious robotics, creating a novel composite propulsion mechanism that allows a single robot to operate effectively on land and underwater. His research on cable-driven robots explores low-inertia, high-accuracy actuation. By tackling fundamental problems in mobility and energy efficiency, Duan’s work is paving the way for more capable robots that can navigate disaster zones, complex terrain, and aquatic environments.