Yanbin Li
Papers
10
Total Citations
1,296
H-Index
10
About
Yanbin Li is a pioneering researcher at the forefront of soft robotics, smart materials, and mechanical metamaterials, whose work has fundamentally advanced how engineers design adaptive, intelligent robotic systems. His most celebrated contribution examines bistable and multistable actuators for soft robots — exploring how nature-inspired snap-through mechanisms can be harnessed in engineered structures — earning over 524 citations since 2022. Li has made transformative strides in kirigami-based shape-morphing metasheets, developing programmable 2D-to-3D reconfigurable systems guided by boundary curvature and stimuli-responsive materials, with multiple papers exceeding 100 citations. A hallmark of his research is embedding physical intelligence directly into soft robotic bodies, enabling autonomous navigation through unstructured environments without external computation — demonstrated through his twisting soft robots (214 citations) and maze-escaping robots. His work spans miniaturization, multifunctional grippers capable of handling objects ranging from ultradelicate to ultraheavy, and origami-based hierarchical metastructures. With a rapidly growing citation record exceeding 1,300 total citations across recent publications, Li has established himself as an essential voice in next-generation autonomous soft robotics and programmable matter.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1
- 2Twisting for soft intelligent autonomous robot in unstructured environments214 citations · 2022
- 3Programmable active kirigami metasheets with more freedom of actuation146 citations · 2019
- 4Boundary curvature guided programmable shape-morphing kirigami sheets122 citations · 2022
- 5
- 6
- 7Physically intelligent autonomous soft robotic maze escaper53 citations · 2023
- 8
- 9
- 10Adaptive hierarchical origami-based metastructures34 citations · 2024