I will be joining Prof. Siyi Xu’s Group at UIUC in the 2025 fall, working on wearable HRI.

Research Interests: Haptics, Soft Robotics, Surgical Robotics.

• 5+ yrs of research experiences on robotics
• lead/core author of 7 papers including Nature and Science.
• Skillset ranging from rapid prototyping, mechatronics system, machine learning and bio-signal monitoring…

🔥 News

• 2025.03: 🎉🎉 Our paper “Full freedom-of-motion actuators as advanced haptic interfaces” has been published by Science!
• 2025.01: Awarded “Excellent Master Dissertation of School”.
• 2024.12: 🎓 Successfully passed the Master’s dissertation defense, titled “Full Freedom-of-Motion Haptic Actuator for Efficient Information Transfer in XR”. Many thanks to my advisor, Prof. John Rogers, committee member, Prof. Edward Colgate, and best mentor ever, Dr. Kyoungho Ha!
• 2024.10: 🎉🎉 Our paper “Bioelastic state recovery for haptic sensory substitution” has been accepted by Nature!
• 2024.01: 🎉 Our paper “A Robotic System For Transthoracic Puncture of Pulmonary Nodules Based on Gated Respiratory Compensation” has been accepted by Computer Methods and Programs in Biomedicine.
• 2023.05: 🏆 Awarded 1st prize for Outstanding Young Scholar Paper at BME2023, Suzhou, China.
• 2023.01: 🏆 Awarded the Agilent Scholarship for Excellence in Life Science. Grateful to Agilent for their support!
• 2022.06: 🎓 Graduated from SJTU with highest honors (Best Thesis, Honor Degree, and Outstanding Graduate of Shanghai)!

📖 Educations

• 2025.08 - present, Ph.D. in MechE, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
  
• 2022.09 - 2025.03, M.S. in MechE, Northwestern University & Shanghai Jiao Tong University (Dual Degree)
  
• 2018.09 - 2022.06, B.S. (Hons.) in MechE, Shanghai Jiao Tong University

🧑‍💻 Experiences

• 2023.09 - 2025.03, RA, Simpson Querrey Institute for Bioelectronics, Evanston.
  • Advisor: Prof. John A. Rogers
  • Projects
    • Bioelastic haptic actuator
    • Multi-modal haptic actuator
    • Soft robot for organoid interface
      
• 2021.09 - 2023.09, RA, Institute of Biomedical Manufacturing and Life Quality Engineering, Shanghai.
  • Advisor: Prof. Xiaojun Chen
  • Projects
    • Robot-assisted thoracic puncture system
    • Fiber-optic respiration sensor
    • Temporal medical image generation
      
• 2022.01 - 2022.10, Embedded Development Intern, Espressif, Shanghai.
  • Mentors: Zhaocheng Zhan, Li Zhou
  • Project: Mini Pupper (colabrate with Mangdang)
    
• 2021.06 - 2021.09, RA, Institute of Medical Robotics, Shanghai.
  • Advisor: Prof. Anzhu Gao
  • Project: redundant robot design and manipulation
    
• 2020.02 - 2021.02, RA, Institute of Robotics, Shanghai.
  • Advisor: Prof. Jianjun Meng
  • Project: motor imagery (MI)-based brain-computer interface (BCI)

Publications

Ongoing Works

• [1] Multimodal Microscaled Soft Robotic Actuator for Human Organoids Interfaces

  W. Maeng, Z. Lyu, K. Kim, K.-H. Ha, Y. Mao, S. Xu, L. Praba, Y. Hwang, J. A. Rogers. Submission planned Apr. 2025

• [2] Efficient Tumor Localization During Respiration with Minimal Scanning Based on Recursive Deformable Diffusion Models

  Y. Mao*, D. Li*, W. Sun, D. Zhao, C. Chen, X. Chen. Submitted Feb. 2025

Journals

• [J1] Full Freedom-of-Motion Actuators as Advanced Haptic Interfaces

  K.-H. Ha*, J. Yoo*, S. Li*, Y. Mao, S. Xu, H. Qi, H. Wu, C. Fan, H. Yuan, J.-T. Kim, M. Flavin, S. Yoo, P. Shahir, S. Kim, H.-Y. Ahn, E. Colgate, Y. Huang, J. A. Rogers. Science, Mar. 2025

• [J2] Bioelastic State Recovery for Haptic Sensory Substitution

  M. Flavin*, K.-H. Ha*, Z. Guo*, S. Li*, J.-T. Kim*, T. Saxena, D. Simatos, F. Al-Najjar, Y. Mao, S. Bandapalli, C. Fan, D. Bai, Z. Zhang, J. Yoo, M. Park, J. Shin, A. Huang, H. Shin, Y. Huang, Z. Xie, H. Jiang, J. A. Rogers. Nature, Nov. 2024

• [J3] A Robotic System For Transthoracic Puncture of Pulmonary Nodules Based on Gated Respiratory Compensation

  D. Li*, Y. Mao*, P. Tu, H. Shi, W. Sun, D. Zhao, C. Chen, X. Chen. Computer Methods and Programs in Biomedicine, Jan. 2024

Conferences

• [C1] A Real-Time Respiratory Analysis System for PET-CT Based on Fiber-Optic Pressure Sensors

  Y. Mao, P. Tu, W. Liu, Z. Liu, X. Chen. Oral, China Biomedical Engineering Conference, May. 2023.

• [C2] A Cable-Driven Hyper-Redundant Robot with Angular Sensing

  Y. Mao, J. Yu, L. Wang, Y. Zou, Z. Lin, W. Chen, A. Gao. Oral, IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics (ROBIO), Nov. 2021.

(* Equal Authorship)

Projects

Beyond research, I am passionate about designing innovative robots and AI models inspired by nature and daily life, translating concepts from textbooks into real-world technologies that enhance people’s lives.

Robots and Mechanisms

Wrist Rehabilitation Assistive Device Based on 3-RRR Mechanism

Y. Mao, P. Lin, R. Liu, B. Liang, A. Sun, Y. Jin

• Utilizing an R-R-R spherical parallel mechanism, this device provides independent rotational movements in three degrees of freedom (DoF), covering the full range of wrist motion.
• Through force sensors and IMU, it enables accurate trajectory reproduction with controlled resistance, allowing wrist-injured patients to train muscles across 3 DoF with adaptive damping.
• Excellence in Technology Award, 2023 Mechatronics Fair, School of Mechanical Engineering.

Mini Pupper: A Lightweight, modular 12-DOF quadruped robot based on ESP32 Project | Video

MangDang Tech, Y. Mao, Z. Zhang

• Developed a lightweight, modular 12-DOF quadruped robot with all-stack skills.
• Verified the compatibility of ESP32 platform with Micro-ROS to expand its applicability in robotics.

Patent Granted

Jumpiter: A Cam-Powered Dual-Mode Mobile-Jumping Robot

X. Xu, Y. Mao, H. Bai, Z. Mei, M. Xia

• The robot can perform both mobile motion and periodic jump reaching heights of up to 400 mm. It stores and releases energy through a cam and spring mechanism, while maintaining in-air orientation by sensing and adjusting its position mid-air using an IMU and flywheel.
• Granted utility model patent(CN215904637U).

1st Prize

A Curvature-Adaptive Roller Clamping Mechanism for Heavy Load Transportation on Staircases

H. Yan, Y. Mao, H. Mao, Z. Zhang

• Adaptable roller system that conforms to various staircase shapes and smoothly navigates corners.
• Integrated with a loading lever, enabling manual transportation of heavy loads with significantly reduced effort.
• 1st Prize, Shanghai Mechanical Engineering Innovation Competition; 2nd Prize, National Mechanical Engineering Innovation Competition

Artificial Intelligence

Dynamic Multi-Robot Swarm Formation Based on Distributed Control

Y. Mao, J. Yu, Z. Wang, F. Du

• Programmed a 5-robot swarm on the ROS using consensus algorithms to achieve distributed control, allowing dynamic formation adjustments based on obstacle detection

Cooperation and Confrontation in Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning for RoboCup

Y. Mao, J. Liang, Z. Li, S. Chen

• Implemented a 2v2 soccer simulation training in Unity 3D using the Multi-Agents Posthumous Credit Assignment (MA-POCA) model, where agents demonstrated intelligent coordination in both offense and defense.

Real-time Chord Decomposition for Guitar Playing using FFT

Y. Mao

• Developed a program in LABView for real-time frequency domain analysis of captured audio using FFT, achieving 90% accuracy in decomposing guitar chords.

Awards

2023 1st Prize, Young Excellent Paper Competition, BME2023 (China) 2022 Agilent Scholarship (5/773) 2022 Excellent Bachelor Thesis of SJTU (Top 1%) 2022 Outstanding Graduate of Shanghai (Top 2%) 2019-2021 Zhiyuan Honors Scholarship (Top 5%) 2021 Guanghua Scholarship 2021 TYACHT Outstanding Student (5/424) 2021 Zhiyuan Outstanding Leader Scholarship 2021 COSCO-shipping Scholarship 2020 1st Prize, Shanghai Mechanical Engineering Innovation Competition 2020 2nd Prize, National Mechanical Design Competition 2019 Shanghai Scholarship (1/206)