Muhao Chen

Muhao Chen

Positive and Energetic.

Tensegrity Lab

Tensegrity Lab seeks to develop new analytical tools to merge structure and control design with material science to create new structures and material systems. The structural paradigm for this research is tensegrity systems, creating minimal mass systems that allow minimal control energy within the constraints of allowable computational and sensing/actuating resources. The lab builds physical demonstrations of this integrated system design philosophy with material science to create new material systems. Robots are designed to deploy from small stowed packages. Robots are designed to harvest rocks and regolith from asteroids or the moon. Tensegrity structures are designed for deployment in space. Tensegrity Robots are designed to build tensegrity structures in space autonomously. Wings are designed without hinged surfaces to controllable shapes. Antennas are designed for deployment in space within operational accuracies. Impact tensegrity structures are designed to protect payloads at the impact on the moon or Mars. These studies employ data-based as well as model-based control methods.

Please get in touch with me directly (muhaochen@uky.edu) if you are keen on tensegrity and require assistance. I am willing to offer guidance and support within my capabilities.

Work Experience

Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Univerisity of Kentucky, Lexington, KY
Assistant Professor, Aug. 2023 - Present

Department of Aerospace Engineering, Texas A&M Univerisity, College Station, TX
Postdoctoral Researcher, May 2021 - July 2023 (Advisor: Dr. Robert Skelton)

Education

Texas A&M University, College Station, May 2021
Ph.D., Aerospace Engineering. Advisors: Drs. Robert Skelton and Manoranjan Majji

Huazhong University of Science and Technology
M.S., Design and Manufacture of Ships and Marine Structures, 2016
B.S., Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering / Minor: English, 2013

Awards

  • Best Paper Award, 18th Sub-association for Stability and Fatigue of Steel Structures, CSCS, 2024
  • Best Presentation Award, Multiscale Mechanics & Nanostructures, EMI-IC, 2023
  • First Prize, 11th International Conference on Rehabilitation Medicine and Engineering, 2022
  • Finalist, NASA RASC-AL Special Edition: Moon to Mars Ice & Prospecting Challenge, 2021
  • AERO Graduate Excellence Fellowship Award, 2020
  • National Scholarship (the Highest Honor for Students in China), Dec. 2014

Contact

Email: muhaochen@uky.edu
Tel: +1 979-985-8285
Grehan 113A, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506