ABSTRACT: The rapid development of new responsive materials, along with significant advances in synthesis techniques that may realize multi-material architectures, provides an opportunity to design functional structures of unprecedented performance. These include soft-robotic actuators, wearable haptic technology, and biomedical devices. However, realizing the potential of these emerging technologies requires a robust, systematic design approach. In this talk, we focus on soft actuation and highlight optimization frameworks for two challenging problems in this area. First, we investigate the design of 3D-printed soft responsive actuators composed of liquid crystal elastomers. We incorporate complex, non-linear behavior to concurrently design the structure, the microstructure, and the manufacturing pathway in a robust design framework. We demonstrate the method by producing responsive lifting actuators of unprecedented capabilities, greatly outperforming traditional designs. In the second part of the talk, we explore electrostatic zipper actuators for wearable haptics. Here, a dielectric-filled pouch is sandwiched between flexible conducting electrodes. When voltage is applied to these electrodes, the membranes “zip”, leading to large deformation and pressure increase in the filled portion. We formulate a novel mechanics model for these systems and develop an efficient and robust numerical method to simulate the actuation process. We couple this to shape optimization through the method of mappings, allowing us to systematically navigate the interplay between zipping susceptibility and volume displacement. We conclude with a discussion on the remaining challenges for optimal design, outlining a pathway that will allow these methods to exploit the full capabilities of emerging material systems.

Disclaimer: Andrew Akerson is speaking as an individual, not on behalf of Meta Inc.

BIOSKETCH: Andrew Akerson will be starting a faculty position in the Mechanical Engineering Department at MIT in January 2026. He is currently a Research Scientist at Reality Labs Research, Meta Inc. He received his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in 2023. Before arriving at Caltech, he received his Bachelors and Masters from the University of Minnesota in Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics. His research is broadly in the field of theoretical and computational mechanics, with an emphasis on developing applications-focused optimal design methods for highly complex scenarios.