Abstract: Leveraging community inspiration and experience in haptics and soft robotics research can yield innovative and impactful outcomes. In this talk, I will highlight several projects spanning mobile tactile displays and soft robotic actuators. Specifically, I will touch upon a 3-DoF wrist-worn haptic device for guidance and communication, a smartphone app used to democratize haptics research, and a versatile soft pneumatic actuator with reconfigurable fiber configurations. Moreover, I will demonstrate how technical expertise derived from research in the lab was coupled with the broader community to propel new research avenues. Making a conscious effort to uncover synergies between community and robotics research provides invaluable opportunities to benefit agriculture, human health, and everyday technology.

BIO: Kyle Yoshida is a postdoctoral researcher in the Mechanically Intelligent Autonomous Robotics Lab at Washington State University. He received his MS and PhD in Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University and his BS in Bioengineering with an African Studies minor at Harvard University. He received the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship and the Washington Research Foundation Postdoctoral Research Fellowship. His work spans soft robotics, haptic perception, and human-robot interfaces. In his free time, he serves as Executive Director of Honua Scholars, a STEM mentorship program recognized as one of the Top 10 Native STEM Enterprises by the American Indian Science and Engineering Society.