Yonggang Huang
Washington University in St. Louis
Presenting in Track 13: Mechanics of Solids, Structures, and Fluids
Presentation Title: Bioelastic State Recovery for Haptic Sensory Substitution
Abstract: The rich set of mechanoreceptors found in human skin offers a versatile engineering interface for transmitting information and eliciting perceptions, potentially serving a broad range of applications in patient care and other important industries. Targeted multisensory engagement of these afferent units, however, faces persistent challenges, especially for wearable, programmable systems that need to operate adaptively across the body. Here we present a miniaturized electromechanical structure that, when combined with skin as an elastic, energy-storing element, supports bistable, self-sensing modes of deformation. Targeting specific classes of mechanoreceptors as the basis for distinct, programmed sensory responses, this haptic unit can deliver both dynamic and static stimuli, directed as either normal or shear forces. Systematic experimental and theoretical studies establish foundational principles and practical criteria for low-energy operation across natural anatomical variations in the mechanical properties of human skin. A wireless, skin-conformable haptic interface, integrating an array of these bistable transducers, serves as a high-density channel capable of rendering input from smartphone-based 3D scanning and inertial sensors. Demonstrations of this system include sensory substitution designed to improve the quality of life for patients with visual and proprioceptive impairments.
Biography: Yonggang Huang is the Achenbach Professor of Engineering at Northwestern University. He is interested in mechanics of stretchable inorganic electronics and mechanics-guided deterministic 3D assembly. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, National Academy of Sciences, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a foreign member of Royal Society (London), Royal Academy of Engineering, Royal Society of Canada, and Chinese Academy of Sciences. In 2024 Society of Engineering Science established the Yonggang Huang Engineering Science Medal. In 2025 the Hagler Institute for Advanced Study at Texas A&M University established the John Rogers – Yonggang Huang Medal for Research Collaboration. In the same year the International Conference of Computational & Experimental Engineering and Science established the John Rogers/Yonggang Huang Medal.