We have moved to the University of Sheffield since December 2018.
Please contact Dr. Shuhei Miyashita if you'd like to know more about the schedule.


Interested in joining our lab? Please contact Dr. Shuhei Miyashita.
PhD positions for year 2019 (Deadlines: mostly in January 2019):

  1. Micro/Milli-Robots and Systems
    Recent rapid development on Milli and Microscale robotics has provided a massive impact on palm-top autonomy that are applicable to various fields. We are developing fabrication techniques of micro origami-robots and remote magnetic control methods that are to be applied to paradigm shifting manufacturing approaches and in-vivo biomedical applications. Our research focuses are: (1) Micro robot design, fabrication and control, and (2) Remote magnetic control. The goal of this program is to develop mechanisms and systems that supports sensing, computing, and action of micro/milli-robots. Upon our successes to develop a series of miniature robots that can be remotely controlled, we will make them more autonomous to become able to locally make decisions, such as inside the human body.
  2. Robotic Molecules: Self-repairing and Self-assembling Machine
    The goal of this project is to develop a totally new approach for the realization of self-repairable and self-assemble machines. We literally aim at making "living LEGO". Inspired by biomolecules self-assemble into 3D structure, and there are merely 20 types of amino acids (building components), the project will develop robotic molecules that interact and spontaneously form a higher dimensional structure. Likewise other programs in our group, this program addresses the principle, design, and implementation of developed mechanisms.
  3. Ingestible Origami Robots for Biomedicine
    Soft robots that can be swallowed (ingested) and can accomplish various surgical tasks are no longer a fiction for engineering. Instead a medical doctor cutting and suturing, we expect robots to perform equivalent surgical operations. For this aim, we have developed a series of ingesitlbe robots that can remove a foreign obstacle, patch the wound, and deliver drugs (e.g., Miyashita et al., ICRA 2016). This program will develop the 2nd generation of ingestible, magnetically controlled robots and tools that will replace conventional surgical tools.
Internship, MEng, BEng positions:
  1. Self-Assembling Robots
  2. Origami Robots
  3. Micro/Milli-Robots
  4. Robotic Implant

Research Our research pursuit has been dedicated to formal understanding of synthesizing artificial compounds in non-molecular domains, seeking a novel manufacturing method of intelligent devices.
  1. Miyashita, S., Guitron, S., Li, S., and Rus D. (2017) Robotic Metamorphosis by Origami Exoskeletons, Science Robotics, (2), eaao4369.
  2. Miyashita, S., Guitron, S., Yoshida, K., Li, S., Damian, D. D., and Rus, D. (2016) Ingestible, Controllable, and Degradable Origami Robot for Patching Stomach Wounds, IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), pp. 909-916.
  3. Miyashita, S., Guitron, S., Ludersdorfer, M., Sung, C., and Rus, D. (2015) An Untethered Miniature Origami Robot that Self-folds, Walks, Swims, and Degrades, IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), pp. 1490-1496.
  4. Miyashita, S., Meeker L., Tolley, T. M., Wood, J. R., and Rus, D. (2014) Self-Folding Miniature Elastic Electric Device. The IOP Journal Smart Materials and Structures, 23 094005, doi:10.1088/0964-1726/23/9/094005.
  5. Miyashita, S., Diller, E., and Sitti, M. (2013) Two-Dimensional Magnetic Micro-Module Reconfigurations Based on Inter-Modular Interactions. International Journal of Robotics Research, 32, 591-615.
  6. Miyashita, S., Audretsch, C., Nagy, Z., Fuchslin, R., and Pfeifer, R. (2015) Mechanical Catalysis on the Centimeter Scale. Journal of the Royal Society Interface. 12: 20141271.
  7. Miyashita, S., Goldi, M., and Pfeifer, R. (2011). How reverse reactions influence the yield rate of stochastic self-assembly. International Journal of Robotics Research, 30, 627-641.

Members
  1. Shuhei Miyashita

    • Lecturer (equivalent to Assistant Professor), Ph.D: University of Zurich, Postdoc: MIT and CMU
  2. Bastien Lahaye (ESEO)
  3. Arthur Lagarce (ESEO)
  4. Igors Dubanevics (Univeristy of York)
Previous students:
Haruna Iwasaki (Waseda University), Flavien Lefevre (ESEO), Cecile Boudounet (Paul Sabatier University), Lindsay Coe (University of York), Alexis Du Plessis D'Argentre (ESEO), Etienne Perroux (ESEO), Samuel Perry (University of York), Emily Southern (University of York), Yoshitaka Iwata (Waseda University), Julien Delmas (7 Tech), Valentin Besnard (ESEO), Alicia Cabrera-Mino (MIT), Kevin Gonzales (MIT), Kodiak Brush (MIT), Nikita Waghani (MIT), Anna Leonard (MIT), Andres Salgado-Bierman (MIT), Isabella DiDio (MIT), Paige Studer (MIT), Steven Guitron (MIT), Ishwarya Ananthabhotla (MIT), Marvin Ludersdorfer (TU Munich), Laura Meeker (MIT), Maurice Goldi (University of Zurich), Aubery Tientcheu (TU Munich), Christof Audretsch (University of Wuerzburg), Saikat Ray (Birla Institute of Technology and Science), Flurin Casanova (University of Zurich), Marco Kessler (University of Zurich), Tobias Bannwart (University of Zurich)

Publications (selected)
  1. Miyashita, S., Guitron, S., Li, S., and Rus D. (2017) Robotic Metamorphosis by Origami Exoskeletons, Science Robotics, (2), eaao4369.
  2. Yim S., Miyashita S., Rus, D., and Kim, S. (2017) A Teleoperated Micromanipulation System Manufactured by Cut-and-Fold Techniques. IEEE Transactions on Robotics, 33(2), 456-467. DOI: 10.1109/TRO.2016.2636904
  3. Miyashita, S., Audretsch, C., Nagy, Z., Fuchslin, R., and Pfeifer, R. (2015) Mechanical Catalysis on the Centimeter Scale. Journal of the Royal Society Interface. 12: 20141271.
  4. Miyashita, S., DiDio, I., Ananthabhotla, I., An, B., Sung, C., Arabagi, S., and Rus, D. (2015) Folding Angle Regulation by Curved Crease Design for Self-Assembling Origami Propellers. ASME Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics, 7(2), 021013.
  5. Miyashita, S., Meeker L., Tolley, T. M., Wood, J. R., and Rus, D. (2014) Self-Folding Miniature Elastic Electric Device. The IOP Journal Smart Materials and Structures, 23 094005, doi:10.1088/0964-1726/23/9/094005.
  6. Miyashita, S., Diller, E., and Sitti, M. (2013) Two-Dimensional Magnetic Micro-Module Reconfigurations Based on Inter-Modular Interactions. International Journal of Robotics Research, 32, 591-615.
  7. Miyashita, S., and Pfeifer, R. (2011). Attributes of Two Dimensional Magnetic Self-Assembly. Adaptive Behavior. 20 (2), 117-130.
  8. Miyashita, S., Goldi, M., and Pfeifer, R. (2011). How reverse reactions influence the yield rate of stochastic self-assembly. International Journal of Robotics Research, 30, 627-641.
  9. Miyashita, S., Nagy, Z., Nelson, B. J., and Pfeifer, R. (2009). The influence of shape on parallel self-assembly. Entropy, 11, 643-666.
  10. Sung, R. C., Lin, R., Miyashita, S., Yim, S., Kim, S., and Rus, D. (2017) Self-folded Soft Robotic Structures with Controllable Joints, IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), pp. 580-587
  11. Miyashita, S., Guitron, S., Yoshida, K., Li, S., Damian, D. D., and Rus, D. (2016) Ingestible, Controllable, and Degradable Origami Robot for Patching Stomach Wounds, IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), pp. 909-916
  12. Miyashita, S., Guitron, S., Ludersdorfer, M., Sung, C., and Rus, D. (2015) An Untethered Miniature Origami Robot that Self-folds, Walks, Swims, and Degrades, IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), pp. 1490-1496
  13. Miyashita, S., Meeker, L., Goldi, M., Kawahara, Y., and Rus, D. (2014) Self-Folding Printable Elastic Electric Devices: Resistor, Capacitor, and Inductor. In IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), pp. 1446-1453, Hong Kong
  14. Miyashita, S., Onal, D. C., and Rus, D. (2013) Self-pop-up Cylindrical Structure by Global Heating, In IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), pp. 4065-4071
  15. Miyashita, S., Casanova, F., Lungarella, M., and Pfeifer, R. (2008) Peltier-based freeze-thaw connector for waterborne self-assembly systems. In IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), Nice, France, September, pp. 1325-1330.
  16. Miyashita, S., Kessler, M., and Lungarella, M. (2008). How morphology affects self-assembly in a stochastic modular robot. In IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA).

Media MIT news (3 times), MIT top page (4 times), IEEE Spectrum (3 times), National Geographic (2019), CNN (2015), BBC (2017), Forbes (2017, 2016), The Washington Post (2017, 2016), AP (2016), Bloomberg (2016), The Economist (2016), ABC news (2016), Boston Globe (2016), and many others.

Contact Shuhei Miyashita

Microrobotics Lab.
Department of Automatic Control and Systems Engineering
University of Sheffield

Amy Johnson Bld, Portobello Ln,
Sheffield, S1 3JD, UK

shuhei.miyashita at sheffield.ac.uk
+44 (0)114 2225662
http://shuhei.net/