Smart Microsystems Lab
Taking a systems approach to develop innovative robots and sensors for addressing real-world challenges
SML News
Dr. Tan leads $3M graduate training grant on water sustainability and equity
MSU, a world leader in water research, is looking to address global water issues by developing a graduate training program…
Dr. Tan gives a plenary talk at the 2023 IEEE/ASME AIM Conference
Xiaobo Tan MSU Foundation Professor Richard M. Hong Endowed Chair of Electrical and Computer Engineering Michigan State University (MSU) Talk…
SML Awarded New Patent
SML was awarded a new patent on APPARATUS WITH A CONTROLLABLE SURFACE FOR UNDERWATER BOUNDARY FLOW.
Dr. Tan leads $3M graduate training grant on water sustainability and equitySeptember 22, 2023MSU, a world leader in water research, is looking to address global water issues by developing a graduate training program to create a highly competent workforce with the broad technological, scientific and cultural skills needed to resolve current and future water challenges. The program is being developed with the help of a $3 million National …
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Dr. Tan gives a plenary talk at the 2023 IEEE/ASME AIM ConferenceJuly 2, 2023Xiaobo Tan MSU Foundation Professor Richard M. Hong Endowed Chair of Electrical and Computer Engineering Michigan State University (MSU) Talk Title:Sea lamprey, e-skin, and robotic fish: Mechatronic solutions to invasive species control More information [...]
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SML Awarded New PatentMay 9, 2023SML was awarded a new patent on APPARATUS WITH A CONTROLLABLE SURFACE FOR UNDERWATER BOUNDARY FLOW. [...]
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Dr. Tan commenting on ACM soft robotics storyAugust 30, 2022Some see soft robots helping declining populations of pollinators do their jobs, or sifting through wreckage in the wake of a building collapse, or even performing simple, practical tasks in tight spaces; others see them traveling the oceans or traversing the insides of our bodies to scope out medical red flags. Some, like Robert Katzschmann, an …
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SML soft snake robot paper selected Best Paper finalist at 2020 IEEE RoboSoftOctober 7, 2020The SML Lab’s soft snake robot paper was selected as a Best Paper finalist at 2020 IEEE’s RobotSoft Conference. Congratulations! A Novel Pneumatic Soft Snake Robot Using Traveling-Wave Locomotion in Constrained EnvironmentsXinda Qi, Hongyang Shi, Thassyo Pinto, Xiaobo Tan Check out the Best Paper awards here: https://www.robosoft2020.org/#contribute [...]
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Bopardikar and Tan received a NSF grantOctober 7, 2020Picture: Dr. Shaunak D. Bopardikar (left) and Dr. Xiaobo Tan (right) received a new NSF grant Dr. Shaunak D. Bopardikar, Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Dr. Xiaobo Tan, Richard M. Hong Endowed Chair Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, received a three-year, $360,000 grant from the National Science Foundation. Congratulations! Read more here: https://ece.msu.edu/news/bopardikar-and-tan-received-nsf-grant An abstract of the project …
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SML Projects
Active Projects
Soft Robotic Systems for Safe and Accurate Medical Diagnosis and Intervention (MSU Foundation)September 15, 2020Sponsor: MSU Foundation (Strategic Partnership Grant)
PI: Prof. Xiaobo Tan, Co-PIs: Prof. Tong Gao (Mechanical Engineering and Computational Mathematics, Science and Engineering), John Kruger (Small Animal Clinical Sciences), Chunqi Qian (Radiology), Chuan Wang (Electrical & Computer Engineering).
This internal grant aims to build an interdisciplinary team at MSU that advances soft robotic systems for various applications, including addressing medical challenges, such as accessing hard-to-reach organs for medical imaging and interventions. The team consists of experts on soft robotics, computational modeling, electronic skins, MRI imaging, and animal clinical sciences. [...]
A Smart Panel System for In-situ Detection of Adult Sea Lamprey (Great Lakes Fishery Commission)September 15, 2020Exploiting the Unexploited: A Smart Panel System for In-situ Detection of Adult Sea Lamprey
Sponsor: Great Lakes Fishery Commission (Sea Lamprey Research Program)
PI: Prof. Xiaobo Tan, Co-PIs: Christopher Holbrook (Hammond Bay Biological Station, U.S. Geological Survey), and Chuan Wang (Electrical & Computer Engineering).
Invasive species control and assessment strategies often seek to exploit species-specific behaviors or traits. Simply put, adult sea lampreys suck like no other organisms in the Great Lakes. However, this characteristic has not been directly exploited to enumerate or control sea lampreys. A low-cost smart panel capable of sensing, recording, and possibly responding to sea lamprey attachment could enhance selective fish passage devices (e.g., triggering localized electrical stimulus to repel or deter a lamprey), spearhead new research to address critical gaps in sea lamprey life history and ecology (e.g., refuge-seeking behavior and habitat characteristics, stream entry timing), and have broad-ranging applications to sea lamprey assessment and control (e.g., new trapping system design).
This project aims to design, develop, and test a low-cost portable smart panel system that autonomously (1) senses when an adult sea lamprey has attached to the panel, (2) records and transmits event data (time, pressure statistics, event duration), and (3) triggers auxiliary mechanisms, for example, activating a localized electric field to repel the attached lamprey. The proposed smart panel will have a modular architecture – they can be deployed individually at spots of interest (stream entries, trap sites, refuge habitats) or assembled into a larger panel for deployment at places like dams. The panel could incorporate an attractant (e.g., pheromone polymer emitter) to enhance encounter and attachment rate. Wireless cellular data module could remotely transfer data in near real-time from field to office. [...]
Circuit Dynamics of Sensorimotor Integration and Decision Making in Octopus (NIH)September 15, 2020https://msutoday.msu.edu/news/2020/no-bones-about-it-octopus-may-be-the-key-to-smart-prosthetics/ [...]