{"693394":{"#nid":"693394","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Yilin Cai Awarded for Adaptive Soft Robotics Research ","body":[{"value":"\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFourth-year Coulter BME Ph.D. student Yilin Cai received two awards recognizing research on modular soft robotic systems that can adapt to different tasks and environments. The project, \u003Cem\u003EModular Self-Reconfigurable Continuum Robot for Adaptive Loco-Manipulation\u003C\/em\u003E, explores how identical robotic modules can be rearranged into different configurations, contributing to research in adaptable robotics and physical intelligence. The honors recognize work conducted with faculty advisor Yue Chen and collaborator Zhefeng Huang on robotic systems designed to reconfigure in response to changing needs.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ERead the full story: \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bme.gatech.edu\/news\/yilin-cai-awarded-adaptive-soft-robotics-research\u0022\u003EYilin Cai Awarded for Adaptive Soft Robotics Research\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cdiv\u003EFourth-year Coulter BME Ph.D. student Yilin Cai earned top honors at the 2026 ASME Student Mechanism and Robot Design Competition and IROS for his research on modular, self-reconfigurable soft robots. Inspired by nature, the system uses interchangeable robotic building blocks that can be rearranged to perform different functions.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/div\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Coulter BME Ph.D. student Yilin Cai received two international awards for research on modular soft robots that can adapt to different tasks and environments."}],"uid":"36806","created_gmt":"2026-10-22 14:04:54","changed_gmt":"2026-10-22 14:11:42","author":"la66","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2026-10-22T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2026-10-22T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"681515":{"id":"681515","type":"image","title":"Robotics-Award-Yilin.png","body":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EYilin Cai (front) and Zhefeng Huang (rear) pose with the modular robotic system\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/em\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1792677901","gmt_created":"2026-10-22 14:05:01","changed":"1792677901","gmt_changed":"2026-10-22 14:05:01","alt":"Close-up of a modular, snake-like robotic device with exposed wiring, sensors, and claw-like grippers at both ends being held by two people in a laboratory setting. The flexible robotic structure features black and orange components connected by segmented joints.","file":{"fid":"265926","name":"Robotics-Award-Yilin.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/10\/22\/Robotics-Award-Yilin.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/10\/22\/Robotics-Award-Yilin.png","mime":"image\/png","size":908139,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/10\/22\/Robotics-Award-Yilin.png?itok=OdxRaz5t"}}},"media_ids":["681515"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/bme.gatech.edu\/news\/yilin-cai-awarded-adaptive-soft-robotics-research","title":"Yilin Cai Awarded for Adaptive Soft Robotics Research"}],"groups":[{"id":"1254","name":"Wallace H. Coulter Dept. of Biomedical Engineering"}],"categories":[{"id":"138","name":"Biotechnology, Health, Bioengineering, Genetics"},{"id":"145","name":"Engineering"},{"id":"152","name":"Robotics"},{"id":"193157","name":"Student Honors and Achievements"},{"id":"8862","name":"Student Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"667","name":"robotics"},{"id":"2855","name":"American Society of Mechanical Engineers"},{"id":"195302","name":"physical intelligence"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39521","name":"Robotics"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":["communications@bme.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}