Gregory Campbell has succesfully defended his doctoral dissertation, “Elastomeric Strain Limitation for Design of Soft Pneumatic Actuators” under the guidance of Mark Yim, Asa Whitney Professor of Mechanical Engineering.
Campbell’s research represents an exciting step forward in the development of human-safe soft pneumatic actuators, focusing on the design, modeling, and strain-based control of these actuators to generate force in a safe and controlled manner. By investigating novel approaches, such as electroadhesive strain limiters, he has expanded the capabilities of soft robots, enabling them to perform complex, variable shape generation, rapid force application, and more precise inflation trajectories.
In his work, Campbell tackled critical challenges in controlling trajectory and response to external forces, employing a combination of theoretical modeling, active learning, and neural networks to refine the design of these soft actuators. His research promises to open up new possibilities for soft robots, with applications ranging from delicate human-robot interaction to complex, force-sensitive tasks.
Looking back on his time at Penn, Campbell reflects, recalling moments of excitement and challenge. He fondly remembers the early years of his PhD spent with his cohort, his time as a teaching assistant for MEAM 5100: Design of Mechatronic Systems, and the experiences that shaped both his academic and personal growth. “There were highs of my first publication and traveling for conferences. Then there were lows of a paper rejection and many, many failed experiments and prototypes,” Campbell recalls. “In the end my thesis couldn’t encapsulate everything that I learned from my time in the program, but it will be nice to have it published as a testament to what I’ve learned.”
Campbell will be starting a new chapter as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Lafayette College this August. His advice for future PhD students is simple but invaluable: “Get involved in the department. There are so many people to collaborate with and resources available to you, but it’s up to you to find and take advantage of those opportunities.”