Events
CILVR Seminar: Advancing Robot Design through Morphology and Fluid Environment Interactions
Speaker: Nana Obayashi (NYU)
Location:
60 Fifth Avenue, Room 7th floor open space
Videoconference link:
https://nyu.zoom.us/j/96673835097
Date: Wednesday, March 25, 2026
Water covers over two-thirds of our planet. These vast waters provide us with a lot of resources, but much of it remains unexplored. Understanding fluid environments is crucial for advancing sustainability, environmental monitoring, and more. To do so, we require robots capable of thriving in complex real-world conditions—robots that can monitor, interact with, and exploit fluid environments like water and air to exhibit intelligent behavior for diverse tasks. From sea-creature-inspired robots to “robot scientists” that autonomously fabricate, experiment, and analyze paper airplane flights, this talk will explore how robots, particularly their morphology—their body shape and structure—can be designed to leverage fluid-solid interactions, enabling intelligent behaviors that enhance robustness and efficiency. These design methodologies can play a key role in transforming the processes of robot design, enabling the creation of better robots for sustainability.
Bio: Nana Obayashi recently started at NYU Tandon and set up the Prema Lab which focuses on designing robot systems and methodologies that interact with and exploit complex environments to be robust and efficient. The lab has a specific focus on bio-inspired soft robotics, fluid interactions, and robotic automation. She previously completed her BS and MS studies at Georgia Institute of Technology. Her PhD studies were at EPFL in Switzerland, including a research residency at the University of Cambridge. Her PhD focused on the design, modelling, and optimization of robots that exploit fluid-structure interactions. She has industry experience as an aerodynamics and performance engineer in the aviation and automotive sectors. Her work has been published in Science Robotics, Nature Scientific Reports, and Soft Robotics amongst others. Additionally, she received the Amelia Earhart Award and was named an RSS Pioneer.