Micromachines Webinar | Development of Intelligent Robots with Advanced Materials
the chair
Micromachines Webinar
Development of Intelligent Robots with Advanced Materials
I am pleased to introduce the webinar “Development of Intelligent Robots with Advanced Materials”, organized by Micromachines. Micromachines (ISSN 2072-666X) is an international, peer-reviewed, open access journal that provides an advanced forum for studies on micro/nano-scaled structures, materials, devices and systems. For more details, please visit https://www.mdpi.com/journal/micromachines.
This webinar brings together two leading experts to explore cutting-edge developments in the field of intelligent robotics and materials.
• Prof. Hao Zeng (Tampere University, Finland) will discuss “feedback” in a broader conceptual context.
• Dr. Minghan Hu (ETH Zurich, Switzerland) will introduce the increasing intelligence of microrobots through colloidal assembly.
Chair: Prof. Yinyin Bao (University of Helsinki, Finland)
Date: 26 January 2026
Time: 2:00 pm CET | 8:00 am EDT | 9:00 pm CST Asia
Webinar ID: 828 5509 8572
Webinar Secretariat: journal.webinar@mdpi.com
Meet the Event Chair
Meet Our Speakers
Dr. Hao Zeng
Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland;
Hao Zeng is an Associate Professor of Soft Matter Robotics at Tampere University and a Finland Academy Research Fellow. He leads the Light Robots research group, which explores the intersection of physics, soft mechanics, and materials engineering.
Dr. Zeng earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in Photonics from Nankai University, followed by a Ph.D. in Photonics from the University of Florence in 2015. His research focuses on materials robotics—systems that are out of equilibrium, interactive, and capable of communication. He was awarded an ERC Starting Grant by the European Research Council in 2022.
Dr. Minghan Hu
Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland;
Dr. Minghan Hu is a Group Leader at the Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering at ETH Zurich.
Minghan was born in Nanning, China, and earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Materials Science from the Beijing University of Chemical Technology. Following his studies, Minghan pursued his Ph.D. in Chemistry at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz, Germany, where he graduated in January 2019. His doctoral research was conducted under the joint supervision of Prof. Katharina Landfester, Prof. Héloïse Thérien-Aubin, and Dr. Markus Bannwarth. After a brief postdoctoral position in Mainz, Minghan continued his research journey at ETH Zurich as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Laboratory for Soft Materials and Interfaces, led by Prof. Lucio Isa.
In 2024, Minghan established his group with the support of an SNSF Ambizione grant, focusing on advancing soft materials towards developing intelligent micromachines, with a particular emphasis on biomedical applications.
First, Prof. Hao Zeng presented the recent progress in light-driven soft robots based on cutting-edge liquid crystal elastomers developed by his group. This was followed by Dr. Minghan Hu, who introduced his group’s advances in developing microrobots through state-of-the-art microfluidic techniques and colloidal assemblies.
The webinar was hosted via Zoom and required registration to attend. The full recording can be found below. In order to learn about future webinars, you can sign up to our newsletter by clicking “Subscribe” at the top of the page.
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