MECH Seminar Series Presents: Dr. Bolei Deng

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Toward Electronics-Free Systems through Mechanical Intelligence

Abstract:

Intelligence in engineered systems is often associated with electronic sensors, processors, and controllers. In this talk, I will show how the physical structure of a system can itself play an active role in sensing, communication, and control. I will discuss how mechanical design can shift part of this functionality from electronics into the body, creating new opportunities for simpler and more adaptable systems.

First, I will show how linear mechanical waves can control complex behavior in structures and robots without distributed electronic controllers. By tuning the frequency of vibrational signals, we selectively address mechanical elements and coordinate their responses. I will then discuss how this approach extends to modular robots, allowing physically connected modules to communicate through vibration and enabling reconfigurable architectures.

Second, I will discuss how structural design can enhance a system’s sensing capabilities. Our approach is performance-driven brain–body co-design: gradients of the neural decoder’s prediction error are propagated through a differentiable mechanical simulator to optimize the body’s geometry alongside the decoder. This co-training reduces mean force-prediction error by factors of 4.2 in simulation and 1.7 in experiments, with an optimized single-sensor body outperforming the original body equipped with two sensors.

Together, these examples highlight a common principle: the body is not merely a passive structure to be controlled, but a designable component of intelligence. By combining wave-based control and communication with jointly trained physical and computational systems, this work points toward machines that achieve richer functionality with less electronic complexity.