Xiaoyu (Rayne) Zheng (Advisor)

While piezoelectricity in bulk crystals is strictly confined by lattice symmetry, architected metamaterials overcome these limits, unlocking previously forbidden electromechanical couplings via mesoscale geometry. However, a comprehensive framework relating metamaterial topology to the full piezoelectric tensor remains absent, particularly in the dynamic regime where structural resonances render responses highly frequency dependent. Furthermore, current AI-driven design methods focus on static properties or natural crystals, leaving dynamic tensor discovery largely out of reach.

...

Force decoupling is essential for high-fidelity proprioception sensing in robotic systems. However, existing approaches rely on bulky multi-axis transducers or complex signal post-processing, hindering response speed and scalability. This work presents a force sensor employing a compliant mechanism-inspired meta-structure to mechanically decouple multidirectional forces. The metamaterial structure redistributes internal stiffness to channel force components into desired sensing elements while attenuating off-axis loads. This geometry-driven approach achieves high directional sensitivity (...