Mark Yim
Director, GRASP Lab; Faculty Director, Design Studio (Venture Labs); Asa Whitney Professor, MEAM
Mark’s research interests began with modular robots that are made up of identical active components that can be arranged to form many different configurations, ranging from a snake robot to a humanoid to a 17 legged centipede. These systems can also self-reconfigure, changing the robot’s shape to suit the task. In addition to self-reconfiguring and self-assembling robots, Mark has also started work on flying robots, and task specification, working to figure out how to specify a task so that a robot configuration can optimally satisfy that task.
Research Areas
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Research Groups
Startups
Projects
Publications
Learning Local Urban Wind Flow Fields From Range Sensing
Publisher IEEE
Control of Silicone-Sheathed Electrostatic Clutches for Soft Pneumatic Actuator Position Control
Publisher IEEE
Multimodal Proximity and Visuotactile Sensing with a Selectively Transmissive Soft Membrane
Publisher IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics
Amplitude Control for Parallel Lattices of Docked Modboats
Publisher International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)
A Linking Invariant for Truss Robot Motion Planning
Publisher ICRA
SMORES-EP, a Modular Robot with Parallel Self-assembly
Publisher ICRA
Docking and Undocking a Modular Underactuated Oscillating Swimming Robot
Publisher IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)
Dynamic Grasping for Object Picking Using Passive Zero-DOF End Effectors
Publisher IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)
Topological Reconfiguration Planning for a Variable Topology Truss
Publisher Journal of Mechanisms Robotics
Thrust Direction Control of an Under-actuated Oscillating Swimming Robot
Publisher IEEE Conference Publication | IEEE Xplore
Finding Structure Configurations for Flying Modular Robots
Publisher IEEE
Quori: A Community-Informed Design of a Socially Interactive Humanoid Robot
Publisher The IEEE Transactions on Robotics (T-RO), ICRA
A Fast Configuration Space Algorithm for Variable Topology Truss Modular Robots
Publisher IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)
A Novel Underactuated End-Effector for Planar Sequential Grasping of Multiple Objects
Publisher IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)
A quadratic programming approach to modular robot control and motion planning
Publisher International Rescue Committee (IRC)
Exploring Low-Cost Mobile Manipulation for Elder Care Within a Community Based Setting
Publisher Journal of Intelligent and Robotic Systems
ModQuad-DoF: A Novel Yaw Actuation for Modular Quadrotors
Publisher IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)
Motion planning for variable topology truss modular robot
Publisher IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS)
Parallel Self-Assembly with SMORES-EP, a Modular Robot
Publisher IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)
Pauses Provide Effective Control for an Underactuated Oscillating Swimming Robot
Publisher IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L)
Polygon-Based Random Tree Search Planning for Variable Geometry Truss Robot
Publisher IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L)
Reconfiguration Solution of a Variable Topology Truss: Design and Experiment
Publisher IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)
Robots made from ice: an analysis of manufacturing techniques
Publisher IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS)
A Distributed Reconfiguration Planning Algorithm for Modular Robots
Publisher IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L)
ModQuad-Vi: A Vision-Based Self-Assembling Modular Quadrotor
Publisher IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)
Optimal structure synthesis for environment augmenting robots
Publisher Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
Optimization-Based Nonimpact Rolling Locomotion of a Variable Geometry Truss
Publisher IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L)
Publisher IEEE ICRA Workshop: Mobile Robot Assistants for the Elderly (MoRobAE)
Reconfiguration Motion Planning for Variable Topology Truss
Publisher IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS)
Shape morphing for variable topology truss
Publisher International Conference on Ubiquitous Robots (UR)
Spiral Zipper Manipulator for Aerial Grasping and Manipulation
Publisher IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS)
Toward lateral aerial grasping manipulation using scalable suction
Publisher IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)
A flying gripper based on cuboid modular robots
Publisher Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
Accomplishing high-level tasks with modular robots
Publisher Autonomous Robots
An integrated system for perception-driven autonomy with modular robots
Publisher Science Robotics
Cyclic blade pitch control without a swashplate for small helicopters
Publisher Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics
Publisher IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN)
Publisher IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS)
Emulating a Fully Actuated Aerial Vehicle Using Two Actuators
Publisher IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)
Low cost optical mechanical system for human robot interaction
Publisher ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition (IMECE)
ModQuad: The flying modular structure that self-assembles in Midair
Publisher IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)
Object Picking Through In-Hand Manipulation Using Passive End-Effectors with Zero Mobility
Publisher IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L)
Perception-Informed Autonomous Environment Augmentation with Modular Robots
Publisher IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)
Preliminary system and hardware design for quori, a low-cost, modular, socially interactive robot
Publisher Annual ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI)
Robotic edge-rolling manipulation: A grasp planning approach
Publisher IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L)
Scalability of cyclic control without blade pitch actuators
Publisher AIAA Atmospheric Flight Mechanics Conference
Publisher Clinical Nursing Research
Variable Topology Truss: Hardware Overview, Reconfiguration Planning and Locomotion
Publisher International Conference on Ubiquitous Robots (UR)
A decentralized algorithm for assembling structures with modular robots
Publisher IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS)
An end-to-end system for accomplishing tasks with modular robots: Perspectives for the AI community
Publisher International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI)
Configuration recognition with distributed information for modular robot
Publisher International Symposium on Robotics Research (ISRR)
Cyclic blade pitch control for small UAV without a swashplate
Publisher AIAA Atmospheric Flight Mechanics Conference
Designing for uniform mobility using holonomicity
Publisher IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)
Evaluating older adults’ interaction with a mobile assistive robot
Publisher IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS)
Kinematics of variable topology truss using affine coordinate transformation
Publisher International Conference on Ubiquitous Robots and Ambient Intelligence (URAI)
Modular robot connector area of acceptance from configuration space obstacles
Publisher IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS)
PaintPots: Low cost, accurate, highly customizable potentiometers for position sensing
Publisher IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)
Piccolissimo: The smallest micro aerial vehicle
Publisher IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)
Publisher Eastern Nursing Research Society
Publisher Nursing Research
Publisher International Journal of Social Robotics
Towards a variable topology truss for shoring
Publisher International Conference on Ubiquitous Robots and Ambient Intelligence (URAI)
Truss optimization with random piecewise linear beams
Publisher ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition (IMECE)
Variable topology truss: Design and analysis
Publisher IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS)
A simulator for origami-inspired self-reconfigurable robots
Publisher International Meeting of Origami Science, Mathematics, and Education
Publisher International Journal of Robotics Research (IJRR)
An end-to-end system for accomplishing tasks with modular robots
Publisher Robotics: Science and Systems (RSS)
Anticogging: Torque ripple suppression, modeling, and parameter selection
Publisher International Journal of Robotics Research (IJRR)
Assembly sequence planning for constructing planar structures with rectangular modules
Publisher IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)
Design and characterization of the EP-Face connector
Publisher IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS)
Design of a spherical robot arm with the Spiral Zipper prismatic joint
Publisher IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)
Publisher Springer Handbook of Robotics
Origami 5: Fifth International Meeting of Origami Science, Mathematics, and Education
Publisher International Meeting of Origami Science, Mathematics, and Education
Publisher International Meeting of Origami Science, Mathematics, and Education
Restraining objects with curved effectors and its application to whole-arm grasping
Publisher Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics
Self-reconfigurable modular connection systems
Publisher IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS)
Automated Self-Assembly of Large Maritime Structures by a Team of Robotic Boats
Publisher IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering (T-ASE)
Computer-aided compositional design and verification for modular robots
Publisher International Symposium on Robotics Research (ISRR)
Flight performance of a swashplateless micro air vehicle
Publisher IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)
Friction binding study and remedy design for tethered search and rescue robots
Publisher IEEE International Symposium on Safety, Security, and Rescue Robotics (SSRR)
Modular reconfigurable robotic systems: lattice automata
Publisher Robots and Lattice Automata
Older Adults And Clinicians Guiding The Design Of A Low-Cost Assistive Mobile Robot
Publisher The gerontologist
On embeddability of modular robot designs
Publisher IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)
Passive stability of vehicles without angular momentum including quadrotors and ornithopters
Publisher IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)
Rapid co-design of electro-mechanical specifications for robotic systems
Publisher ASME International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering (IDETC/CIE)
Soft robotics applied to architecture
Publisher Association for Computer-Aided Design in Architecture International Conference (ACADIA)
Team THOR’s Entry in the DARPA Robotics Challenge Trials 2013
Publisher Journal of Field Robotics
News
Faculty News
Testing a novel, community-driven response to heat islands in Philadelphia
September 11, 2024
Faculty News
Penn Engineering’s GRASP Lab Helps Lead $5M Effort to Accelerate Robotics Research
June 27, 2023
Faculty News
GRASP News
Penn Summer Academy Concludes with Robotic Musical Performance
August 10, 2022
Faculty News
Two Penn Research Teams Win NSF Awards to Pursue ‘the Future of Manufacturing’
December 14, 2020
Faculty News
Dr. Mark Yim named Faculty Director for the Design Studio at the new Tangen Hall
August 31, 2020
GRASP News
This Philadelphia art exhibit pushes the envelope with designs for the Future
February 7, 2020
GRASP News
Penn Engineering and the Philadelphia Museum of Art Join Forces to Envision the Future
November 12, 2019
Student News
Designing autonomous robots that change shape to adapt to challenging environments
October 31, 2018
GRASP News
Guinness recognizes Piccolissimo as world’s smallest self-powered flying robot
August 16, 2018
GRASP News
Simple Robots Perform Complex Tasks With Environmental Modifications in IEEE Spectrum
May 31, 2018
GRASP News
“Penn Engineering Offers an Online MicroMasters in Robotics” in Penn Engineering
February 28, 2017
Faculty News
January 13, 2017
GRASP News
“Piccolissimo joins the ranks of ultra-tiny flying robots” in Tech Crunch
October 31, 2016
GRASP News
“Spiral Zipper Creates Robot Arm Out of a Strip of Plastic” on IEEE Spectrum
May 18, 2016
GRASP News
July 14, 2015
Faculty News
December 11, 2014
Faculty News
Mark Yim was cited in mobilitytechzone.com in “The next robot revolution.”
November 24, 2014
Faculty News
Dr. Mark Yim comments in “1,000-Robot Swarm Created by Researchers” on Scientific American
September 18, 2014
Faculty News
Dr. Mark Yim comments in “Hotel’s Robotic Butler Is Not Quite ‘Rosie'” on TechNewsWorld
September 18, 2014
GRASP News
Penn Engineering’s GRASP Lab, Wharton’s Mack Institute Take Y-Prize Global in Penn News
October 2, 2013
Dr. Mark Yim on ASME.org…”Video: Current Trends and Challenges in Modular Robotics”
November 9, 2012
Faculty News
May 12, 2009
Ph.D. Students
Alumni
Robotics MSE '19, PhD, MEAM '24 - Postdoctoral Research Asssociate, University of Southern California
PhD, MEAM '21 - Postdoctoral Researcher, University of California, Riverside
Inside the GRASP Lab – Dr. Mark Yim and Modlab
Research Areas
- Humanoid Robots for Elder Care
- Modular Self-reconfigurable Robots
- Flying Robots
- Self-assembling Aquatic Bots