Cynthia Sung
Associate Professor, MEAM; Secondary faculty, CIS & ESE
Cynthia Sung is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics (MEAM) and a member of the General Robotics, Automation, Sensing & Perception (GRASP) lab at the University of Pennsylvania. She completed a Ph.D. (2016) in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT, advised by Prof. Daniela Rus, and a B.S. (2011) in Mechanical Engineering from Rice University. Her research interest is computational design and fabrication for robotic systems, with a particular focus on origami-inspired and compliant robots. She is the recipient of a 2023 ONR Young Investigator award, 2019 NSF CAREER award, 2020 Johnson & Johnson Women in STEM2D Scholars Award, and a 2017 Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Award.
Research Groups
Projects
Publications
Publisher ArXiv
KGripper: A Push-On Lift-Twist-Off Passive Perching Mechanism
Publisher Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics
Publisher Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Global Open
Design and Fabrication of Origami-Inspired Knitted Fabrics for Soft Robotics
Publisher RoboSoft
Publisher ICRA
Liebau Pumping Enables Valveless Soft Swimmer Robot
Publisher ISER
Effect of Jet Coordination on Underwater Propulsion with the Multi-Robot SALP System
Publisher International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft)
Coupled jet coordination and physical arrangement in salp-inspired multi-robot swimming
Publisher Bioinspiration & Biomimetics
Artistic Non-Inertial Tracer (ANT): an Educational Kit for a 3-Link Origami Slithering Robot
Publisher ASEE
Improving robot legged locomotion through mechanics-aware design and control
Publisher Unmanned Systems Technology XXVII
Mapping Terrain Properties and Traversal Risk by Walking
Publisher APS Global Physics Summit
Publisher 8OSME
Knowledge-based Neural Ordinary Differential Equations for Cosserat Rod-based Soft Robots
Publisher ArXiv
Publisher Handbook on Soft Robotics
Supplementary Materials: Reparametrization of 3D CSC Dubins Paths Enabling 2D Search
Publisher International Workshop on Algorithmic Foundations of Robotics (WAFR)
Publisher University of Pennsylvania
Reparametrization of 3D CSC Dubins paths enabling 2D search
Publisher International Workshop on the Algorithmic Foundations of Robotics
Publisher International Meeting on Origami in Science, Mathematics and Education
Publisher Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics
A Low-Cost, Adaptable System for Lift and Drag Measurement in an Educational Wind Tunnel
Publisher 2024 ASEE annual conference & exposition
Origami-Inspired Bistable Gripper with Self-Sensing Capabilities
Publisher RoboSoft
Online Optimization of Soft Manipulator Mechanics via Hierarchical Control
Publisher RoboSoft
Publisher IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems
Design and Control of a Tunable-Stiffness Coiled-Spring Actuator
Publisher IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation
A Task-to-Intelligence Mapping: When is embodied intelligence worth designing?
Publisher IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering
Electronics Design and Verification for Robots With Actuation and Sensing Requirements
Publisher International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference
Publisher International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference
Drag Coefficient Characterization of the Origami Magic Ball
Publisher ASME International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference
Computational Robot Design and Customization
Publisher Robotica
Kinegami: Algorithmic Design of Compliant Kinematic Chains From Tubular Origami
Publisher IEEE Transactions on Robotics
Increasing Reliability of Self-Folding of the Origami Hypar
Publisher ASME Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics
Forward kinematics and control of a segmented tunable-stiffness 3-D continuum manipulator
Publisher IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation
EvoRobogami: co-designing with humans in evolutionary robotics experiments
Publisher Proceedings of the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference
Publisher ICRA
TrussBot: Modeling, Design, and Control of a Compliant, Helical Truss of Tetrahedral Modules
Publisher ICRA
Tendon-Driven Auxetic Tubular Springs for Resilient Hopping Robots
Publisher Advanced Intelligent Systems
Soft Hybrid Aerial Vehicle via Bistable Mechanism
Publisher IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)
Origami-inspired robot that swims via jet propulsion
Publisher IEEE
Programmable Stiffness and Applications of 3D Printed TPU Grid Lattices
Publisher International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference
Carbon fiber–aluminum sandwich for micro-aerial vehicles and miniature robots
Publisher MRS Advances
Push-On Push-Off: A Compliant Bistable Gripper with Mechanical Sensing and Actuation
Publisher RoboSoft
REBOund: Untethered origami jumping robot with controllable jump height
Publisher Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
Microfabricated Foldable Wings for Centimeter-Scale Microflyers
Publisher Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems
Optimal structure synthesis for environment augmenting robots
Publisher Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
Animatronic soft robots by additive folding
Publisher SAGE Publications
Automated fabrication of foldable robots using thick materials
Publisher Springer
Leveraging compliance in origami robot legs for robust and natural locomotion
Publisher International Meeting of Origami Science, Mathematics, and Education
Programmable 3-d surfaces using origami tessellations
Publisher International Meeting on Origami in Science, Mathematics, and Education (OSME)
Publisher Science Robotics
Functional co-optimization of articulated robots
Publisher Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
Interactive robogami: An end-to-end system for design of robots with ground locomotion
Publisher International Journal of Robotics Research (IJRR)
Self-folded soft robotic structures with controllable joints
Publisher Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
News
Faculty News
Cynthia Sung Receives Army Early Career Award to Make Robots Move Like Animals
June 14, 2024
Faculty News
May 22, 2024
GRASP News
Student News
May 15, 2024
Faculty News
GRASP News
Student News
A Centimeter-Scale Quadruped Leverages Curved-Crease Origami
October 25, 2023
Faculty News
Cynthia Sung Receives 2023 IEEE Young Electrical Engineer of the Year Award
May 19, 2023
Faculty News
How do you make robots more accessible to non-experts? This Penn researcher has some ideas
April 3, 2023
Faculty News
Johnson & Johnson Announces Winners of 2020 Women in STEM2D Scholars Award
June 18, 2020
Faculty News
Six ASME Nominees Named for the 2017 New Faces of Engineering Program
February 24, 2017
Ph.D. Students
Alumni
Research Assistant, Sung Robotics Lab '24-'25 - Mechatronics Engineer, Rapyuta Robotics
PhD, ESE '22, Postdoctoral Researcher, ESE '22-'26 - Assistant Professor, North Carolina State University
Dr. Cynthia Sung and Sung Robotics
Research Areas
- Computational Design
- Origami Robots
- Soft Robotics