Philipp Rothemund
Tenure track professor University of Stuttgart
Heisenbersgstr. 3
70569 Stuttgart
Germany
In September 2023, I will start a new research group Soft Robotics for Autonomous Systems at the University of Stuttgart. In my research group I will use a combination of theoretical and experimental tools from mechanics, physics, and materials science to study nonlinear phenomena found in soft systems with the goal to devise new intelligent soft robotic systems and smart structures. The outcome of this research has the potential to drastically improve the performance of soft autonomous systems and to enable autonomous systems with entirely new functions.
I am hiring PhD students and postdocs. Interesting candidates, please visit my personal homepage: www.rothemund-research.com
Prof. Philipp Rothemund joined the Robotic Materials Department in 2020 as a postdoctoral researcher. His research focus on developing a theoretical framework for the electromechanical behavior of electrohydraulic soft systems and improving their performance. In May 2023, He was appointed Tenure-Track Professor at the University of Stuttgart. As part of his research, Philipp derives analytical models and creates numerical models for electrohydraulic soft actuators. Based on these models, he creates new material systems, which drastically improve the performance of these actuators. Philipp’s research interests include nonlinear continuum mechanics, materials science, soft robotics, electroactive polymers, renewable energy sources, and energy harvesting.
Before joining the Robotic Materials Department, Philipp worked from 2019 to 2020 as a postdoctoral fellow in the Keplinger Research Group at the University of Colorado Boulder. In 2018, he received a Ph. D. in Engineering Sciences from Harvard University, where he also received a M. S. in Engineering Sciences in 2014. Philipp conducted his graduate research on the mechanics of Soft Actuators under the Supervision of Prof. Zhigang Suo and Prof. George M. Whitesides. Philipp also earned a M.S. and B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from ETH Zurich in 2012 and 2009, respectively.
Oral Presentations
11th International Conference on Soft Transducers and Electromechanically Active Polymers, Bristol, UK, June 2023 [invited talk]:
Electromechanical Modeling of Electrohydraulic HASEL Actuators
2023 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Workshop Soft Robotics: Fusing Function with Structure, London, UK, June 2023 [invited talk]:
Bistable elements for the embodied control of fluid flow in soft robots
IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (Robosoft) 2023, Workshop Mechanical and Fluidic Control of Untethered Soft Robots, Singapore, April 2023 [invited talk]:
Control of fluid-flow in soft robots with bistable elements
AIRS in the AIR, Shenzhen Institute of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, Online, September 2022, Keynote talk [invited talk]:
Physics of Hydraulically Amplified Self-Healing Electrostatic Actuators
EUROMECH Colloquium on Mechanics of Soft Active Polymers, Southampton, UK, August 2022 [invited talk]:
Electromechanical modeling of hydraulically amplified self-healing electrostatic actuators
TU Dresden, Chair of Microsystems, Seminar, Dresden, Germany, June 2022 [invited talk]:
Electromechanics of hydraulically amplified self-healing electrostatic actuators
Intelligent Machines? – Self-organized Nonlinear Dynamics of Machines across Scales (Intema 2022), Dresden, Germany, June 2022 [invited talk]:
Quasistatic and dynamic behavior of electrohydraulic HASEL actuators
Robosoft 2022, Edinburgh, UK, April 2022 [invited talk]:
Soft bistable valves for pressure-based feedback control of pneumatic soft robots
Imperial College London and London Centre for Nanotechnology, Online, November 2021 [invited talk]:
Mechanisms of Electrohydraulic Actuation in HASEL Actuators
Queen Mary University of London, Engineering Seminar, Online, May 2021 [invited talk]:
Physics of Electrohydraulic Actuation in HASEL Actuators
Step Anywhere, Online forum, March 2021 [invited talk]:
HASEL Artificial Muscles for a New Generation of Lifelike Robots
SPIE Smart Structures/NDE, Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices (EAPAD) XXIII, Online forum, March 2021:
Dynamics of Electrohydraulic HASEL Actuators
SES 2019 - Society of Engineering Science 56th Annual Technical Meeting, St. Louis, MO, USA, October 2019:
How Inhomogeneous Zipping Increases the Force Output of Peano-HASEL Actuators
Nerd Nite, Boulder, CO, USA, September 2019:
Artificial Muscles Made from Olive Oil, Chips Bags, and Contact Lenses
SPIE Smart Structures/NDE, Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices (EAPAD) XVI, San Diego, CA, USA, March 2014:
Durability of Dielectric Elastomer Actuators Made with Ionic Conductors
Poster Presentations
EuroEAP Conference: Online forum, June 2021:
Spider-inspired electrohydraulic soft-actuated joints.
Gordon Research Conference: Robotics, Ventura, CA, USA, January 2020:
Fundamentals of the Electromechanics of HASEL Actuators
Biodegradable electrohydraulic actuators for sustainable soft robots
Highlight video: Biodegradable Electrohydraulic Actuators for Sustainable Soft Robots (https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adf5551)
Spider-inspired electrohydraulic soft-actuated SES joints
Highlight video: Spider-Inspired Electrohydraulic Actuators for Fast, Soft-Actuated Joints (https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.202100916)
What links olive oil with prostheses?
In 2020 Philipp Rothemund participated in the television show Verknüpft on the French-German cultural television channel Arte. The show featured HASEL (Hydraulically amplified, self-healing, electrostatic) actuators as a promising new technology for robotics.
High Strain Peano-HASEL Actuators
Highlight video: High Strain Peano-HASEL Actuators (https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.201908821)
Interview for NTN24
In Summer 2013 Philipp Rothemund was interviewed for the show Science, Health, and Technology on the Spanish speaking news channel NTN24 for his work on stretchable, transparent, ionic conductors.
Stretchable, Transparent, Ionic Conductors
Highlight video: Stretchable, Transparent, Ionic Conductors (https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1240228)