Mechanical and Civil Engineering Seminar
Mechanical and Civil Engineering Seminar Series
Title: " Characterizing and Utilizing Terrain Responses for Robot-aided Earth and Planetary Explorations "
Abstract:
Robot-aided exploration is central to advancing Earth and planetary science, yet many high-value scientific targets, such as Martian dunes, lunar craters, muddy forests, and snowy mountains, remain difficult to access. These environments are characterized by loose, deformable substrates whose mechanical behavior is governed by complex granular rearrangement, porosity, cohesion, and particle–fluid or particle–ice interactions. Such processes control whether a substrate behaves in a solid-like or fluidized manner, directly challenging robotic mobility, sensing, and sampling.
To address these challenges, my group integrates granular physics, locomotion science, and proprioceptive sensing, to develop new strategies for robotic characterization of deformable terrains on Earth and other planetary bodies. Our work focuses on linking substrate force responses and yield behaviors to robot locomotion and sensing outcomes.
In this talk, I will begin with force responses in dry, homogeneous granular media, showing how the relationship between applied stress and yield stress governs solid-like versus fluid-like behavior and, in turn, robot mobility. Leveraging the high force transparency of direct-drive actuators, we demonstrate that legged robots can use their limbs as proprioceptive sensors, inferring terramechanical properties opportunistically from every step. I will then extend this discussion to cohesive substrates, including wet sand and mud, where attractive interparticle forces and pore-fluid effects introduce new locomotion failure modes and necessitate different locomotion strategies. Finally, I will discuss our ongoing efforts to understand ice-cemented regolith, highlighting newly observed force responses, locomotion failure modes, and their underlying physical mechanisms. I will conclude with a broader vision of how systematic characterization and utilization of terrain responses can enable enhanced robotic mobility and new scientific discovery across Earth and planetary environments.
Bio: Feifei Qian is an Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at University of Southern California. Qian received her PhD in Electrical Engineering and M.S. in Physics from Georgia Institute of Technology. Prior to her appointment at USC, she worked in the GRASP lab at University of Pennsylvania as a postdoctoral fellow. Her research interests include bio-inspired robotics, legged locomotion, terrain mechanics, proprioceptive sensing and human-robot teaming, with applications to robot-aided earth and planetary explorations. Qian's research has been recognized with NSF CAREER award, Charles Lee Powell Foundation Faculty Research Award, Best student paper award from the Robotics Science and Systems (RSS) conference, and has been featured by media outlets including BBC News, CBS News, Reuters, NPR Weekend Edition, IEEE Spectrum, Wired, and R&D Magazine. She currently serves as an Associate Editor for IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L). She has also served as an Associate Editor for the 2023 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), the Organizing Committee for the 2025 Robotics Science and Systems (RSS) conference, and the Program Committees for the 25th International Conference on Climbing and Walking Robots (CLAWAR), the 2021 Robotics Science and Systems (RSS) Inclusion Program, and the 2019 Robotics Science and Systems (RSS) Pioneer Program.