"Innovation Accelerated"
Vision
"Innovation Accelerated"
Mission
The mission of the INVENT Lab is to help researchers and companies get technology developed and to market faster through development and application of innovation accelerating tools and new technology feasibility demonstration.
Research Areas
TRIBOLOGY OF TOUCH FOR HAPTIC PERCEPTION
Different surfaces feels differently when we perceive them with the sense of touch. In the touch interface, tribology (the study of friction and wear) is playing a very important, yet not fully understood role. In the current commercial market, there is an increasing interest in designing product surfaces to feel differently as well as create haptic or touch based, effects for virtual reality and improved human-machine interfaces. Therefore, in INVENT Lab, we are studying the tribology of touch for haptic perception to unravel this mystery and provide guidelines for future product surface and interface design.
TRIBOLOGY OF ROBOTIC INTERACTIONS
When a robot, regardless of its scale, interacts with its surrounding environment through locomotion and object manipulation, its performance depends on friction and adhesion in the interaction interface. For microscale robots, their efficiency of locomotion depends on the tribology of the interface: if there is not enough friction and adhesion force between the robot foot and the surface, the efficiency of locomotion is hindered. For macroscale robotic grippers, sufficient friction force is also needed for object manipulation. In INVENT Lab, we study the tribology of robotic interactions with a combination of experimental and theoretical approaches.
MEMS/NEMS CHARACTERIZATION
MEMS and NEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical Systems and Nano Electro Mechanical Systems) are important to the development of miniatureized high tech consumer and industrial products. These systems have been implemented in smartphones, automobiles, the aerospace industry, scientific instruments, and medical devices. Advancements in technology allow fabrication of these incredibly small sensors, actuators, optical and acoustical components, filters and detectors. Characterizing the motion of these systems not only will lead us toward an optimized design, but also can be implemented as a performance assessment tool. In the INVENT Lab, As a part of our research focus, we work on motion characterization at the micro/nano scale by utilizing advanced tools such as a scanning Laser Doppler Vibrometer (LDV) and custom designed motion capturing systems.
We study innovative and extreme aspects of light-matter interactions in natural and engineered nanostructures. We also work on translating and exploiting emerging concepts and cutting-edge technologies for applications in the light-enabled internet of things (IoT), Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR) quantum processing, clinical diagnosis, bioimaging, and sensing.
NANOPHOTONICS
ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING IN MICRO & NANOSCALE
In addressing emerging needs in energy, healthcare, and communication applications, additive manufacturing plays an essential role for its unique capability to control geometry, composition and functionality at length scale from nanoscale to macroscale. We study laser-material interactions and transport phenomena that occur over a wide range of time and length scales. The fundamental understanding has transformed into innovative solutions for Li-ion battery manufacturing, flexible and stretchable electronics, metamaterial and nanophotonics manufacturing.
