Jiaqi Wang 王家琪 /dʒiˈɑː tʃiː ; wɑːŋ/(Last updated: 05/2026)

Email: wangjq [at] umich [dot] edu

I am a third-year Ph.D. candidate in Robotics at ROBO@UMich, advised by Prof. Xiaonan (Sean) Huang. I am currently also a full-time Ph.D. Research Intern at NVIDIA GEAR. Previously, I received my B.S. degree, summa cum laude, in Mechanical Engineering from QianClass at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, where I ranked 1st out of 430 students. For more information, please see my CV.

[Google Scholar] [Curriculum Vitae]

News

[2026.08] A journal paper is accepted by Science Advances.
[2026.06] I will join NVIDIA GEAR as a full-time Ph.D. Research Intern for six months.
[2026.05] A journal paper is accepted by Nature NPJ Robotics.
[2026.04] Two conference papers are accepted by IEEE RoboSoft 2026.
[2025.12] A journal paper is accepted by Extreme Mechanics Letters (cover paper).
[2025.10] I will be giving a talk for SES Annual Technical Meeting 2025.
[2025.09] A journal paper is accepted by Advanced Science.
[2025.07] I will be giving a talk for MARSS2025.
[2025.05] I passed my Ph.D. qualifying exam (oral) with the highest score in the Robotics Department.
Scores: 20/20, 20/20, and 19/20 from three professors.
Passing average: 14/20.
[2025.01] I will be a graduate student instructor (GSI) for ROB 599 - Soft Robotics.
[2024.03] I will be giving a talk for APS March Meeting 2024.
[2024.01] I will be a graduate student instructor (GSI) for ROB 599 - Soft Robotics.
[2023.12] An abstract is accepted by APS March Meeting 2024.
[2023.12] A journal paper is accepted by IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics.
[2023.04] I was honored as an Outstanding Graduate of Shanghai.
[2023.03] I will start as a Ph.D. student at ROBO@Umich from fall 2023.

Research Interests

Robotics, Hardware

Publications ( show selected / show all by date / show all by category )

Categories: Journal / Conference / Workshop (*/†: indicates equal contribution/ project leader.)

Large Language Models as Natural Selector for Embodied Soft Robot Design.

Changhe Chen, Xiaohao Xu, Xiangdong Wang, Jiaqi Wang, Xiaonan Huang

IEEE RoboSoft 2026

Whole-Body Proprioceptive Morphing: A Modular Soft Gripper for Robust Cross-Scale Grasping.

Dong Heon Han, Xiaohao Xu, Yuxi Chen, Yusheng Zhou, Xinqi Zhang, Jiaqi Wang, Daniel Bruder Xiaonan Huang

IEEE RoboSoft 2026

Soft electrostatic clutches program strain transmission in multifunctional soft robots.

Jiaqi Wang, Dezhong Tong, Zexiong Chen, Xiaonan Huang

[In preparation]

Geometry-controlled instability pathway selection in elastic helices enables fast, efficient robotic locomotion.

Jiaqi Wang, Dezhong Tong, Zexiong Chen, Xiaonan Huang, Khalid Jawed Mohammad

[Science Advance]

Highly Deformable Proprioceptive Membrane for Real-Time 3D Shape Reconstruction.

Guanyu Xu, Jiaqi Wang*†, Dezhong Tong, Xiaonan Huang

[Advanced Robotics Research (under review)]

SPPIRO: A Soft, Power-Autonomous, Proprioceptive In-Pipe RObot for Adaptive Inspection in Complex Pipeline Environments

Zexiong Chen, Xinqi Zhang, Jiaqi Wang†, Xiaonan Huang

[Nature NPJ Robotics]

Discrete differential geometry for simulating nonlinear behaviors of flexible systems: A survey

Dezhong Tong, Andrew Choi, Jiaqi Wang*, Weicheng Huang, Zexiong Chen, Jiahao Li, Xiaonan Huang, Mingchao Liu, Huajian Gao, K. Jimmy Hsia

[Extreme Mechanics Letters (Cover paper)]

Origami-Inspired Soft Robotic Arm: A Modular Platform for Manipulation.

Jiyang Wang, Yuchen You, Xinqi Zhang, Haobo Fang, Jiaqi Wang†, Xiaonan Huang

[ICRA 2025 Workshop]

SPARC: A Soft, Proprioceptive, Agile Robot for 3D Climbing and Exploration with Precise Trajectory Following

Weicheng Fan, Jiaqi Wang, Hongjian Zhang, Qichen Wu, Genliang Chen, Hao Wang, Xiaonan Huang

[Advanced Science]

Vacuum-Driven Parallel Continuum Robots With Self-Sensing Origami Linkages

Weicheng Fan, Jiaqi Wang, Zhuang Zhang, Genliang Chen, Hao Wang

[IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics]