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About

Xuan Chen is a pioneering researcher in soft robotics and smart materials, with a focus on bioinspired locomotion and light-driven actuation. Their most cited work, "A Millimeter‐Scale Snail Robot Based on a Light‐Powered Liquid Crystal Elastomer Continuous Actuator" (77 citations), introduces a novel crawling mechanism that mimics snail locomotion using traveling deformation of a soft body—a breakthrough for navigating challenging terrestrial environments at small scales. Chen also advanced the field with "Photodriven Self-Excited Hydrogel Oscillators" (20 citations), exploring self-sustained, untethered motion in soft robots through sophisticated material-stimuli interactions. Additionally, their research extends to industrial automation, as seen in "Research of Flexible Assembly of Miniature Circuit Breakers Based on Robot Trajectory Optimization" (5 citations), addressing rigid assembly challenges with flexible robotic methods. Chen contributed to the notable "Light‐Driven Soft Robot Mimics Caterpillar Locomotion in Natural Scale" (5 citations), demonstrating how liquid crystal elastomer films can be engineered to replicate natural movements. With a total of over 100 citations, Chen’s work bridges fundamental material science and practical robotics, offering key insights for students and researchers interested in soft, light-powered systems.