Max Robotics — Global Service Robot Directory + US Certification

About

Yangchengyi Liu is pioneering the next generation of smart adhesives and robotic skins, tackling fundamental challenges at the intersection of materials science and soft robotics. His research focuses on overcoming the "adhesion paradox"—the drastic loss of adhesion on rough surfaces—and the "switchability conflict," where materials struggle to both grip strongly and release easily. Liu’s landmark 2023 work introduced shape-memory polymers that can conform to rough textures, achieving robust, on-demand adhesion with over 110 citations. He further advanced the field with a versatile adhesive skin (2025, 51 citations) that endows robots with both heavy-load carrying and fine manipulation capabilities. To address stretchability in strain sensors, Liu developed a strain-isolation bridge structure (2019, 29 citations), enabling sensors to detect subtle strains while surviving large deformations. Most recently, his shape-adaptive mechanical metastructure (2025) allows planar grippers to dynamically capture irregular, fast-moving 3D objects. With a growing citation impact exceeding 190 total citations, Liu’s work is redefining how robots interact with their environment, promising transformative applications in manufacturing, prosthetics, and wearable technology.