John R. Amend, Jr.

Ph.D. Candidate, Mechanical Engineering
Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Cornell University, Ithaca, New York

Graduate Research Assistant
Creative Machines Lab

News

I am interested in using robotic machines as platforms for exploring new research ideas. In particular, my work has spanned robotic grasping and manipulation, soft robotics, novel locomotion methods, and mechanical design. I am inspired by biological systems, evolutionary methods, and elegant mechanical devices.

I work with Hod Lipson at the Cornell Creative Machines Lab. Much of my current research involves exploiting the jamming phase transition of granular materials for physically adaptive robots.

With colleagues from the University of Chicago and iRobot, I designed and built the "Universal Jamming Gripper" that was featured on the cover of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). For more information see:

Research Overview Nature Popular Science Scientific American NewScientist MIT Technology Review Wired

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Bio

John R. Amend, Jr. received the B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from the State University of New York at Buffalo (SUNY Buffalo) in 2008. He is currently working toward the Ph.D. degree with the Creative Machines Lab at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.

In 2007 and 2008 he was involved in research activities with the Automation Robotics & Mechatronics Laboratory, and the Design of Open Engineering Systems Laboratory, both at SUNY Buffalo. He is a student member of the ASME, IEEE, and ASEE, and is a NSF Graduate Research Fellowship (NSF GRFP) recipient. His current research interests include using controlled granular jamming for physically adaptive robots. See full CV for more information...