ABOUT OUR FACULTY
UD MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
IOANNIS POULAKAKIS
MICHAEL SANTARE
IOANNIS POULAKAKIS’ research interests are in the area of dynamics and control with application to bioinspired robotic systems, specifically legged robots. He is also interested in problems related to the dynamics of collective decision making in multiagent systems.
MICHAEL SANTARE joined the UD faculty in 1986. He was a founding member of UD’s Orthopedic and Biomechanical Engineering Center (now called the Center for Biomechanical Engineering Research) and served as its director from 1993 to 1998 and again from 2014 to 2017. He was also a founding faculty member of the nationally ranked interdisciplinary Biomechanics and Movement Science graduate program at the University.
Supported by a prestigious Faculty Early Career Development Award from the National Science Foundation, Poulakakis is investigating ways to regulate the cyclic motion of legged robots so they can perform tasks such as surveillance or exploration, jobs previously reserved for wheeled systems. Poulakakis and his team are focused on providing the necessary robotics science and technology to create dexterous, highly mobile legged robots that can autonomously plan actions in human-centric environments. They are working to develop real-time planning algorithms that can bridge the gap between a robot’s platform controls and higher-level motion planning objectives. If successful, this research will bring highly mobile and versatile robot platforms like legged machines closer to real-life applications in industry, agriculture and emergency response. For example, in supply chain management systems, legged robots could help companies rapidly reconfigure their production or assembly lines to adapt to changes in demand or new product designs. Similar to their counterparts in nature, small- and large-legged robots operate differently. The researchers are working with robots of different types and sizes so they can study the effect of scale on their approach. 24
Santare’s research focuses on the mechanics of materials and structures. He combines analytical and experimental studies to understand and predict the relationships among microstructure, mechanical response and material failure, with specific applications in the areas of fuel cells materials, composite and functionally graded materials and orthopedic biomechanics. His most recent publications have focused on mechanics of soft tissue damage and characteristics of polymer electrolyte membranes for fuel cell applications. He is a member of the mechanical engineering department’s Center for Fuel Cells and Batteries. Santare is a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and consults with private companies and law firms in addition to his academic research.