Yanda Yang

About Me

I'm currently a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Delaware (UD). I work as a research assistant in the Soft Microrobots for Tissue Engineering Lab (SMT), supervised by Dr. Sambeeta Das. My research interests include microrobotics, path planning, and reinforcement learning.

I obtained my B.E. in Measurement, Control Technology and Instrumentation from the Beijing Jiaotong University (BJTU) in 2019 and an M.Sc. in Robotics from the University of Bristol (UoB) in 2020. During my graduate study, I completed my master's thesis at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory (BRL).

Before joining UD, I was a research assistant in the Advanced Actuators and Robotics Lab (AAR) at the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech), supervised by Dr. Hongqiang Wang. From Oct–Dec 2024, I was a full-time visiting graduate student in the Johan Paulsson Lab at Harvard Medical School.

News

• 09/2025
  Preprint of our new paper posted on arXiv.
• 08/2025
  Passed Ph.D. candidacy exam.
• 12/2024
  Presented a poster at the 2024 MRS Fall Meeting & Exhibit.
• 11/2024
  IEEE TBME paper accepted.
• 10/2024
  Began as a full-time visiting graduate student at Harvard Medical School.
• 01/2024
  Passed Ph.D. qualifying exam.
• 07/2023
  Two papers accepted to MARSS; one nominated for Best Student Paper Award.

Research

Microrobot Vascular Parkour: Analytic geometry-based path planning with real-time dynamic obstacle avoidance

Yanda Yang, Max Sokolich, Fatma Ceren Kirmizitas, Sambeeta Das, Andreas A. Malikopoulos.

arXiv More videos

Developed a real-time framework that couples an analytic-geometry global planner (AGP) with local escape controllers (rule-based and RL-based) for microrobot navigation and dynamic obstacle avoidance.

Quadrupole magnetic tweezers for precise cell transportation

Yanda Yang, Max Sokolich, Sudipta Mallick, Sambeeta Das. IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, 2024

IEEE Xplore

Built and validated a quadrupole magnetic tweezer system enabling precise cell transport.

Rolling helical microrobots for cell patterning

Yanda Yang, Fatma Ceren Kirmizitas, Max Sokolich, Alejandra Valencia, David Rivas, M Çağatay Karakan, Alice E White, Andreas A Malikopoulos, Sambeeta Das. MARSS, 2023

Best Student Paper Award Nomination

IEEE Xplore

Designed a rolling helical microrobot for cell patterning and closed-loop control algorithm.

Closed-loop control of bubble-propelled microrobots

Yanda Yang, David Rivas, Max Sokolich, Sambeeta Das. MARSS, 2023

IEEE Xplore

Developed the closed-loop control algorithm for bubble-propelled microrobots.

Projects

• Two-Wheel Self-Balancing Robot
  2023

  Designed a two-wheel self-balancing robot with accelerometer and custom wireless controller. Final version added wheels and a servo-powered lifting mechanism, demonstrated in competition.

  
• Accurate Positioning of the End Effector of a 7-DOF Manipulator
  2023

  Project on accurate end-effector positioning for a 7-DOF KUKA manipulator using ArUco markers. Involved DH analysis, kinematics, trajectory planning, and validation on simulation and actual robot.

  
• Railway Foreign Object Detection System Based on Deep Learning
  2019

  Developed a high-speed railway foreign object detection system using SSD-based CNNs, achieving rapid and precise detection across diverse environments and weather conditions.

  
• Automated Underground Circular Parking System Model
  2018

  Designed an underground circular parking system using Fischertechnik, enabling fully automated car storage and retrieval with integrated sensors and optimized motion control for efficiency.

  

Teaching

• Teaching Assistant — Introduction to Robotics (MEEG671), University of Delaware