Dr Meisam Abdi, De Montfort University

The challenge

Soft robots are made from flexible materials instead of rigid mechanical components, allowing them to move safely around people and adapt to complex environments. They have enormous potential in areas such as healthcare, manufacturing, environmental monitoring and assistive technologies. However, one of the biggest barriers to their wider adoption is the lack of lightweight and efficient artificial muscles. Current systems often rely on bulky actuators, batteries or external power supplies, making them difficult to miniaturise and limiting their energy efficiency. 

The research

Dr Meisam Abdi's research aims to address this challenge by using advanced 3D printing techniques to design and fabricate piezoelectric metamaterials, engineered materials whose properties are governed by their internal architecture and which can convert mechanical movement into electricity and vice versa. The project will investigate how their internal architectures can be designed and optimised to improve performance while using sustainable lead-free piezoelectric materials. 

The Fellowship will develop new design methods and manufacturing approaches for producing multifunctional materials that combine movement, sensing and energy harvesting within a single structure. The research will establish the design principles and manufacturing technologies needed to support future artificial muscles for soft robotics. 

The researcher

Dr Abdi is a Senior Lecturer in Design for Additive Manufacturing at De Montfort University. His research focuses on developing innovative computational design approaches for additive manufacturing to enable the creation of high-performance, multifunctional materials and products. He explores the use of advanced manufacturing technologies to engineer architected materials and mechanical metamaterials with programmable and tailored properties, inspired by natural structures but offering functionalities beyond conventional materials.