Dr. Jianguo Zhao

Director, Adaptive Robotics Lab

Associate Professor

Mechanical Engineering

Dr. Jianguo Zhao has been a member of the Department of Mechanical Engineering since August 2015. He currently is an Associate Professor and directs the Adaptive Robotics Lab, where his team focuses on creating innovative robotic systems capable of adapting their shapes, structures, and functionalities to operate effectively in varied environments. Dr. Zhao’s robotics research has received substantial support from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and has led to over 100 publications in both specialized robotics journals, such as IEEE Transactions on Robotics and Soft Robotics, and multidisciplinary journals like Nature Communications and Science Advances. Additionally, Dr. Zhao contributes extensively to the robotics community through his editorial roles. He has served as a Technical Editor for IEEE/ASME transactions on Mechatronics (TMECH) and an Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions on Robotics (TRO).

Contact Information

Resources

Research Interests

Dr. Zhao’s research centers on adaptive and embodied robotics, integrating design, modeling, control, and learning to enable robots to operate in complex, unstructured environments. He focuses on morphological adaptation using various mechanisms such as origami-inspired, tensegrity, and soft/morphing structures, and develops model-based and learning-based methods with strong simulation-to-real validation. His work spans multimodal locomotion, aerial perching, and medical and infrastructure-focused robotic systems, alongside open-source tools and educational resources that connect theory, simulation, and real-world hardware.

Education

Ph.D. 2015, Michigan State University—Electrical Engineering
M.Engr. 2007, Shenzhen Graduate School, Harbin Institute of Technology—Mechatronic Engineering
B.S. 2005, Harbin Institute of Technology—Mechanical Engineering