I design, build, and test adaptive mechanical systems that merge robotics, materials, and aerospace engineering. Currently a PhD researcher at Georgia Tech Aerospace Department, I specialize in rapid prototyping, vibration-based actuation, and mechanical testing of architected structures.

My work translates experimental research into manufacturable designs for deployable and resilient hardware systems.

Focus Areas:

• Adaptive and architected materials for vibration-triggered mechanisms;
• Rapid prototyping and structural testing (3D printing, Instron, wind tunnel);
• Mechanical design and analysis using Rhino, SolidWorks, MATLAB, Python;
• Control-oriented modeling and data-driven design of robotic systems.

Selected Research

My research frames geometry as a functional language for creating autonomous and adaptive systems. By embedding function into shape and material architecture, I explore how structures can sense, respond, and adapt to their environment without relying on continuous control or electronics. This approach opens pathways to lightweight, resilient, and programmable systems for robotics, aerospace, and deployable mechanisms.

More interesting projects can be found in the “Projects Section”.

Electronic-Free Particle Robots Communicate through Architected Tentacles

Xinyi Yang#, Bohan Wang#, Víctor Riera Naranjo, Minghao Guo, Olivia Rivera ,Leonid Sopizhenko, Shucong Li, William Freeman*, Wojciech Matusik*,Bolei Deng*

DOI: 10.1002/aisy.202500151

Remote Disassembly of Electronics-Free Modular Structures

Xinyi Yang, Martin Nisser, Weijian Qian, Christos E Athanasiou*,Bolei Deng*

Under Submission

Bioinspired, Wind-Triggered, Biodegradable Seed Carrier for Electronic-Free Precision Deployment

Xinyi Yang, Victor Riera Naranjo, Yiyuan Sun, Haocheng Yu, Martin Nisser, Bolei Deng

To be submitted

Frequency-Selective Control of Modular Structures: A Mechanical Phone Call

Xinyi Yang, Bolei Deng

To be submitted

Observation of Sub-Hertz Band Gaps in Ultra-Lightweight Inerter-Based Metamaterials

Fei Chen#, Xinyi Yang#, Xiaochen Li, Jack R Platt, Michael Anthony Turja, Jan Luka Cas, Tyler S Silva, Chad Thomas Hickey, Jack Elliott Godfrey, Pai Wang*, Xuan Zhu*, Bolei Deng*

Under Submission

In-Situ Mechanical Property Characterization of 3D-Printed Materials Using FDM and High-Speed Imaging

Xiaochen Li#, Xinyi Yang#, Chuqi Sun#, Christos E Athanasiou*, Bolei Deng*

To be submitted

# indicates co–first authors. * indicates corresponding authors.