Non-electronic robotic systems are often viewed as limited, passive, or closer to mechanisms than robots. Without sensors, computation, or software, they are typically assumed to lack decision-making, adaptability, and autonomy.

I am Xinyi Yang, a PhD researcher in Aerospace Engineering at Georgia Tech, working at the intersection of robotics, mechanics, and architected materials. My research starts from a different question: how much robotic functionality can be achieved through mechanics alone? Instead of adding complexity or electronics, I investigate how sensing, decision-making, and coordination can be encoded directly in geometry, material behavior, and physical interaction. The goal is not to imitate electronic robots, but to understand what kinds of intelligence are possible when the body itself becomes the control system.

Selected Research

My research explores electronic-free robotics through three connected ideas:

1. Simple mechanisms as functional robots I study how small, minimal mechanical systems can sense, switch states, and respond to their environment through carefully designed geometry and dynamics. Rather than increasing complexity, I focus on understanding how a single mechanism can reliably achieve a specific function or behavior through physical principles alone.

2. Scale as a source of intelligence When individual robots are simple and easy to manufacture, intelligence can emerge at the population level. I am interested in systems where thousands of mechanically identical agents, each with limited capability, interact to produce collective or swarm-level behavior without centralized control or communication.

3. Manufacturing as an enabling layer To make electronic-free robotics practical, the design process must align with fabrication. I investigate simple, scalable, and sustainable manufacturing approaches, such as functional 3D printing and architected materials, that allow mechanical intelligence to be encoded directly during fabrication rather than added afterward.

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.