Special Issue on Design, Motion Planning, and Control of Morphology-Rich Bio-Inspired Systems
Published 17 March, 2026
Robotic and intelligent mechanical systems are increasingly deployed in unstructured environments, requiring safe and efficient interaction with the physical world. Morphology-rich systems—including soft robots, origami robots, tensegrity robots, and bio-inspired suspension systems—offer compliance, impact tolerance, variable stiffness, and shape adaptation capabilities. These properties enable new modes of locomotion, manipulation, and road interaction. However, they are also prone to the limitations of classical control and planning frameworks.
Compared to rigid-body systems with fixed kinematics and relatively well-conditioned dynamics, morphology-rich systems exhibit time-varying or configuration-dependent behavior, strong coupling between structure and motion, and frequent interaction with the environment through contact or deformation. These characteristics challenge traditional planning–tracking separation architectures and motivate integrated approaches combining morphology-aware modeling, planning in deformable or hybrid spaces, and co-designed control strategies.
This Special Issue aims to bring together advances in motion planning, and control that treat morphology and structure as first-class elements in decision-making. By focusing on soft robots, origami robots, tensegrity robots, as well as active and bio-inspired suspension systems, we seek to identify shared algorithmic principles and validation practices to enable feasible, robust, and efficient operation in systems where morphology, structure, and autonomy are inseparable.
Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
• Motion planning and trajectory optimization in deformable and contact-rich spaces
• Geometry-, structure-, or bio-inspired deformation and suspension control
• State estimation and sensing for closed-loop autonomy
• Material–structure co-design for morphology-adaptive robotic systems
• Benchmarking, metrics, and experimental validation
Guest Editors:
Yifan Wang
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
Email: yifan.wang@ntu.edu.sg (Managing Guest Editor)
Prof. Wang Yifan is the Nanyang Assistant Professor at School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University Singapore, where he leads the "Robotic Materials" Group. Prof. Wang received his Ph.D. in Soft Matter Physics from The University of Chicago, USA (2016), and B.S. in Physics from Peking University, China (2011). Prior to joining Nanyang Technological University in 2020, Dr. Wang worked as a postdoctoral fellow in Department of Mechanical and Civil Engineering at California Institute of Technology, USA. Prof. Wang is an innovative applied physicist and mechanical engineer with extensive experience on soft robotics, human-machine interfaces, and advanced manufacturing. He has published papers in top international journals, including Nature, Science Robotics, Science Advances, Advanced Materials, Nature Communications, Matter, Advanced Functional Materials, etc. He is the associate editor of Mechanics of Materials journal, and has won numerous awards including the Healthy Longevity Global Grand Challenge Catalyst Award, Nanyang Assistant Professorship Award, Grainger Foundation Graduate Fellowship in Experimental Physics, etc.
Luyang Zhao
Clemson University, Clemson, United States
Email: luyangz@clemson.edu
Luyang Zhao is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Clemson University, where she directs the SMILE Robotics Lab (Soft, Modular, Intelligent, Learning, Embodied). Her research advances morphology-rich robotic systems, spanning soft and modular robots, tensegrity-inspired structures, and other bio-inspired designs—by integrating structure-aware modeling with motion planning, state estimation, and feedback control to enable robust physical interaction in unstructured, contact-intensive environments. She earned her Ph.D. in Computer Science from Dartmouth College and received the Neukom Outstanding Graduate Research Prize for contributions to soft modular robotics. Her work has been published in venues including Nature Communications, npj Robotics, Soft Robotics, IEEE Transactions on Field Robotics, and IEEE RA-L, and presented at leading conferences such as ICRA, IROS, and RoboSoft. She serves as an Associate Editor for IEEE ICRA 2026, co-organized the "Tensegrity Robotics" workshop at IROS 2023, and regularly reviews for journals and conferences including Science Advances and IJRR. Her research has also received media coverage from outlets such as Tech Xplore, Dartmouth News, and Interesting Engineering. Through her work, she aims to promote reproducible algorithmic and experimental practices that bridge physical morphology with embodied intelligence.
Bingxing Chen
Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, China
Email: bingxingchen@fzu.edu.cn
Bingxing Chen is a Professor in the School of Mechanical Engineering and Automation at Fuzhou University. His research advances embodied intelligent robotic systems, spanning biomimetic robots, soft robots, and specialized robots, by integrating intelligent planning, autonomous decision-making, nonlinear control, and multimodal human-machine interaction to enable robust perception and dexterous operation in complex environments. He earned his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Harbin Institute of Technology and was recognized as a Fujian Provincial Introduced High-level Talent and a Fuzhou University "Qishan Scholar". His work has been published in premier venues including IEEE Transactions on Robotics, Soft Robotics, Mechanism and Machine Theory, and IEEE RA-L, and he currently directs multiple National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) grants. As an IEEE Senior Member, he serves on the Youth Editorial Boards of Biomimetic Intelligence and Robotics and Journal of Bionic Engineering, and regularly reviews for over 30 leading journals and conferences, such as Nature Communications, IEEE TRO, Advanced Functional Materials, IEEE/ASME TMECH, IEEE TASE, IEEE RAL, and ICRA. Through his work and mentorship, he is deeply committed to nurturing the next generation of engineers, guiding his students to win top national awards in robotics competitions.
Tenglong Huang
Northwest A&F University, Yangling, China
Email: huangtenglong@nwafu.edu.cn
Tenglong Huang is an Associate Professor at the School of Mechanical and Electronic Engineering, Northwest A&F University, China. His research focuses on bioinspired suspension, nonlinear control, intelligent control, motion planning, mobile robots, robotic manipulators, etc. He received his Ph.D. in Control Science and Engineering from Harbin Institute of Technology, China, in 2024. He has published a number of high-quality research papers in leading international journals, including IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering, IEEE Transactions on Transportation Electrification, Journal of Sound and Vibration, and Control Engineering Practice. He currently serves as an Editorial Board Member or Young Editorial Board Member of several journals, including Journal of Bionic Engineering, Drones, etc. He is also an active reviewer and committee member for many prestigious journals and conferences, such as IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics, IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, Neurocomputing, Applied Intelligence, and major conferences including IV, ITSC, IECON, and others. He has led and participated in multiple national and provincial research projects related to intelligent vehicles and robotics, including projects supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China.
Yixiang Liu
Shandong University, Jinan, China
Email: liuyixiang@sdu.edu.cn
Yixiang Liu received his B.S. degree in Mechanical Design, Manufacturing and Automation, his M.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering, and his Ph.D. degree in Mechatronics Engineering from Harbin Institute of Technology, China, in 2011, 2013, and 2019, respectively. During his Ph.D. program, he worked as a visiting scholar for one year at Northwestern University, Chicago, USA. He is currently an Associate Professor at the School of Control Science and Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan, China. He has been selected into the Taishan Scholar Young Expert Program of Shandong Province and the Jiangsu Innovation and Entrepreneurship Talent Program. His research interests include bionic robots and special robots.
Gang Huang
Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China
Email: ganghuang280@gmail.com
Gang Huang received the B.E. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Yanshan University, Qinghuangdao, China, in 2019, and the Ph.D. degree in micromanipulation robot from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, the Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, in 2025. He is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow with the School of Mechatronic Engineering, the Harbin Institute of Technology. His current research interests include micromanipulation robot, embodied intelligence, biofabrication.
Tentative Schedule:
Open for Submission: April 1, 2026
Submission Deadline: October 31, 2026
Notification of Acceptance: December 31, 2026
Publication: January 31, 2027
Submission Guidelines:
You are invited to submit your manuscript at any time before the submission deadline. Please refer to the Guide for Authors to prepare your manuscript, and select the article type of "VSI: Morphology-Rich Bio-Robotics" when submitting your manuscript at Editorial Manager®. Both the Guide for Authors and the submission portal could be found on the Journal Homepage here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/biomimetic-intelligence-and-robotics
BIRob is an open-source journal with free access and free publication. All the submissions deemed suitable to be sent for peer review will be reviewed by at least two independent reviewers. Upon its editorial acceptance, your article will go into production immediately. It will be published in the latest regular issue, while be presented on the specific Special Issue webpage simultaneously.
If you have any questions, please contact the Editorial Office of BIRob: bir@sdu.edu.cn