CV

Education

• PhD in Information Science (Robotics), Soft Haptics Laboratory, Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (Japan) 2021
• Master of Science in Robotics, Haptic Mechatronics and Medical Robotics Laboratory, King’s College London (UK) 2017
• Bachelor of Engineering in Material Deforming and Control Engineering, Yanshan University (China) 2011

Visiting

• Visiting Scholar, Soft Robotics Lab. (Prof. Shinichi Hirai), Ritsumeikan University (Japan) 2021
• Visiting PhD Student, Delft Haptics Lab. (Prof. Michael Wiertlewski), Delft University of Technology (Netherlands) 2019

Funding

• JAIST Research Core for Cohabitative-AI×Design (Finished)
  • Amount: 250,000 JPY
  • Position: Co-PI
  • Topic: Development of Low-Cost Soft Actuators
  • Duration: Apr 2021 - Mar 2022
• JSPS Grants-in-Aid (No. 20J15087) (Finished)
  • Amount: 1,700,000 JPY
  • Position: PI
  • Topic: Development of active tactile sensors with wrinkle morphology and the application to soft robots
  • Duration: Apr 2020 - Sep 2021
• JAIST Houga Research Grant 2020 (Finished)
  • Amount: 900,000 JPY
  • Position: PI
  • Topic: Morphological investigation of a soft robotic fingertip for enhanced tactile perception
  • Duration: Jul 2020 - Mar 2021

Work experience

• Postdoc & Research Associate
  • Topic: Edible soft robotics & Robotic materials
  • Supervisors: Prof. Jonathan Rossiter
  • Duration: Oct 2021 - Present
• Postdoc & Doctoral Research Fellow (JSPS PD)
  • Topic: Soft robotic microbial devices
  • Supervisors: Prof. Koichi Suzumori
  • Duration: Apr 2021 - Sep 2021
• Doctoral Research Fellow (JSPS DC2)
  • Topic: Morphological computation in tactile sensing and perception
  • Supervisors: Prof. Van Anh Ho and Prof. Shogo Okada
  • Duration: Apr 2020 - Mar 2021
• Doctoral Research Fellow (JAIST) & Research Associate (Soft Haptics Lab.)
  • Topic: Morphological computation in tactile sensing and perception
  • Supervisors: Prof. Van Anh Ho and Prof. Shogo Okada
  • Duration: Apr 2018 - Mar 2020
• Control Engineer / Project Manager (Abu Dhabi Branch, Commissioning and Operation Company of CPP)
  • Responsibility: Commissioning and operation of instrument control system in oil and gas plant
  • Duration: Sep, 2012 - Apr, 2016
• Technician (CFHI Tianjin Heavy Industry CO., Ltd)
  • Responsibility: Machining, wielding, quality control
  • Duration: Aug, 2011 - Aug, 2012

Publications

• Journals
  • Q. Qi, C. Xiang, V. Ho and J. Rossiter, “A Sea-Anemone-Inspired, Multifunctional, Bistable Gripper.’’ Soft Robotics, Oct. 2021.
  • Q. Qi and V. Ho, “Wrinkled Soft Sensor with Variable Afferent Morphology: Case of Bending Actuation.” IEEE Robot. Autom. Lett., vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 4102-4109, Mar. 2020.
  • Q. Qi, S. Hirai and V. Ho, “Wrinkled Soft Sensor with Variable Afferent Morphology.” IEEE Robot. Autom. Lett., vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 1908-1915, Feb. 2019.
• Conferences
  • A. Keller, Q. Qi, Y. Kumaresan, A. Conn and J. Rossiter, “Biodegradable Humidity Actuators for Sustainable Soft Robotics using Deliquescent Hydrogels.” IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft 2023), Singapore.
  • J. Guo, D. Kuhnel, Q. Qi, C. Xiang, V. Ho, C. Faul and J. Rossiter, “Self-morphing Soft Parallel-and-coplanar Electroadhesive Grippers Based on Laser-scribed Graphene Oxide Electrodes.” IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS2022), Kyoto, Japan.
  • H. Xie, T. Torii, A. Chiba, and Q. Qi , “xBalloon: Animated Objects with Balloon Plastic Actuator.”ACM 12th Augmented Human International Conference (AH 2021), Online.
  • Q. Qi, S. Yoshida, G. Kakihana, T. Torii, V. Ho and H. Xie, “BPActuators: Lightweight and Low-Cost Soft Actuators by Balloons and Plastics.”IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft 2021), Online. (Reported on local newspaper “日刊工業新聞” on 14-May-2021)
  • Q. Qi and V. Ho, “Wrinkled Soft Sensor with Variable Afferent Morphology: Case of Bending Actuation.” IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft 2020), Online. (Best Paper Finalist)
  • Q. Qi, S. Hirai and V. Ho, “Wrinkled Soft Sensor with Variable Afferent Morphology.” IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA 2019), May 20-24, Montreal, Canada.
  • Q. Qi and V. Ho, “Variable Afferent Network Morphology (VANmorph): An Implementation on Sensorized Soft Body.” IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2018), Oct 1-5, Madrid, Spain.

Skills

• Clean room skills: Spinning coating, Baking, Electron beam lithography, Processing, and Electron beam deposition
• Analysis and control: Python, MATLAB, C/C++, Arduino
• Machine learning, deep learning and image processing: Pytorch, Scikit-learn, Tensorflow, Opencv
• Modelling and simulation: Abaqus, COMSOL, ANASYS, Autodesk Inventor, Adams, Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop and Premiere
• Workshop skills: machining, casting, fitting, welding, 3D printing, laser cutting
• Languages:
  • English (fluent)
  • Japanese (N1)
  • French (beginner)
  • Mandarin (native)

Supervisions

• Project: Development of an Edible Soft Gripper for the Removal of Ingested Button Batteries
  • Rahaf Hejazi, Master Thesis. from University of Bristol
• Project: Optimization of an Edible Battery
  • Yifei Liu, Master Thesis. from University of Bristol
• Project: Geometrical Analysis of Skinflow Sensor
  • Chandra Mohanan Sarath Menon, Master Thesis. from University of Bristol
• Project: Shape Classification using Deep Learning with a Wrinkled Tactile Sensor
  • Weiting Li, Master Intern. from National Yunlin University of Science and Technology
• Project: Firmware Development of a Data Acquisition Device for USB Connection and Data Transmission
  • Zhengsheng Li, Master Intern. from National Yunlin University of Science and Technology

Reviews

• Journals
  • Advanced Materials (AM)
  • Soft Robotics (SoRo)
  • IEEE Transaction on Industrial Electronics (TIE)
  • IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RAL)
  • IEEE Sensors Journal
  • IEEE Transaction on Human Machine Systems (THMS)
  • IEEE Transaction on Haptics (ToH)
  • IPO Bioinspiration & Biomimetics (BIBM)
  • IPO Smart Materials & Structures (SMS)
  • IPO Machine Learning: Science and Technology
  • SPJ Cyborg and Bionic Systems
  • Frontiers in Robotics and AI
  • Advanced Robotics
• Conferences
  • IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)
  • IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS)
  • IEEE International Conference on fort Robotics (RoboSoft)

Hobbies

• Fitness (over 10 years), Swimming, Cycling and Football