Zhen Yin
Professor at Tongji University and Full-time Mentor at Shanghai Institute of Creative Intelligence.
Yin Zhen is a Full-time Mentor at Shanghai Institute of Creative Intelligence and a Professor and PhD Supervisor at the School of Electronic and Information Engineering, Tongji University. He is a recipient of the National High-Level Young Talent Program. Before 2022, he was an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Germany. He received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from McGill University and his bachelor’s degree in Mechanics from Fudan University. He is the Principal Investigator of the “Everything is Alive” Lab, with research focusing on bio-inspired modular and swarm robotics, intelligent design, and advanced manufacturing. His research has been published as first or corresponding author in top journals and conferences such as Science and Nature Communications, and has been featured by Science, PNAS, CCTV News, Physics World, and other major scientific and professional media outlets.
Topic
Exploring a New Paradigm of Embodied Intelligence: Research and Practice on Bio-Intelligent Hybrid Robotic Systems
After billions of years of interaction and evolution with the natural environment, biological systems have developed the most environmentally adapted physical structures, from which complex intelligent behaviors naturally emerge—representing true embodied intelligence. Traditional robotic design has long attempted to mimic biological forms and mechanisms, but due to fundamentally different underlying principles, robots have consistently fallen short of biological performance, and their physical bodies and intelligence remain largely disconnected. Is it possible to directly leverage nature’s gift—biological systems themselves—to develop programmable, controllable intelligent robotic systems with autonomous behaviors? By integrating cutting-edge biotechnology with intelligent systems, we have developed micron-scale embodied intelligent agents with environmental perception, memory, and autonomous behaviors. This work realizes a concept proposed by physicist Richard Feynman 70 years ago and has demonstrated promising applications in tumor suppression through animal experiments. Outline: 1. Emergence of biological intelligence 2. Limitations of current robotic bodies 3. Framework for bio-intelligent hybrid robotic systems 4. Medical applications of bio-intelligent hybrid robots 5. Future prospects Audience Takeaways: Gain a new perspective on the essence of embodied intelligence.
