Yiwen Song

Yiwen Song was a PhD student at WiTech Lab (now a postdoctoral associate here), Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University. His research is on wireless systems, with an intersection of devices and robotics. He has published papers in prestigious wireless and mobile systems venues such as MobiCom, MobiHoc and Ubicomp, as well as robotics venues and interdisciplinary venues such as Nature Communications and Advanced Science. To learn more about his works, please refer to his website here.

Can you tell me about your research interests and focus?
My research lies in and spans across the field of wireless systems. Specifically, I would like to investigate how the combination of new hardware and algorithmic innovations could combine and build new wireless systems to realize functionalities that have not been previously investigated. For example, I am actively investigating how a combination of wireless and robotic systems would open up a future for small, fully wireless robots that can be wirelessly powered and controlled, and can change their wireless properties (such as frequency response) and mechanical properties (such as shape deformation). In the future, I am interested in building new platforms that can help the machines communicate, sense, and interact with the physical world through wireless technologies.

What are the research accomplishments that you are most proud of?
This is a very difficult question to answer – I like several aspects of every project. If I have to answer this question, I would choose microwave actuation for soft robots. I would say this is the first system to scientifically investigate the possibility of using microwave power to drive soft robots, opening up potentials for new paradigms of soft robotic research. For me, this is a project where we have combined innovations in wireless systems, material science, and mechanical engineering into one system, where I have learned a lot of new things in all the aforementioned domains. I worked in a wet lab to synthesize materials, in electronics lab to make new hardware, in workshops to make the faraday cage, and wrote codes and developed algorithms. It was really a very interesting and fulfilling experience.

Can you tell me about the work culture and environment at CMU?
CMU is a very compact campus, meaning that all departments have the opportunity to work very closely together. CMU also has a very encouraging environment for collaboration within and between departments, providing us the opportunity to work on very interdisciplinary projects. At the same time, as the university’s slogan said “My heart is in the work”, everyone here is very hardworking and talking to the colleagues provide us a lot of insights, both in our researches and help us know more about other domains.

Can you share a little known fact about yourself?
I play many kinds of strategic games, like Victoria 3, Civilization 6, Starcraft, and Hearthstone.