Swarun Kumar

We present WASER, a novel RF-based heating platform that allows electronics-free robots to be actuated rapidly (within a few seconds) and potentially in non-line-of-sight. WASER achieves this through innovations in both wireless systems and material science. On the wireless front, WASER develops a new blind beamforming solution that directs high-power wireless energy at fine spatial granularity without electronics on the robot to provide feedback. On the material science front, WASER exhibits heat-responsive shape-morphing and energy-harvesting material functionalities that allow for rapid wireless heating. We implement and evaluate WASER and demonstrate diverse shape-morphing capabilities.