Associate Professor Iain Alexander Anderson

BE ME PhD

Associate Professor

In: Engineering Science » Faculty of Engineering

Biography

Iain Anderson is Group Leader for the Biomimetics Laboratory of the Auckland Bioengineering Institute (www.abi.auckland.ac.nz/biomimetics) and is an Associate Professor in the Department of Engineering Science.

Iain completed his PhD (Engineering Science, University of Auckland) in 1996, and has worked as a whiteware product designer (Fisher and Paykel Ind.), a vibrations consulting engineer (NZ Department of Scientific and Industrial Research) and a research scientist associated with hip and knee implant design and surgery (Industrial Research Ltd., New Zealand).

In 2000, Iain returned to the Department of Engineering Science as a staff member, and was one of the founding members of the Auckland Bioengineering Institute (which was founded in 2001). Iain's interest in artificial muscles led to the formation of the Biomimetics Laboratory in 2004. The lab’s research is currently focused on the control and self-sensing of artificial muscles and artificial muscle energy harvesting.

Research | Current

Globally, Associate Professor Iain Anderson is considered a leading researcher in the application and control of artificial muscle technologies.

In 2005, Iain and his graduate students founded the Biomimetics Laboratory. The lab’s goal is to research the creation of new technology through biomimicry: the imitation of natural systems to solve problems and develop new technologies. The Biomimetics Lab has a strong focus on dielectric elastomer artificial muscles with particular expertise in optimising the technology for applications such as wearable sensors and power generators. The lab also develops and sells electronic systems for artificial muscle sensing, control and energy harvesting (www.biomimeticslab.com).

In November 2012 Iain and two of his former students set out to commercialise soft stretch sensor technology. StretchSense Ltd makes stretchable capacitive sensors which are perfect for measuring human body motion.

Iain's research and leadership has led to sales of equipment and research contracts totaling over NZ$1m with companies, universities and research organizations, and he was one of the finalists in the 2014 KiwiNet Research Commercialisation Awards.

Project links

Teaching | Current

ENGSCI 313 Mathematical Modelling 3ECE: Modelling with differential equations component
BIOMENG 221 Mechanics of Engineered and Biological Materials
ENGSCI 363 Engineering Science Design II

Postgraduate supervision

Current

PhD

Daniel Chen Gait retraining for Knee Osteoarthritis
Andreas Tairych Body motion and language for wearable electronics
Patrin Illenberger Electronics for artificial muscle energy harvesting
Sophie Leung Mechanotransduction and chondrocytes
Tony Tse Listening to 'The Silent World'
Allan J. Veale Peano muscle actuator
Christopher Walker Soft sensing for underwater applications
Daniel Xu Control of Soft Machines
Yuting Zhu Shear strain sensor for improved robot and human dexterity

Masters

Completed

PhD

Phil Blyth (2008) Virtual reality simulation of hip surgery
Todd Alan Gisby (2011) Smart artificial muscles
Casey Jowers (2014) Brain cell scratcher
Jung Joo Kim (2014) The development of the Cell Gym and its application to tissue engineering
Ho Cheong (Andrew) Lo (2015) Converters for milliwatt dielectric elastomer generators
Jacob T. Munro (2014) Computational modelling of retro-acetabular pathology after total hip arthroplasty
Benjamin Marc O'Brien (2010) Simulation, fabrication, and control of biomimetic actuator arrays
Katja Oberhofer (2009) Anatomically-based, subject-specific modelling of lower limb motion during gait
Vickie Bo-Kyung Shim (2006) Development and validation of patient-specific finite element models of patients with total hip arthroplasty: towards a clinical tool
Scott Walbran (2013) Optimization of electrode placement in electromyographic prosthetic control

Masters

Nixon Lik Hang Chau (2015) Designing a modular artificial muscle ring oscillator
Andrew Creegan (2014) 3D printing for dielectric elastomers
Tanusha Duffadar (2006) Patient-specific whole leg modelling for computer assisted surgery
Albert H.C. Ho (2006) Protocol for creating an atlas of trabecular micro-architecture with application to the human knee
Il-Soo Koh (2010) An experimental protocol to create an atlas of mechanical properties for the bone of the human knee
Ho Kwan Lo (2015) Fluid flow energy harvester using soft generators
Thomas McKay (2006) Towards a wearable contractile dielectric elastomer actuator
Chris P.H. Seo (2014) An Artificial Muscle Neuron
Samuel Schlatter (2013) Bi-axial strain sensing of artificial muscles
Tony Chun Hin Tse (2011) A soft gear motor
Casey T. Jowers (2009) The design of the cell gym

Responsibilities

Principal Investigator, Auckland Bioengineering Institute
Group Leader Biomimetics Lab

Areas of expertise

Electronic artificial muscles
Biomimetics

Committees/Professional groups/Services

Chief Communications Officer, Stretchsense Ltd.
www.stretchsense.com

Selected publications and creative works (Research Outputs)

Lo, H. C., Gisby, T. A., Calius, E. P., & Anderson, I. A. (2014). Transferring electrical energy between two dielectric elastomer actuators. Sensors and Actuators, A: Physical, 212, 123-126. 10.1016/j.sna.2014.03.020
Xu, D., McKay, T. G., Michel, S., & Anderson, I. A. (2014). Enabling large scale capacitive sensing for dielectric elastomers. Paper presented at Conference on Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices (EAPAD), San Diego, CA. 10 March - 13 March 2014. ELECTROACTIVE POLYMER ACTUATORS AND DEVICES (EAPAD) 2014. (pp. 8). 10.1117/12.2044356
Gisby, T. A., Obrien, B. M., & Anderson, I. A. (2013). Self sensing feedback for dielectric elastomer actuators. Applied Physics Letters, 102 (19).10.1063/1.4805352
Anderson, I. A., Gisby, T. A., McKay, T. G., O'Brien BM, & Calius, E. P. (2012). Multi-functional dielectric elastomer artificial muscles for soft and smart machines. Journal of Applied Physics, 112 (4).10.1063/1.4740023
O'Brien BM, & Anderson, I. A. (2011). An Artificial Muscle Ring Oscillator. Mechatronics, IEEE/ASME Transactions, 17 (1), 197-200. 10.1109/TMECH.2011.2165553
Anderson, I. A., Tse, T. C. H., Inamura, T., O'Brien BM, McKay, T., & Gisby, T. (2011). A soft and dexterous motor. Applied Physics Letters, 98 (12).10.1063/1.3565195
O'Brien BM, Calius, E. P., Inamura, T., Xie, S. Q., & Anderson, I. A. (2010). Dielectric elastomer switches for smart artificial muscles. APPLIED PHYSICS A-MATERIALS SCIENCE & PROCESSING, 100 (2), 385-389. 10.1007/s00339-010-5857-z
URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2292/13709
McKay, T., O'Brien B, Calius, E., & Anderson, I. (2010). Self-priming dielectric elastomer generators. Smart Materials and Structures, 19 (5).10.1088/0964-1726/19/5/055025