Metin Sitti

{{Short description|Professor in the field of robotics}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Metin Sitti | birth_date = July 29th {{birth year and age|1970}} | birth_place = Kırşehir | alma_mater = {{Plainlist| * Boğaziçi University (BS, MS) * University of Tokyo (PhD) }} | image_size = | known_for = {{Plainlist| * Microrobotics * Medical Devices * Bio-inspired engineering * Physical Intelligence * Soft robotics }} | awards = Falling Walls Breakthrough of the Year Award (Engineering and Technology Category) (2020) ERC Advanced Grant (2019) Member, Turkish Academy of Sciences (2019) Rahmi Koç Science Prize (2018) Best Paper Award, RSS (2019) Best Medical Robotics Award Finalist, ICRA (2018, 2017) IEEE/ASME Best Mechatronics Paper Award (2014) IEEE Fellow (2014) Best Poster Award, Adhesion Conference (2014) SPIE Nanoengineering Pioneer Award (2011) Best Paper Award, IROS (2009 and 1998) Distinguished Lecturer, IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (2006-2008) National Science Foundation CAREER Award (2005) Best Biomimetics Paper Award, ROBIO (2004) Best Video Award, ICRA (2002) Japanese Ministry of Education PhD Fellowship (1996–1999) | fields = {{Plainlist| * Robotics * Materials Science * Microtechnology * Nanotechnology * Biomedical engineering * Medicine}} | doctoral_advisor = | doctoral_students = | website = {{URL|https://pi.is.mpg.de/person/sitti}} | work_institution = Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems ETH Zurich Koç University University of Stuttgart | image = Prof. Dr. Metin Sitti, Director of the Physical Intelligence Department at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems.jpg | caption = Metin Sitti Director, Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart, Germany | thesis_title = | thesis_url = | thesis_year = }} '''Metin Sitti''' is the Director of the Physical Intelligence Department at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart, which he founded in 2014. He is also a Professor in the Department of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering at ETH Zurich,<ref>{{Cite web|title=Dept. of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering at ETH Zurich|url=https://ee.ethz.ch/the-department/faculty/professors/person-detail.Mjc2NjM0.TGlzdC80MTEsMTA1ODA0MjU5.html}}</ref> a Professor at the School of Medicine and College of Engineering at Koç University<ref>{{Cite web|title=Fakülte Üyelerimiz Koç Üniversitesi|date=19 March 2020 |url=https://kuttam.ku.edu.tr/team-members/metin-sitti/}}</ref> and co-founder of Setex Technologies Inc. based in Pittsburgh, USA.

== Biography == Sitti received his BSc and MSc degrees in electrical and electronics engineering from Boğaziçi University in Istanbul in 1992 and 1994, respectively, and his Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Tokyo in 1999. He was a research scientist at UC Berkeley from 1999 to 2002 and a Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University from 2002 to 2014. He became a Director at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart in 2014.

On November 9, 2020, Sitti was presented with the «Breakthrough of the Year» Award 2020<ref>{{Cite web |title=News website MPI-IS |url=https://www.is.mpg.de/news/metin-sitti-receives-the-breakthrough-of-the-year-award-at-the-fallings-walls-world-science-summit-in-berlin}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=November 2020 |title=Tagesspiegel |url=https://www.tagesspiegel.de/wissen/spitzenforscher-gekuert-mit-wissen-mauern-einreissen/26606188.html |work=Mit Wissen Mauern einreißen}}</ref> in the Engineering and Technology category<ref>{{Cite web |title=Falling Walls Speaker website |url=https://falling-walls.com/remote2020/speakers2020/metin-sitti/}}</ref> at Falling Walls. In March 2019, he received an Advanced Grant<ref>{{Cite web |title=ERC European Research Council |url=https://erc.europa.eu/projects-figures/erc-funded-projects/results?search_api_views_fulltext=sommor}}</ref> from the European Research Council (ERC).<ref name="RSS 2019">{{Cite web |date=30 May 2024 |title=ERC Advanced Grants - who can apply? |url=https://erc.europa.eu/funding/advanced-grants}}</ref> In 2019, Sitti and his team received the Best Paper Award<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019 |title=Best Paper Award |website=Robotics: Science and Systems |url=http://rss2019.informatik.uni-freiburg.de/program/awards/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191204155509/http://rss2019.informatik.uni-freiburg.de/program/awards/ |archive-date=2019-12-04}}</ref> at the Robotics Science and Systems Conference for their invention of a jellyfish-inspired soft millirobot with medical functions.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ren |first1=Ziyu |last2=Hu |first2=Wenqi |last3=Dong |first3=Xiaoguang |last4=Sitti |first4=Metin |date=2 July 2019 |title=Multi-functional soft-bodied jellyfish-like swimming |journal=Nature Communications |volume=10 |article-number=2703 |bibcode=2019NatCo..10.2703R |doi=10.1038/s41467-019-10549-7 |doi-access=free |pmc=6606650 |pmid=31266939}}</ref>

Sitti also received the Rahmi Koç Medal of Science<ref>{{Cite web |date=23 May 2023 |title=Koç University Rahmi M. Koç Medal of Science – 2018 |url=https://www.ku.edu.tr/en/explore/about/koc-university-rahmi-m-koc-medal-of-science/koc-university-rahmi-m-koc-medal-of-science-2018/}}</ref> (2018), Best Paper Award<ref name="RSS 2019" /> in the Robotics Science and Systems Conference (2019), IEEE/ASME Best Mechatronics Paper Award (2014),<ref>{{Cite web |title=Past Award Winners IEEE/ASME |url=http://www.ieee-asme-mechatronics.info/past-winners/}}</ref> SPIE Nanoengineering Pioneer Award (2011), Best Paper Award in the IEEE/RSJ Intelligent Robots and Systems Conference (1998, 2009), and NSF CAREER Award (2005). He is the editor-in-chief of both ''Progress in Biomedical Engineering'' and ''Journal of Micro-Bio Robotics'',<ref>{{Cite web |title=Journal of Micro-Bio Robotics |url=https://www.springer.com/journal/12213}}</ref> and an associate editor for both ''Science Advances'' and ''Extreme Mechanics Letters''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Extreme Mechanics Letters - Editorial Board |url=https://www.journals.elsevier.com/extreme-mechanics-letters/editorial-board}}</ref>

Sitti has published two books and over 460 peer-reviewed papers, over 300 of which have appeared in archival journals. His group's research breakthroughs have been featured in the popular press, such as ''New York Times'',<ref>{{Cite news |date=January 24, 2018 |title=This Tiny Robot Walks, Crawls, Jumps and Swims. But It Is Not Alive |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/24/science/tiny-robot-medical.html |work=New York Times}}</ref> ''Wall Street Journal'',<ref>{{Cite news |date=January 24, 2018 |title=Tiny Robot Marks a Step Toward Using Devices Inside Humans |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/tiny-robot-walks-jumps-and-swims-researchers-say-1516816800 |url-access=subscription |work=Wall Street Journal}}</ref> ''Le Monde'', ''The Economist'', ''Der Spiegel'', ''Forbes'', ''Süddeutsche Zeitung'',<ref>{{Cite news |title=Der Roboter in mir |url=https://www.sueddeutsche.de/wissen/medizin-mini-roboter-medizintechnik-1.3838700 |work=Süddeutsche Zeitung}}</ref> ''Science'', ''New Scientist''<ref>{{Cite news |date=20 May 2020 |title=Tiny robots can travel through rushing blood to deliver drugs |url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/2244195-tiny-robots-can-travel-through-rushing-blood-to-deliver-drugs/ |work=New Scientist}}</ref> ''Science News'',<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Dong |first1=Xiaoguang |last2=Lum |first2=Guo Zhan |last3=Hu |first3=Wenqi |last4=Zhang |first4=Rongjing |last5=Ren |first5=Ziyu |last6=Onck |first6=Patrick R. |last7=Sitti |first7=Metin |date=6 Nov 2020 |title=Bioinspired cilia arrays with programmable nonreciprocal motion and metachronal coordination |journal=Science Advances |volume=6 |issue=45 |doi=10.1126/sciadv.abc9323 |pmc=7673722 |pmid=33158868}}</ref> ''Nature News'',<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Hu |first1=Wenqi |last2=Lum |first2=Guo Zhan |last3=Mastrangeli |first3=Massimo |last4=Sitti |first4=Metin |date=24 January 2018 |title=Small-scale soft-bodied robot with multimodal locomotion |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/nature25443 |journal=Nature |volume=554 |issue=7690 |pages=81–85 |bibcode=2018Natur.554...81H |doi=10.1038/nature25443 |pmid=29364873 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> ''MIT Technology Review'', ''IEEE Spectrum Magazine'' and ''Stuttgarter Zeitung''.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Einmal um die Welt für die Robotik |url=https://www.stuttgarter-zeitung.de/inhalt.forscherportraet-einmal-um-die-welt-fuer-die-robotik.2a15d21b-e082-4b47-88ce-721175559a80.html |work=Stuttgarter Zeitung}}</ref> He has given over 200 invited keynote, plenary or distinguished seminars in universities, conferences and industry. He has over 12 issued patents and over 15 pending patents.

== Research ==

=== Overview === Metin Sitti is a pioneer in wireless tiny medical robots, gecko-inspired adhesives, and bio-inspired miniature robots. His group, called the Physical Intelligence Department, strives to understand the principles of design, locomotion, control, perception, and learning of small-scale mobile robots.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Physical Intelligence Department website|url=https://pi.is.mpg.de/}}</ref> Sitti and his team aim to encode intelligence (e.g., sensing, actuation, control, memory, logic, computation, adaptation, learning and decision-making capabilities) into robots. They use smart stimuli-responsive materials, structures and mechanisms to encode intelligence into the physical body of a robot.<ref>{{Cite web|date=March 2021|title=Talk by Metin Sitti at the 2021 EI International Workshop|website=YouTube |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXVgqe1z8Q8}}</ref>

== Entrepreneurship == Metin Sitti co-founded Setex Technologies Inc. in Pittsburgh, USA in 2012 to commercialize his lab's gecko-inspired microfiber adhesive technology as a new disruptive adhesive material (branded as Setex®) for a wide range of industrial applications.

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== {{Commons category}} *[https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=YU4Ce_MAAAAJ&hl=de Metin Sitti at Google Scholar] *[https://pi.is.mpg.de/ Physical Intelligence Department at the Max Planck institute for Intelligent Systems]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sitti, Metin}} Category:Living people Category:American roboticists Category:American mechanical engineers Category:Carnegie Mellon University faculty Category:University of Tokyo alumni Category:Turkish mechanical engineers Category:Turkish roboticists Category:1970 births Category:Max Planck Institute directors Category:Rectors of universities and colleges in Turkey Category:Academic staff of Koç University Category:Academic staff of ETH Zurich