The Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Ideation and Prototyping Lab
Photos by Yilei Wu
The Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Ideation and Prototyping Laboratory (Chen IPL)
The Chen IPL in the Stanford Nanofabrication Facility is enhancing its capabilities to support Embodied AI innovations. This dedicated space on Stanford campus has been made possible through a generous donation by the Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute. The support enables Stanford University to build a community around medical device prototyping through interactions that share multi-disciplinary expertise. The lab will provide engineering assistance and a workspace for collaboration on biosensors, robotics, wearables, and medical devices.
Embodied AI is the advancement of perception in AI and is key for AI reasoning that depends on sensing of the real world. Embodied AI includes sensing as input for AI and comprises sensing systems and interfaces by which AI interacts with the real world for insights, movement, manipulation, and communication. Embodied AI provides sensing for perception of biological, chemical, physical [1], and psycho-social aspects of the real world and contributes to frameworks and rules necessary for AI reasoning associated with them. Flagship application areas for Embodied AI in the Chen IPL include human health, human machine interfaces, and robotics.
The prototyping lab can accelerate the later stages of translational research, from lab projects to viable prototypes. Projects at the lab will lead to novel solutions for health enabled by engineering that combines deep tech, AI, and data science. The prototyping lab will bring new opportunities for faculty and students across Stanford University to benefit from the strength of a top engineering school.
“The Stanford Nanofabrication Facility has long been a leading space for interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation. This generous donation enables us to expand the capabilities of the current prototyping facility to foster innovation specifically for medical technology, within and beyond Stanford,” said Jennifer Widom, the Frederick Emmons Terman Dean of the Stanford School of Engineering. “We’re grateful to the donor for making this important expansion possible, and excited to see the space take shape.”
Support will contribute to salaries for expert staff, seed funding for prototyping facility usage, and acquisition of relevant equipment. Stanford faculty, students, and research scientists will receive experienced technical assistance on design, access to tools and equipment, and workspace for device design and form-factor development.
The Ideation and Prototyping Lab is in partnership with the existing Prototyping Facility within Stanford Nanofabrication Facility (SNF) and is located in the Paul G. Allen Building. SNF is part of the National Science Foundation’s National Nanofabrication Users’ Network. The lab is a user facility partly sustained by fees and will be open to organizations outside of Stanford, subject to lab availability.
[1] In comparison with Embodied AI, Physical AI seeks to provide frameworks and rules for the physical "laws of nature," to enhance AI reasoning in interactions with physical objects. The Hill and Valley Forum, Jensen Huang, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdoYGZqRTgQ, 2025.