Mechanism Design

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Mechanism design asks how to set rules so that self-interested participants reveal useful information and act in ways that support goals such as efficiency, fairness, or cooperation. It applies tools from game theory and economics to auctions, matching, contracts, voting, and data markets, with incentive compatibility and individual rationality as common design constraints. Alongside theoretical analysis, researchers use simulations, online learning, and differentiable optimization to build mechanisms for changing markets and AI-agent systems. A central tension is that improving welfare or adapting to uncertainty can weaken truthfulness, fairness, or budget balance, especially when participants can manipulate reports or the rules must operate over time.

Latest papers

142 papers15 papers in the last four weeks, up 15% on the four weeks before. 0.1% of all new papers.

TiBCLaG: Hybrid design approach for a trigger-induced bistable compliant laparoscopic grasper
Mar 19, 2026Joel J Nellikkunnel, Prabhat KumarMechanism Design Robotic Grasping
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad, Telangana 502285, India
Content Creation with Spillovers: An Incentive Design Approach
Mar 15, 2026Sagi Ohayon, Boaz Taitler, Omer Ben-PoratMechanism Design Game Theory
Technion—Israel Institute of Technology
A New Lower Bound for the Random Offerer Mechanism in Bilateral Trade using AI-Guided Evolutionary Search
Mar 9, 2026Yang Cai, Vineet Gupta, Zun Li +1Mechanism Design Approximation Algorithms
Yale University
Deep Incentive Design with Differentiable Equilibrium Blocks
Mar 8, 2026Vinzenz Thoma, Georgios Piliouras, Luke MarrisMechanism Design
Department of Computer Science, ETH Zurich & ETH AI Center · Google DeepMind
Robodimm: A Physics-Grounded Framework for Automated Actuator Sizing in Scalable Modular Robots
Mar 6, 2026J. L. Torres, M. Munoz, J. D. Alvarez +2Modular Robotics Mechanism Design
CIESOL-ceiA3, Department of Engineering, University of Almería, Spain · CIESOL-ceiA3, Department of Computer Science, University of Almería, Spain
Agentic Service Markets Across the Computing Continuum: A Polymatroidal Architecture
Mar 5, 2026Lauri Lovén, Alaa Saleh, Reza Farahani +5Mechanism Design Combinatorial Optimization
Future Computing Group, University of Oulu, Finland · Distributed Systems Group, TU Wien, Vienna, Austria · Department of Mechatronics, University of Prishtina, Kosova +4
Incentive Aware AI Regulations: A Credal Characterisation
Mar 5, 2026Anurag Singh, Julian Rodemann, Rajeev Verma +2Mechanism Design Imprecise Probability
1Rational Intelligence Lab, CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security, Saarbrücken, Germany · Department of Statistics, LMU Munich, Germany · 3UvA-Bosch Delta Lab, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands +1
Computer-Aided Design of Rational Motions for 4R and 6R Spatial Mechanism Synthesis
Feb 24, 2026Daniel Huczala, Severinas Zube, Martin Pfurner +2Mechanism Design
Robotics Laboratory, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea · Institute of Computer Science, Department of Mathematics and Informatics, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania · Unit of Geometry and Surveying, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria +1
Morphing of and writing with a scissor linkage mechanism
Feb 16, 2026Mohanraj A, S Ganga PrasathMechanism Design
Department of Applied Mechanics & Biomedical Engineering, IIT Madras, Chennai, TN 600036.
LLM-Auction: Generative Auction towards LLM-Native Advertising
Dec 11, 2025Chujie Zhao, Qun Hu, Shiping Song +4Online Advertising Mechanism Design
Taobao & Tmall Group of Alibaba Beijing, China
Soft Pneumatic Grippers: Topology optimization, 3D-printing and Experimental validation
Nov 24, 2025Prabhat Kumar, Chandra Prakash, Josh Pinskier +2Topology Optimization Mechanism Design
Department Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. India Institute of Technology Hyderbad, Telangana 502285, India · CSIRO Robotics, Pullenvale, QLD 4069, Australia · Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Mekelweg 2, Delft, 2628CD, Zuid-Holland, The Netherlands
Steering Noncooperative Games Through Conjecture Design
Nov 12, 2025Francesco Morri, Hélène Le Cadre, David Salas +1Mechanism Design Game Theory
Inria, Univ. Lille CNRS, Centrale Lille · Instituto de Ciencias de la Ingeniería Universidad de O’Higgins · Laboratoire PROMESUPR 8521 Université de Perpignan, Tecnosud
Efficiency, Feasibility, and Incentive-Awareness in Constrained Online Resource Allocation
Jul 13, 2025Yan Dai, Negin Golrezaei, Patrick JailletGame Theory Online Convex Optimization
Operations Research Center, MIT. · Sloan School of Management, MIT. · Department of EECS, MIT.
Non-Obvious Manipulability in Additively Separable and Fractional Hedonic Games
May 19, 2025Diodato Ferraioli, Maria Fomenko, Giovanna VarricchioCooperative Game Theory Mechanism Design
University of Salerno, Italy · University of Calabria, Italy
Incentivize Contribution and Learn Parameters Too: Federated Learning with Strategic Data Owners
May 17, 2025Drashthi Doshi, Avishek Ghosh, Swaprava NathIncentive Mechanisms for Federated Learning Federated Learning
IIT Bombay
Design optimization and robustness analysis of rigid-link flapping mechanisms
Mar 27, 2025Shyam Sunder Nishad, Anupam SaxenaAerial Robotics Mechanism Design
Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Kanpur, India 208016.
How Can Incentives and Cut Layer Selection Influence Data Contribution in Split Federated Learning?
Dec 10, 2024Joohyung Lee, Jungchan Cho, Wonjun Lee +2Mechanism Design Split Federated Learning
School of Computing, Gachon University, Seongnam 13120, Rep. of Korea · School of Cybersecurity, Korea University, Seoul, Rep. of Korea · Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544 USA
No Screening is More Efficient with Multiple Objects
Aug 19, 2024Shunya Noda, Genta OkadaMechanism Design Social Welfare Maximization
Graduate School of Economics, the University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-0033, Japan
Nash Incentive-compatible Online Mechanism Learning via Weakly Differentially Private Online Learning
Jul 6, 2024Joon Suk Huh, Kirthevasan KandasamyMechanism Design
Department of Computer Science, University of Wisconsin–Madison
Data Market Design through Deep Learning
Oct 31, 2023Sai Srivatsa Ravindranath, Yanchen Jiang, David C. ParkesMechanism Design Information Design
Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Incentives to Offer Algorithmic Recourse
Jan 27, 2023Matthew Olckers, Toby WalshMechanism Design Algorithmic Recourse
Centre for Household Finance, Stellenbosch University · UNSW Sydney
Stackelberg POMDP: Learning to Lead via Reinforcement Learning
Oct 7, 2022Matthias Gerstgrasser, Gianluca Brero, Alon Eden +6Game-Theoretic RL Reinforcement Learning
John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University · Data Science Initiative, Brown University · School of Computer Science and Engineering, Hebrew University of Jerusalem +2

Mar 19, 2026J/K move · Enter open · S save

TiBCLaG: Hybrid design approach for a trigger-induced bistable compliant laparoscopic grasper

Joel J Nellikkunnel, Prabhat Kumar

Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad, Telangana 502285, India

Mechanism Design Robotic Grasping Surgical Robotics

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Industrial laparoscopic graspers rely on multi-link rigid mechanisms manufactured to tight tolerances, resulting in high manufacturing and assembly costs. This work presents the design and proof-of-concept validation of a monolithic, fully compliant, bistable, laparoscopic grasper that eliminates the need for multiple rigid links, thereby reducing part count. The device integrates a compliant trigger and a compliant gripper end-effector, coupled via a control push-rod, to achieve stable grasping without continuous user input. A hybrid approach combining an analytical model, iterative prototyping, and finite element analyses is employed to design the laparoscopic grasper. The trigger mechanism is synthesized using a Two-Element Beam Constraint Model as a design framework to control the deformation and stiffness of I-beam-like elements. This technique enables elastic energy storage while preventing snap-through instability. The end-effector is designed as a compliant gripper to achieve adaptive grasping through elastic deformation. The laparoscopic design presented here is fabricated using fused deposition 3D printing. A comparative study of the jaws' opening and closing performance is presented using nonlinear finite element analysis and experimentation. The fabricated prototype demonstrates reliable bistable actuation, confirming the feasibility of such compliant laparoscopic grasper architectures.