Related papers: Bio-inspired friction switches: adaptive pulley sy…

A new method has been proposed to evaluate the frictional force in the stationary state. This method is applied to the 1-dimensional model of clean surfaces. The kinetic frictional force is seen to depend on velocity in general, but the…

Robotic arms built from stiffness-adjustable, continuously bending segments serially connected with revolute joints have the ability to change their mechanical architecture and workspace, thus allowing high flexibility and adaptation to…

Sliding friction between two dry surfaces is reasonably described by the speed-independent Amonton-Coulomb friction force law. However, there are many situations where the frictional contact points between two surfaces are "active" and may…

Soft robots have been leveraged in considerable areas like surgery, rehabilitation, and bionics due to their softness, flexibility, and safety. However, it is challenging to produce two same soft robots even with the same mold and…

We consider a generic class of gene circuits affected by nonlinear extrinsic noise. To address this nonlinearity we introduce a general perturbative methodology based on assuming timescale separation between noise and genes dynamics, with…

This paper introduces a novel compliant mechanism combining lightweight and energy dissipation for aerial physical interaction. Weighting 400~g at take-off, the mechanism is actuated in the forward body direction, enabling precise position…

Precise identification of dynamic models in robotics is essential to support control design, friction compensation, output torque estimation, etc. A longstanding challenge remains in the identification of friction models for robotic joints,…

This paper presents a method for robot self-recognition and self-adaptation through the analysis of the contact between the robot end effector and its surrounding environment. Often, in off-line robot programming, the idealized robotic…

This paper presents the application of a learning control approach for the realization of a fast and reliable pick-and-place application with a spherical soft robotic arm. The arm is characterized by a lightweight design and exhibits…

Biological machines harness targeted deformations that can be actuated by Brownian fluctuations. However, while synthetic micromachines can similarly leverage targeted deformations they are too stiff to be driven by thermal fluctuations and…

Variable impedance control is advantageous for physical human-robot interaction to improve safety, adaptability and many other aspects. This paper presents a gain-scheduled variable stiffness control approach under strict frequency-domain…

Electrical stimulation of residual nerves can be used to provide amputees with intuitive sensory feedback. An important aspect of this artificial sensory feedback is the ability to convey the magnitude of tactile stimuli. Using classical…

Haptic interaction is essential for the dynamic dexterity of animals, which seamlessly switch from an impedance to an admittance behaviour using the force feedback from their proprioception. However, this ability is extremely challenging to…

Many biological systems can form strong adhesion to various materials with complex shapes. The adhesion is further switchable between strongly adhering and completely non-adhering in a simple and fast manner. By contrast, no engineering…

Wire actuation in tendon-driven continuum robots enables the transmission of force from a distance, but it is understood that tension control problems can arise when a pulley is used to actuate two cables in a push-pull mode. This paper…

We create a mechanism inspired by bacterial swimmers, featuring two flexible flagella with individual control over rotation speed and direction in viscous fluid environments. Using readily available materials, we design and fabricate…

Inchworm crawling allows for both quasistatic and dynamic gaits at a wide range of actuation frequencies. This locomotion mechanism is common in nonskeletal animals and exploited extensively in the bio-inspired field of soft robotics. In…

The mitotic spindle lies at the heart of the spatio-temporal control over cellular components during cell division. The spindle consists of microtubules, which are not only crosslinked by motor proteins but also by passive binding proteins.…

This paper presents a novel type of mobile rolling robot designed as a modular platform for non-prehensile manipulation, highlighting the associated control challenges in achieving balancing control of the robotic system. The developed…

A novel probabilistic approach for the design of mechanical structures with friction interfaces is proposed. The objective function is defined as the probability that a specified performance measure of the forced vibration response is…