Related papers: Artificial Tribotactic Microscopic Walkers
We study the transport properties of a system of active particles moving at constant speed in an heterogeneous two-dimensional space. The spatial heterogeneity is modeled by a random distribution of obstacles, which the active particles…
Experimental observations suggest that molecular adsorbates exhibit a larger friction coefficient than atomic species of comparable mass, yet the origin of this increased friction is not well understood. We present a study of the…
Tribological phenomena are governed by combined effects of material properties, topology and surface-chemistry. We study the interplay of multiscale surface structures with molecular-scale interactions towards interpreting static frictional…
Crawling is a common locomotion mechanism in soft robots and nonskeletal animals. In this work we propose modeling soft-robotic legged locomotion by approximating it with an equivalent articulated robot with elastic joints. For concreteness…
Lubrication forces depend to a high degree on elasticity, texture, charge, chemistry, and temperature of the interacting surfaces. Therefore, by appropriately designing surface properties, we may tailor lubrication forces to reduce…
Active control of friction by ultrasonic vibration is a well-known effect with numerous technical applications ranging from press forming to micromechanical actuators. Reduction of friction is observed with vibration applied in any of the…
Quadrupedal robots resemble the physical ability of legged animals to walk through unstructured terrains. However, designing a controller for quadrupedal robots poses a significant challenge due to their functional complexity and requires…
Both legged locomotion and slithering motions typically utilize periodic gaits -- repeating cycles of body shape change that produce a net motion through the world. Legged locomotion can be viewed from the perspective of piece-wise contact…
Multi-robot formation control has various applications in domains such as vehicle troops, platoons, payload transportation, and surveillance. Maintaining formation in a vehicle platoon requires designing a suitable control scheme that can…
Hydrodynamic interactions in a suspension of spherical particles confined between two parallel planar walls are studied under creeping-flow conditions. The many-particle friction matrix in this system is evaluated using our novel numerical…
Bioconvection, a phenomenon arising from the collective motion of motile microorganisms, plays a crucial role in shaping microbial distributions, fluid dynamics, and bloom formation in aquatic environments. While extensive research has…
Non equilibrium coarse grained, dissipative particle dynamics simulations of complex fluids, made up of polymer brushes tethered to planar surfaces immersed in a solvent yield non monotonic behavior of the friction coefficient as a function…
The sliding friction force exerted by stochastic linkers interacting with a moving filament is calculated. The elastic properties of the substrate on which the linkers are anchored are shown to strongly influence the friction force. In some…
We numerically investigate the motion of active artificial microswimmers diffusing in a fuel concentration gradient. We observe that, in the steady state, their probability density accumulates in the low-concentration regions, whereas a…
Taking inspiration from the natural gait transition mechanism of quadrupeds, devising a good gait transition strategy is important for quadruped robots to achieve energy-efficient locomotion on various terrains and velocities. While…
The presence of surface defects (roughness, surface imperfections, profiles, etc.) in a contact inevitably leads to the modification of its local properties, such as the coefficient of friction. In railway wheelsets, this surface condition…
Despite the progress in legged robotic locomotion, autonomous navigation in unknown environments remains an open problem. Ideally, the navigation system utilizes the full potential of the robots' locomotion capabilities while operating…
Simulations of the kinetic friction due to a layer of adsorbed molecules between two crystalline surfaces are presented. The adsorbed layer naturally produces friction that is consistent with Amontons' laws and insensitive to parameters…
The pervasive phenomenon of friction has been studied at the nanoscale by controlled manipulation of single atoms and molecules, which permitted a precise determination of the static friction force necessary to initiate motion. However,…
Friction modulation technology enables the creation of textural effects on flat haptic displays. However, an intuitive and manageably small design space for construction of such haptic textures remains an unfulfilled goal for user interface…