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This study uses a combination of stochastic optimization, statistical mechanical theory, and molecular simulation to test the extent to which the long-time dynamics of a single tracer particle can be enhanced by rationally modifying its…

We study the mechanical contact between a deformable body with a wavy surface and a rigid flat taking into account pressurized fluid trapped in the interface. A finite element model is formulated for a general problem of trapped fluid for…

Collocated tactile sensing is a fundamental enabling technology for dexterous manipulation. However, deformable sensors introduce complex dynamics between the robot, grasped object, and environment that must be considered for fine…

Saving energy and enhancing performance are secular preoccupations shared by both nature and human beings. In animal locomotion, flapping flyers or swimmers rely on the flexibility of their wings or body to passively increase their…

This paper presents the technique of flex-and-flip manipulation. It is suitable for grasping thin, flexible linear objects lying on a flat surface. During the manipulation process, the object is first flexed by a robotic gripper whose…

The development of versatile robots capable of traversing challenging and irregular environments is of increasing interest in the field of robotics, and metameric robots have been identified as a promising solution due to their slender,…

Locomotion is typically studied either in continuous media where bodies and legs experience forces generated by the flowing medium, or on solid substrates dominated by friction. In the former, centralized coordination is believed to…

Flexible-joint manipulators are frequently used for increased safety during human-robot collaboration and shared workspace tasks. However, joint flexibility significantly reduces the accuracy of motion, especially at high velocities and…

Robot designs can take many inspirations from nature, where there are many examples of highly resilient and fault-tolerant locomotion strategies to navigate complex terrains by using multi-functional appendages. For example, Chukar and…

Bipeds have demonstrated high agility and mobility in unstructured environments such as sand. The yielding of such granular media brings significant sinkage and slip of the bipedal feet, leading to uncertainty and instability of walking…

The traction evolution is a fundamental ingredient to model the dynamics of an earthquake rupture which ultimately controls, during the coseismic phase, the energy release, the stress redistribution and the consequent excitation of seismic…

Many animals, modern aircraft, and underwater vehicles use streamlined body shapes that reduce fluid dynamic drag to achieve fast and effective locomotion in air and water. Similarly, numerous small terrestrial animals move through…

Legged robots have the potential to become vital in maintenance, home support, and exploration scenarios. In order to interact with and manipulate their environments, most legged robots are equipped with a dedicated robot arm, which means…

Computing stabilizing and optimal control actions for legged locomotion in real time is difficult due to the nonlinear, hybrid, and high dimensional nature of these robots. The hybrid nature of the system introduces a combination of…

In this paper, we presented a new method for deformation control of deformable objects, which utilizes both visual and tactile feedback. At present, manipulation of deformable objects is basically formulated by assuming positional…

Walking is a common bipedal and quadrupedal gait and is often associated with terrestrial and aquatic organisms. Inspired by recent evidence of the neural underpinnings of primitive aquatic walking in the little skate Leucoraja erinacea, we…

Friction plays a key role in manipulating objects. Most of what we do with our hands, and most of what robots do with their grippers, is based on the ability to control frictional forces. This paper aims to better understand the variability…

Predicting trajectories of pedestrians based on goal information in highly interactive scenes is a crucial step toward Intelligent Transportation Systems and Autonomous Driving. The challenges of this task come from two key sources: (1)…

We describe a framework for changing-contact robot manipulation tasks that require the robot to make and break contacts with objects and surfaces. The discontinuous interaction dynamics of such tasks make it difficult to construct and use a…

We employ a novel computational modeling framework to perform high-fidelity direct numerical simulations of aero-structural interactions in bat-inspired membrane wings. The wing of a bat consists of an elastic membrane supported by a highly…