Related papers: Building the next pyramid
A novel method is proposed for moving large, pyramid construction size, stone blocks. The method is inspired by a well known introductory physics homework problem, and is implemented by tying 12 identical rods of appropriately chosen radius…
In this paper, we present a novel rolling, jumping robot. The robot consists of a driven pendulum mounted to a wheel in a compact, lightweight, 3D printed design. We show that by driving the pendulum to shift the robot's weight…
The present paper reports a novel behavior involving regular polygons with n sides and filled to varying degrees with granular materials. These are comprised of a set of hollow polygons produced on a 3D printer, and a single larger hollow…
Granular materials are known to separate by size under a variety of circumstances. Experiments presented here and elucidated by modeling and MD simulation document a new segregation mechanism, namely segregation by friction. The experiments…
Pyramids are the greatest architectural achievement of ancient civilization, so people all over the world are curious as to the purpose of such huge constructions. No other structure has been studied as thoroughly, nor have so many books…
The calculation of the energy required to raise a constituent block of the Khufu pyramid and the knowledge of the mechanical energy that a worker in charge of the lifting of the blocks can produce per working day allows an estimate of the…
This paper introduces a new technique for learning probabilistic models of mass and friction distributions of unknown objects, and performing robust sliding actions by using the learned models. The proposed method is executed in two…
Slithering, crawling, slipping, gliding are various modes of limbless locomotion that have been mimicked for micro-manipulation of soft, slender and sessile objects. A lesser known mode is rolling which involves periodic, asymmetric and…
We propose a novel iterative approach for crossing the reality gap that utilises live robot rollouts and differentiable physics. Our method, RealityGrad, demonstrates for the first time, an efficient sim2real transfer in combination with a…
The contact mechanics of individual, very small particles with other particles and walls is studied using a nanoindenter setup that allows normal and lateral displacement control and measurement of the respective forces. The sliding,…
This paper discusses the design and implementation of the Modular Pipe Climber inside ASTM D1785 - 15e1 standard pipes [1]. The robot has three tracks which operate independently and are mounted on three modules which are oriented at…
This dissertation presents a method for simulation of motion of the pebbles in a PBR. A new mechanical motion simulator, PEBBLES, efficiently simulates the key elements of motion of the pebbles in a PBR. This model simulates gravitational…
'Ghost Rods' are periodic structures in a two-dimensional flow that have an effect on material lines that is similar to real stirring rods. An example is a periodic island: material lines exterior to it must wrap around such an island,…
Building and Construction have recently become an exciting application ground for robotics. In particular, rapid progress in materials formulation and in robotics technology has made robotic 3D Printing of concrete a promising technique for…
Wooden blocks are a common toy for infants, allowing them to develop motor skills and gain intuition about the physical behavior of the world. In this paper, we explore the ability of deep feed-forward models to learn such intuitive…
Impact of a solid object onto a small-body surface can be modeled by the solid impact onto a hierarchically structured granular target. Impact drag force model for the hierarchically structured granular target is developed based on the…
This research proposes a novel morphing structure with shells inspired by the movement of pillbugs. Instead of the pillbug body, a loopcoupled mechanism based on slider-crank mechanisms is utilized to achieve the rolling up and spreading…
The use of pyramid elements is crucial to the construction of efficient hex-dominant meshes. For conforming nodal finite element methods with mixed element types, it is advantageous for nodal distributions on the faces of the pyramid to…
Anyone who has built a sandcastle recognizes that the addition of liquid to granular materials increases their stability. However, measurements of this increased stability often conflict with theory and with each other [1-7]. A…
The behaviour of rod-coil diblock copolymers close to a surface is discussed by using extended scaling methods. The copolymers are immersed in selective solvent such that the rods are likely to aggregate to gain energy. The rods are assumed…