Related papers: Kirigami Actuators
We provide a clear energetic insight into the catastrophic nature of the so-called creasing and pull-in instabilities in soft electro-active elastomers. These phenomena are ubiquitous for thin electro-elastic plates and are a major obstacle…
Orthogonally assembled double-layered corrugated (OADLC) mechanisms are a class of foldable structures that harness origami-inspired methods to enhance the structural stiffness of resulting devices; these mechanisms have extensive…
Very recently, the construction of twist actuators from magnetorheological gels and elastomers has been suggested. These materials consist of magnetizable colloidal particles embedded in a soft elastic polymeric environment. The twist…
Liquid crystal elastomers represent a novel class of programmable shape-transforming materials whose shape change trajectory is encoded in the material's nematic director field. Using three-dimensional nonlinear finite element…
By virtue of being atomically thin, the electronic properties of heterostructures built from two-dimensional materials are strongly influenced by atomic relaxation. The atomic layers behave as flexible membranes rather than rigid crystals.…
Kirigami, the creative art of paper cutting, is a promising paradigm for mechanical metamaterials. However, to make kirigami-inspired structures a reality requires controlling the topology of kirigami to achieve connectivity and rigidity.…
A powerful technique is introduced for simulating mechanical and electromechanical properties of one-dimensional nanostructures under arbitrary combinations of bending, twisting, and stretching. The technique is based on a novel control of…
We report, through experimental observations and computer simulations, that atomic lattice interlocking can determine whether an object rolls or slides on a surface. We have quantitatively manipulated carbon nanotubes (CNTs) on a variety of…
Mechanical metamaterials are periodic lattice structures with complex unit cell architectures that can achieve extraordinary mechanical properties beyond the capability of bulk materials. A new class of metamaterials is proposed, whose…
Curve-fold origami, composed of developable panels joined along a curved crease, exhibits rich dynamic behaviors relevant to metamaterials and soft robotic systems. Despite multiple approximated models, a comprehensive and exact dynamical…
Soft robotic grippers gently and safely manipulate delicate objects due to their inherent adaptability and softness. Limited by insufficient stiffness and imprecise force control, conventional soft grippers are not suitable for applications…
A novel design of an elastic metamaterial with anisotropic mass density is proposed to manipulate flexural waves at a subwavelength scale. The three-dimensional metamaterial is inspired by kirigami, which can be easily manufactured by…
Many objects in nature and industry are wrapped in a thin sheet to enhance their chemical, mechanical, or optical properties. There are similarly a variety of methods for wrapping, from pressing a film onto a hard substrate, to using…
Fish locomotion is enabled by fin rays-actively deformable boney rods, which manipulate the fin to facilitate complex interaction with surrounding water and enable propulsion. Replicating the performance and kinematics of the biological fin…
Thin-walled structures capable of large, reversible deformation are key to multistable structures, origami, kirigami, and soft robotics. However, conventional fabrication techniques, including 3D printing, casting, and laser cutting, suffer…
Non-Euclidean origami is a promising technique for designing multistable deployable structures folded from nonplanar developable surfaces. The impossibility of flat foldability inherent to non-Euclidean origami results in two disconnected…
Continuum and soft robots can leverage complex actuator shapes to take on useful shapes while actuating only a few of their many degrees of freedom. Continuum robots that also grow increase the range of potential shapes that can be actuated…
The adhesion of a stiff film onto a curved substrate often generates elastic stresses in the film that eventually give rise to its delamination. Here we predict that delamination of very thin films can be dramatically suppressed through…
Origami inspired architectures offer a powerful route toward lightweight, reconfigurable, and programmable robotic systems. Yet, a unified mechanics framework capable of seamlessly bridging rigid folding, elastic deformation, and stability…
Mechanical metamaterials exhibit exotic properties at the system level, that emerge from the interactions of many nearly rigid building blocks. Determining these emergent properties theoretically has remained an open challenge outside of a…