Related papers: 3D Printed Actuators: Reversibility, Relaxation an…
Heterostructures constructed from two-dimensional building blocks have shown promise for field-effect transistors, memory devices, photosensors and other electronic applications1,2. 2D nanosheet crystals can be constructed into multilayer…
Knitting turns yarn, a 1D material, into a 2D fabric that is flexible, durable [1], and can be patterned to adopt a wide range of 3D geometries [2]. Like other mechanical metamaterials [3], the elasticity of knitted fabrics is an emergent…
Vitrimers are a relatively new class of polymer materials with unique properties offered by cross-links that can undergo associative exchange dynamics. We here present a new class of vitrimers based on poly(methyl acrylate) with cross-links…
Automating contact-rich manipulation of viscoelastic objects with rigid robots faces challenges including dynamic parameter mismatches, unstable contact oscillations, and spatiotemporal force-deformation coupling. In our prior work, a…
The increasing need for sharing workspace and interactive physical tasks between robots and humans has raised concerns regarding safety of such operations. In this regard, controllable clutches have shown great potential for addressing…
Photomechanically active materials undergo reversible deformation on illumination, making them ideal for remote, tether-free actuation. Much of the work on these materials has focused on one-dimensional structures, such as strips. In this…
Liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) are a stimuli-responsive material which has been intensively studied for applications including artificial muscles, shape morphing structures, and soft robotics, due to its capability of large, programmable,…
While multi-axis 3D printing can align continuous fibers along principal stresses in continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplastic (CFRTP) composites to enhance mechanical strength, existing methods have difficulty generating toolpaths with…
Wearable and legged robot designers face multiple challenges when choosing actuation. Traditional fully actuated designs using electric motors are multifunctional but oversized and inefficient for bearing conservative loads and for being…
Magnetic remote actuation of soft materials is attractive for applications such as transforming materials and medical robots. However, due to manufacturing limitations, microscale magnetoactive devices are scarce -- light-based additive…
Soft grippers have excellent adaptability for a variety of objects and tasks. Jamming-based variable stiffness materials can further increase soft grippers' gripping force and capacity. Previous universal grippers enabled by granular…
Additive manufacturing builds physical objects by accumulating layers upon layers of solidified material. This process is typically done with horizontal planar layers. However, fused filament printers have the capability to extrude material…
Additive Layer Manufacturing (ALM), also broadly known as 3D printing, is a new technology to produce 3D objects. As an opposite approach to the conventional subtractive manufacturing process, 3D objects are created by adding thin material…
To overcome the challenge of upcycling plastic waste into 3-D printing filament in the distributed recycling and additive manufacturing systems, this study designs, builds, tests and validates an open source 3-D filament diameter sensor for…
Computer animation in conjunction with 3D printing has the potential to positively impact traditional stop-motion animation. As 3D printing every frame of a computer animation is prohibitively slow and expensive, 3D printed stop-motion can…
Additive manufacturing is an expanding multidisciplinary field encompassing applications including medical devices, aerospace components, microfabrication strategies, and artificial organs. Among additive manufacturing approaches,…
Constructing precise micro-nano metal patterns on complex three-dimensional (3D) plastic parts allows the fabrication of functional devices for advanced applications. However, this patterning is currently expensive and requires complex…
An investigation on the additive manufacturing and the experimental testing of 3D models of tensegrity prisms and columns is presented. An electron beam melting facility (Arcam EBM S12) is employed to 3D print structures composed of…
Information processing devices operating in the quantum mechanical regime strongly rely on the quantum coherence of charge carriers. Studies of electronic dephasing in conventional metallic and semiconductor systems have not only paved the…
Mechanical metamaterials are artificial composites with tunable advanced mechanical properties. Particularly interesting types of mechanical metamaterials are flexible metamaterials, which harness internal rotations and instabilities to…