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Haptic sensations that align with virtual reality (VR) experiences have a profound impact on presence and enjoyment. There is potential to explore the dynamic capabilities of pneumatic inflatables to offer immersive sensations in virtual…
Understanding multibody interactions between colloidal particles out of equilibrium has a profound impact on dynamical processes such as colloidal self assembly. However, traditional colloidal interactions are effectively quasi-static on…
This paper presents the design and assessment of a fabric-based soft pneumatic actuator with low pressurization requirements for actuation making it suitable for upper extremity assistive devices for infants. The goal is to support shoulder…
In this paper, we introduce a novel design paradigm for modular architectured materials that allows for spatially nonuniform designs from a handful of building blocks, which can be robotically assembled for efficient and scalable…
Motivated by a recently synthesizable class of active interfaces formed by linked self--propelled colloids, we investigate the dynamics and fluctuations of a phoretically (chemically) interacting active interface with roto--translational…
This paper presents an omnidirectional aerial manipulation platform for robust and responsive interaction with unstructured environments, toward the goal of contact-based inspection. The fully actuated tilt-rotor aerial system is equipped…
This postdoctoral thesis starts by reviewing the historic development of airplane structures and high lift devices from an engineering point of view. However, the main purpose of this document is the development of a novel concept for shape…
With recent advances in both responsive materials and fabrication techniques it is now possible to construct integrated functional structures, composed of both structural and active materials. We investigate the robust design of such…
Exploiting the promise of recent advances in imitation learning for mobile manipulation will require the collection of large numbers of human-guided demonstrations. This paper proposes an open-source design for an inexpensive, robust, and…
This paper presents the concept of a tethered variable inertial attitude control mechanism for a modular jumping-limbed robot designed for planetary exploration in low-gravity environments. The system, named SPLITTER, comprises two sub-10…
Recent interest in mobile manipulation has resulted in a wide range of new robot designs. A large family of these designs focuses on modular platforms that combine existing mobile bases with static manipulator arms. They combine these…
We investigate the dynamics of the recently proposed model of assisted inflation. In this model an arbitrary number of scalar fields with exponential potentials evolve towards an inflationary scaling solution, even if each of the individual…
What does it take to build mobile manipulation systems that can competently operate on previously unseen objects in previously unseen environments? This work answers this question using opening of articulated structures as a mobile…
Natural organisms utilize distributed actuation through their musculoskeletal systems to adapt their gait for traversing diverse terrains or to morph their bodies for varied tasks. A longstanding challenge in robotics is to emulate this…
This work introduces TRIGGER, the first lighTweight univeRsal jammInG Gripper for aErial gRasping. TRIGGER is an omnidirectional, landing-capable aerial grasping system with resilience and robustness to collisions and inherent passive…
Soft pneumatic actuators (SPA) made from elastomeric materials can provide large strain and large force. The behavior of locally strain-restricted hyperelastic materials under inflation has been investigated thoroughly for shape…
We develop an automated computational modeling framework for rapid gradient-based design of multistable soft mechanical structures composed of non-identical bistable unit cells with appropriate geometric parameterization. This framework…
Pipelines, vital for fluid transport, pose an important yet challenging inspection task, particularly in small, flexible biological systems, that robots have yet to master. In this study, we explored the development of an innovative robot…
Shape modeling of volumetric medical images is crucial for quantitative analysis and surgical planning in computer-aided diagnosis. To alleviate the burden of expert clinicians, reconstructed shapes are typically obtained from deep learning…
Fabricating existing and popular open-source adaptive robotic grippers commonly involves using multiple professional machines, purchasing a wide range of parts, and tedious, time-consuming assembly processes. This poses a significant…