Related papers: Soft Tensegrity Systems for Planetary Landing and …
In this paper, a flexible tether-net system is applied to capture the space debris and a numerical framework is established to explore its nonlinear dynamic behaviors, which comprises four principal phases: folding, spreading, contacting,…
Tensegrity structures are lightweight, can undergo large deformations, and have outstanding robustness capabilities. These unique properties inspired roboticists to investigate their use. However, the morphological design, control,…
The paper proposes a novel adaptive search space decomposition method and a novel gradient-free optimization-based formulation for the pre- and post-buckling analyses of space truss structures. Space trusses are often employed in structural…
The complexity and unpredictability of postbuckling responses in even simple thin shells have raised great challenges to emerging technologies exploiting buckling transitions. Here we comprehensively survey the buckling landscapes to show…
Soft landing on small celestial bodies (SCBs) poses unique challenges, as gravitational models poorly characterize the higher-order gravitational effects of SCBs. Existing control approaches lack guarantees for safety under gravitational…
Tensegrity robots, composed of rigid rods connected by elastic cables, have a number of unique properties that make them appealing for use as planetary exploration rovers. However, control of tensegrity robots remains a difficult problem…
In a recent feature article in this journal, co-authored by Gert van der Heijden, I described the static-dynamic analogy and its role in understanding the localized post-buckling of shell-like structures, looking exclusively at integrable…
Conventional mobile tensegrity robots constructed with straight links offer mobility at the cost of locomotion speed. While spherical robots provide highly effective rolling behavior, they often lack the stability required for navigating…
Landing robotic spacecrafts and humans on Mars has become one of the inevitable technological necessities for humans. Effectuating perfect Mars expedition requires landing of enormous cargoes, crewed modules, ascent vehicles, and scientific…
Although wheeled robots have been predominant for planetary exploration, their geometry limits their capabilities when traveling over steep slopes, through rocky terrains, and in microgravity. Legged robots equipped with grippers are a…
Perching on structures such as trees, beams, and ledges is essential for extending the endurance of aerial robots by enabling energy conservation in standby or observation modes. A tethered tensile perching mechanism offers a simple,…
Many mechanical structures, both engineered and biological, combine heavy rigid elements such as bones and beams with lightweight flexible ones such as cables and membranes. These are referred to as tensegrities, reflecting that cables can…
Future robots will navigate perilous, remote environments with resilience and autonomy. Researchers have proposed building robots with compliant bodies to enhance robustness, but this approach often sacrifices the autonomous capabilities…
A thin flat rectangular plate supported on its edges and subjected to in-plane loading exhibits stable post-buckling behaviour. However, the introduction of a nonlinear (softening) elastic foundation may cause the response to become…
This paper addresses testing of compressed structures, such as shells, that exhibit catastrophic buckling and notorious imperfection sensitivity. The central concept is the probing of a loaded structural specimen by a controlled lateral…
This Engineering Note addresses the challenge of estimating the probability of collision for tethered spacecraft during close encounters with other space objects. Standard probability of collision methods, based on spherical hard-body…
This paper analyzes how medical supplies can be safely transported through eco-friendly means to areas affected by disasters such as floods using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. We compared the performance of different bio-degradable tensegrity…
This paper presents the equilibrium and stiffness study of clustered tensegrity structures (CTS) considering pulley sizes. We first derive the geometric relationship between clustered strings and pulleys, where the nodal vector is chosen as…
Aerial vehicles with collision resilience can operate with more confidence in environments with obstacles that are hard to detect and avoid. This paper presents the methodology used to design a collision resilient aerial vehicle with…
We introduce a model of fracture which includes the out-of-plane degrees of freedom necessary to describe buckling in a thin-sheet material. The model is a regular square lattice of elastic beams, rigidly connected at the nodes so as to…