Related papers: HOPPY: An open-source and low-cost kit for dynamic…
Soft robots, while highly adaptable to diverse environments through various actuation methods, still face significant performance boundary due to the inherent properties of materials. These limitations manifest in the challenge of…
The problem of a rigid disk rolling down a ramp is a classic problem given to students in introductory mechanics courses. In contrast, systematic studies on the rolling behavior of an ellipse have only recently emerged. Unlike a rolling…
We present an approach to experimental radar systems education based on a combination of commercial low-cost hardware with modern open-source software technologies. Following a discussion of the general top-level architecture of flexible,…
Wheeled-legged robots combine the efficiency of wheeled robots when driving on suitably flat surfaces and versatility of legged robots when stepping over or around obstacles. This paper introduces a planning and control framework to realise…
This paper presents a 3-DOF hopping robot with a human-like lower-limb joint configuration and a flat foot, capable of performing dynamic and repetitive jumping motions. To achieve both high torque output and a large hollow shaft diameter…
Robotic Hopping is challenging from the perspective of both modeling the dynamics as well as the mechanical design due to the short period of ground contact in which to actuate on the world. Previous work has demonstrated stable hopping on…
The advent of rotor-based hopping robots has created very capable hopping platforms with high agility and efficiency, and similar controllability, as compared to their purely flying quadrotor counterparts. Advances in robot performance have…
A standard motion control with feedback of the output displacement cannot handle unforeseen contact with environment without penetrating into the soft, i.e. viscoelastic, materials or even damaging the fragile materials. Robotics and…
Unlike most human-engineered systems, many biological systems rely on emergent behaviors from low-level interactions, enabling greater diversity and superior adaptation to complex, dynamic environments. This study explores emergent…
Bipedal robots represent a remarkable and sophisticated class of robotics, designed to emulate human form and movement. Their development marks a significant milestone in the field. However, even the most advanced bipedal robots face…
The Michigan Robotics MBot is a low-cost mobile robot platform that has been used to train over 1,400 students in autonomous navigation since 2014 at the University of Michigan and our collaborating colleges. The MBot platform was designed…
We present a small autonomous vehicle, with the purpose of aiding teachers and researchers to easily deploy different approaches to guidance, control and positioning systems, without the hassle to develop the entire modules required for…
Open-sourced, user-friendly tools form the bedrock of scientific advancement across disciplines. The widespread adoption of data-driven learning has led to remarkable progress in multi-fingered dexterity, bimanual manipulation, and…
This paper proposes a modular framework to generate robust biped locomotion using a tight coupling between an analytical walking approach and deep reinforcement learning. This framework is composed of six main modules which are…
The contact-rich nature of manipulation makes it a significant challenge for robotic teleoperation. While haptic feedback is critical for contact-rich tasks, providing intuitive directional cues within wearable teleoperation interfaces…
Modern applications of robotics typically involve a robot control system with an inner PI (proportional-integral) or PID (proportional-integral-derivative) control loop and an outer user-specified control loop. The existing outer loop…
Jumping and hopping locomotion are efficient means of traversing unstructured rugged terrain with the former being the focus of roboticists; a focus that has recently been changing. This focus has led to significant performance and…
Legged locomotion is a highly promising but under-researched subfield within the field of soft robotics. The compliant limbs of soft-limbed robots offer numerous benefits, including the ability to regulate impacts, tolerate falls, and…
Wheel-legged robots combine the advantages of both wheeled robots and legged robots, offering versatile locomotion capabilities with excellent stability on challenging terrains and high efficiency on flat surfaces. However, existing…
Soft grippers are receiving growing attention due to their compliance-based interactive safety and dexterity. Hybrid gripper (soft actuators enhanced by rigid constraints) is a new trend in soft gripper design. With right structural…