Related papers: HEDRA: A Bio-Inspired Modular Tensegrity Soft Robo…
Humanoid robot teleoperation allows humans to integrate their cognitive capabilities with the apparatus to perform tasks that need high strength, manoeuvrability and dexterity. This paper presents a framework for teleoperation of humanoid…
This paper introduces a novel class of hyperredundant robots comprised of chains of permanently magnetized spheres enclosed in a cylindrical polymer skin. With their shape controlled using an externally-applied magnetic field, the spherical…
We introduce an elastic-driven self-folding approach that fabricates robots directly from flat 3D-printed conductive PLA nets. Elastic bands routed through printed hooks store energy that folds the sheet into programmed 3D geometries, while…
Series Elastic Actuators provide many benefits in force control of robots in unconstrained environments. These benefits include high force fidelity, extremely low impedance, low friction, and good force control bandwidth. Series Elastic…
Flexible joint robots, in particularly those which are equipped with harmonic-drive gears, can feature elasticities with hysteresis. Under heavy loads and large joint torques the hysteresis lost motion can lead to significant errors of…
Solving mobile manipulation tasks in inaccessible and dangerous environments is an important application of robots to support humans. Example domains are construction and maintenance of manned and unmanned stations on the moon and other…
Tendon-driven musculoskeletal humanoids have many benefits in terms of the flexible spine, multiple degrees of freedom, and variable stiffness. At the same time, because of its body complexity, there are problems in controllability. First,…
The stiffness modulation mechanism for soft robotics has gained considerable attention to improve deformability, controllability, and stability. However, for the existing stiffness soft actuator, high lateral stiffness and a wide range of…
Parallel robots based on Handed Shearing Auxetics (HSAs) can implement complex motions using standard electric motors while maintaining the complete softness of the structure, thanks to specifically designed architected metamaterials.…
Undesired lateral and longitudinal wheel slippage can disrupt a mobile robot's heading angle, traction, and, eventually, desired motion. This issue makes the robotization and accurate modeling of heavy-duty machinery very challenging…
Soft machines typically exhibit slow locomotion speed and low manipulation strength because of intrinsic limitations of soft materials. Here, we present a generic design principle that harnesses mechanical instability for a variety of…
Robotic models are useful for independently varying specific features, but most quadrupedal robots differ so greatly from animal morphologies that they have minimal biomechanical relevance. Commercially available quadrupedal robots are also…
Robot performance has advanced considerably both in and out of the factory, however in tightly constrained, unknown environments such as inside a jet engine or the human heart, current robots are less adept. In such cases where a borescope…
Functional magnetic composites capable of large deformation, load bearing, and multifunctional motion are essential for next-generation adaptive soft robots. Here, we present muscle-inspired magnetic actuators (MMA), additively manufactured…
Robots built from soft materials can alter their shape and size in a particular profile. This shape-changing ability could be extremely helpful for rescue robots and those operating in unknown terrains and environments. In changing shape,…
This paper presents a new type of distributed dexterous manipulator: delta arrays. Our delta array setup consists of 64 linearly-actuated delta robots with 3D-printed compliant linkages. Through the design of the individual delta robots,…
In-vivo environments, magnetically actuated soft robots offer advantages such as wireless operation and precise control, showing promising potential for painless detection and therapeutic procedures. We developed a trileg magnetically…
To design a general-purpose assembly robot system that can handle objects of various shapes, we propose a soft jig that fits to the shapes of assembly parts. The functionality of the soft jig is based on a jamming gripper developed in the…
In pipeline inspection, traditional tethered inspection robots are severely constrained by cable length and weight, which greatly limit their travel range and accessibility. To address these issues, this paper proposes a self-propelled…
The Industry 4.0 paradigm emphasizes the crucial benefits that collaborative robots, i.e., robots able to work alongside and together with humans, could bring to the whole production process. In this context, an enabling technology yet…