Related papers: Distributed Sensor Networks Deployed Using Soft Gr…

Rigid-bodied robots often lack compliance needed to adapt to unstructured environments, while fully soft robots, though highly adaptable, struggle with scalability and load capacity. In nature, musculoskeletal systems balance strength and…

Soft robots have a myriad of potentials because of their intrinsically compliant bodies, enabling safe interactions with humans and adaptability to unpredictable environments. However, most of them have limited actuation speeds, require…

We propose a hardware and software pipeline to fabricate flexible wearable sensors and use them to capture deformations without line of sight. Our first contribution is a low-cost fabrication pipeline to embed multiple aligned conductive…

Soft robots offer more flexibility, compliance, and adaptability than traditional rigid robots. They are also typically lighter and cheaper to manufacture. However, their use in real-world applications is limited due to modeling challenges…

We propose efficient distributed algorithms to aid navigation of a user through a geographic area covered by sensors. The sensors sense the level of danger at their locations and we use this information to find a safe path for the user…

Soft robots are inherently compliant and have a strong potential to realize human-friendly and safe robots. Despite continued research highlighting the potential of soft robots, they remain largely confined to laboratory settings. In this…

Soft robots can exhibit diverse behaviors with simple types of actuation by partially outsourcing control to the morphological and material properties of their soft bodies, which is made possible by the tight coupling between control, body,…

A distributed data collection algorithm to accurately store and forward information obtained by wireless sensor networks is proposed. The proposed algorithm does not depend on the sensor network topology, routing tables, or geographic…

For robots with low rigidity, determining the robot's state based solely on kinematics is challenging. This is particularly crucial for a robot whose entire body is in contact with the environment, as accurate state estimation is essential…

With the advent of consumer grade depth sensors, low-cost volumetric capture systems are easier to deploy. Their wider adoption though depends on their usability and by extension on the practicality of spatially aligning multiple sensors.…

We propose a new robotic cover prototype that achieves thermal display while also being soft. We focus on the thermal cue because previous human studies have identified it as part of the touch pleasantness. The robotic cover surface can be…

Additive manufacturing is enabling soft robots with increasingly complex geometries, creating a demand for sensing solutions that remain compatible with single-material, one-step fabrication. Optical soft sensors are attractive for…

Soft robots have gained increased popularity in recent years due to their adaptability and compliance. In this paper, we use a digital twin model of cable-driven soft robots to learn control parameters in simulation. In doing so, we take…

Recently, suction-based robotic systems with microscopic features or active suction components have been proposed to grip rough and irregular surfaces. However, sophisticated fabrication methods or complex control systems are required for…

Distributed signal-processing algorithms in (wireless) sensor networks often aim to decentralize processing tasks to reduce communication cost and computational complexity or avoid reliance on a single device (i.e., fusion center) for…

Long-term monitoring and exploration of extreme environments, such as underwater storage facilities, is costly, labor-intensive, and hazardous. Automating this process with low-cost, collaborative robots can greatly improve efficiency.…

Obtaining dynamic models of continuum soft robots is central to the analysis and control of soft robots, and researchers have devoted much attention to the challenge of proposing both data-driven and first-principle solutions. Both avenues…

Fabrication uncertainty arising from tolerance accumulation, material imperfection, and positioning errors remains a critical barrier to automated robotic assembly in construction, particularly for contact-rich manipulation tasks governed…

In industrial systems, certain process variables that need to be monitored for detecting faults are often difficult or impossible to measure. Soft sensor techniques are widely used to estimate such difficult-to-measure process variables…

Many organisms, including various species of spiders and caterpillars, change their shape to switch gaits and adapt to different environments. Recent technological advances, ranging from stretchable circuits to highly deformable soft…