Related papers: Origami spring-inspired shape morphing for flexibl…
Traditional robots have rigid links and structures that limit their ability to interact with the dynamics of their immediate environment. For example, conventional robot manipulators with rigid links can only manipulate objects using…
Folding paper along curves leads to spatial structures that have curved surfaces meeting at spatial creases, defined as curve-fold origami. In this work, we provide an Eulerian framework focusing on the mechanics of arbitrary curve-fold…
Collaborative robots must simultaneously be safe enough to operate in close proximity to human operators and powerful enough to assist users in industrial tasks such as lifting heavy equipment. The requirement for safety necessitates that…
We study, experimentally and theoretically, the mechanical response of sheet materials on which line cracks or cuts are arranged in a simple pattern. Such sheet materials, often called kirigami (the Japanese words, kiri and gami, stand for…
This paper presents a distributed method for robots moving in rigid formations while ensuring probabilistic collision avoidance between the robots. The formation is parametrised through the transformation of a base configuration. The robots…
Legged robots have demonstrated remarkable agility on rigid, stationary ground, but their locomotion reliability remains limited in non-inertial environments, where the supporting ground moves, tilts, or accelerates. Such conditions arise…
In this paper, we present an approach to study the behavior of compliant plates in granular media and optimize the performance of a robot that utilizes this technique for mobility. From previous work and fundamental tests on thin plate…
Legged robots can have a unique role in manipulating objects in dynamic, human-centric, or otherwise inaccessible environments. Although most legged robotics research to date typically focuses on traversing these challenging environments,…
Kirigami metamaterial sheets and tubes, owing to their capacity to undergo large elastic deformations while developing three-dimensional surface textures, have enormous potential as skins for soft robots. Here, we propose to use kirigami…
We introduce an additive approach for the design of a class of transformable structures based on two-bar linkages ("scissor mechanisms") joined at vertices to form a two dimensional lattice. Our discussion traces an underlying mathematical…
Soft robots have the potential to revolutionize the use of robotic systems with their capability of establishing safe, robust, and adaptable interactions with their environment, but their precise control remains challenging. In contrast,…
It is well-known that the Kresling pattern of congruent triangles can be arranged either circularly on a cylinder of revolution or in a helical way. In both cases the resulting cylindrical structures are multi-stable. We generalize these…
The rapid design and fabrication of soft robotic matter is of growing interest for shape morphing, actuation, and wearable devices. Here, we report a facile fabrication method for creating soft robotic materials with embedded pneumatics…
An underdeveloped capability in soft robotics is proprioceptive feedback control, where soft actuators can be sensed and controlled using only sensors on the robot's body. Additionally, soft actuators are often unable to support human-scale…
Legged locomotion shows promise for running in complex, unstructured environments. Designing such legged robots requires considering heterogeneous, multi-domain constraints and variables, from mechanical hardware and geometry choices to…
Elongate limbless robots have the potential to locomote through tightly packed spaces for applications such as search-and-rescue and industrial inspections. The capability to effectively and robustly maneuver elongate limbless robots is…
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…
In this paper, we present a novel and generic data-driven method to servo-control the 3-D shape of continuum and soft robots embedded with fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors. Developments of 3-D shape perception and control technologies are…
For centuries, human civilizations devised metal forming techniques to make tools and items; yet, customized metal forming remains costly and intricate. Laser-forming origami} (lasergami) is a metal forming process where a laser beam cuts…
Reorientation (turning in plane) plays a critical role for all robots in any field application, especially those that in confined spaces. While important, reorientation remains a relatively unstudied problem for robots, including limbless…