Related papers: Origami spring-inspired shape morphing for flexibl…
Soft robots achieve functionality through tight coupling among geometry, material composition, and actuation. As a result, effective design optimization requires these three aspects to be considered jointly rather than in isolation. This…
Origami-inspired robotic grippers have shown promising potential for object manipulation tasks due to their compact volume and mechanical flexibility. However, robust capture of objects with random shapes in dynamic working environments…
Living organisms intertwine soft (e.g., muscle) and hard (e.g., bones) materials, giving them an intrinsic flexibility and resiliency often lacking in conventional rigid robots. The emerging field of soft robotics seeks to harness these…
Developing soft robots that can control their own life-cycle and degrade on-demand while maintaining hyper-elasticity is a significant research challenge. On-demand degradable soft robots, which conserve their original functionality during…
Soft robots are known for their ability to perform tasks with great adaptability, enabled by their distributed, non-uniform stiffness and actuation. Bending is the most fundamental motion for soft robot design, but creating robust, and…
To improve the accessibility of robotics, we propose a design and fabrication strategy to build low-cost electromechanical systems for robotic devices. Our method, based on origami-inspired cut-and-fold and E-textiles techniques, aims at…
Recently, inflatable elements integrated in robotics systems have enabled complex motions as a result of simple inputs. However, these fluidic actuators typically exhibit unimodal deformation upon inflation. Here, we present a new design…
Compared to traditional rigid robotics, soft robotics has attracted increasing attention due to its advantages as compliance, safety, and low cost. As an essential part of soft robotics, the soft robotic gripper also shows its superior…
Fully soft bistable mechanisms have shown extensive applications ranging from soft robotics, wearable devices, and medical tools, to energy harvesting. However, the lack of design and fabrication methods that are easy and potentially…
We investigate the mechanical response of thin sheets perforated with a square array of mutually orthogonal cuts, which leaves a network of squares connected by small ligaments. Our combined analytical, experimental and numerical results…
In this paper, we introduce a new approach for soft robot shape formation and morphing using approximate distance fields. The method uses concepts from constructive solid geometry, R-functions, to construct an approximate distance function…
Curve-fold origami, composed of developable panels joined along a curved crease, exhibits rich dynamic behaviors relevant to metamaterials and soft robotic systems. Despite multiple approximated models, a comprehensive and exact dynamical…
Fast and modular modeling of multi-legged robots (MLRs) is essential for resilient control, particularly under significant morphological changes caused by mechanical damage. Conventional fixed-structure models, often developed with…
Foldable robots have been an active area of robotics research due to their high volume-to-mass ratio, easy packability, and shape adaptability. For locomotion, previously developed foldable robots have either embedded linear actuators in,…
Controlling the connectivity and rigidity of kirigami, i.e. the process of cutting paper to deploy it into an articulated system, is critical in the manifestations of kirigami in art, science and technology, as it provides the resulting…
This paper is dedicated to the development of a novel adaptive torsion spring mechanism for optimizing energy consumption in legged robots. By adjusting the equilibrium position and stiffness of the spring, the system improves energy…
Aquatic creatures exhibit remarkable adaptations of their body to efficiently interact with the surrounding fluid. The tight coupling between their morphology, motion, and the environment are highly complex but serves as a valuable example…
Origami-based structures play an important role in the realization of deployable mechanisms and unique mechanical properties via programmable deformation by folding. Among origami-based structures, tessellation by the coupling of origami…
Inspired by the allure of additive fabrication, we pose the problem of origami design from a new perspective: how can we grow a folded surface in three dimensions from a seed so that it is guaranteed to be isometric to the plane? We solve…
Robotic assistance has significantly improved the outcomes of open microsurgery and rigid endoscopic surgery, however is yet to make an impact in flexible endoscopic neurosurgery. Some of the most common intracranial procedures for…