Related papers: Friction modulation in limbless, three-dimensional…
Legged robots possess inherent advantages in traversing complex 3D terrains. However, previous work on low-cost quadruped robots with egocentric vision systems has been limited by a narrow front-facing view and exteroceptive noise,…
We examine the problem of snake-like locomotion by studying a system consisting of a planar inextensible elastic rod that is able to control its spontaneous curvature. Using a Cosserat model we derive, through variational principles, the…
Nature is intrinsically heterogeneous, and remarkable phenomena can only be observed in the presence of intrinsically nonlinear heterogeneities. Spontaneous pattern formation in nature has fascinated humankind for centuries, and the…
Both legged locomotion and slithering motions typically utilize periodic gaits -- repeating cycles of body shape change that produce a net motion through the world. Legged locomotion can be viewed from the perspective of piece-wise contact…
Effective locomotion in nature happens by transitioning across multiple modes (e.g., walk, run, climb). Despite this, far more mechanistic understanding of terrestrial locomotion has been on how to generate and stabilize around…
We outline a phenomenological model to assess friction at the interface between two bodies in mutual contact. Although the approach is general, the application inspiring the approach is the Discrete Element Method. The kinematics of the…
Identifying the physical properties of the surrounding environment is essential for robotic locomotion and navigation to deal with non-geometric hazards, such as slippery and deformable terrains. It would be of great benefit for robots to…
During the wear process of surfaces in sliding friction, there is a running-in period during which the topography of surfaces changes with time before reaching the steady wear regime. In the steady wear regime, the statistical parameters…
This paper presents a novel approach for robot navigation in environments containing deformable obstacles. By integrating Learning from Demonstration (LfD) with Dynamical Systems (DS), we enable adaptive and efficient navigation in complex…
The presence of dynamical heterogeneities, i.e. nanometer-scale regions containing molecules rearranging cooperatively at very different rates compared to the bulk, is increasingly being recognized as crucial in our understanding of the…
Adaptive morphogenetic robots adapt their morphology and control policies to meet changing tasks and environmental conditions. Many such systems leverage soft components, which enable shape morphing but also introduce simulation and control…
Thanks to recent technological advances, it is now possible to track with an unprecedented precision and for long periods of time the movement patterns of many living organisms in their habitat. The increasing amount of data available on…
Limbless robots have the potential to maneuver through cluttered environments that conventional robots cannot traverse. As illustrated in their biological counterparts such as snakes and nematodes, limbless locomotors can benefit from…
The incorporation of appropriate inductive bias plays a critical role in learning dynamics from data. A growing body of work has been exploring ways to enforce energy conservation in the learned dynamics by encoding Lagrangian or…
Although commonly associated with limbless animals like snakes and fish, multi-legged organisms like centipedes also utilize undulatory locomotion. Whether these undulations are actively reinforced or resisted by the axial musculature…
Geometric mechanics provides valuable insights into how biological and robotic systems use changes in shape to move by mechanically interacting with their environment. In high-friction environments it provides that the entire interaction is…
Abridged abstract: Inert interactions between randomly moving entities and spatial disorder play a crucial role in quantifying the diffusive properties of a system. These interactions affect only the movement of the entities, and examples…
The dynamics of frictional interfaces play an important role in many physical systems spanning a broad range of scales. It is well-known that frictional interfaces separating two dissimilar materials couple interfacial slip and normal…
The transition from static to dynamic friction when an elastic body is slid over another is now known to result from the motion of interface rupture fronts. These fronts may be either crack-like or pulse-like, with the latter involving…
The friction force observed at macroscale is the result of interactions at various lower length scales that are difficult to model in a combined manner. For this reason, simplified approaches are required, depending on the specific aspect…