Related papers: Friction modulation in limbless, three-dimensional…
Designing soft robots poses considerable challenges: automated design approaches may be particularly appealing in this field, as they promise to optimize complex multi-material machines with very little or no human intervention.…
The mammalian spatial navigation system makes use of several different sensory information channels. This information is then converted into a neural code that represents the animal's current position in space by engaging place cell, grid…
Understanding frictional phenomena is a fascinating fundamental problem with huge potential impact on energy saving. Such an understanding requires monitoring what happens at the sliding buried interface, which is almost inaccessible by…
Self-propelled particles have been experimentally shown to orbit spherical obstacles and move along surfaces. Here, we theoretically and numerically investigate this behavior for a hydrodynamic squirmer interacting with spherical objects…
We study the motion of elastic networks driven over a random substrate. Our model which includes local friction forces leads to complex dynamical behavior. We find a transition to a sliding state which belongs to a new universality class.…
Sliding along frictional interfaces separating dissimilar elastic materials is qualitatively different from sliding along interfaces separating identical materials due to the existence of an elastodynamic coupling between interfacial slip…
Summary of results (project period 1. 10. 2008 - 30. 9. 2009) of SNFS Project "From locomotion to cognition" The research that we have been involved in, and will continue to do, starts from the insight that in order to understand and design…
Bipedal walking is one of the most important hallmarks of human that robots have been trying to mimic for many decades. Although previous control methodologies have achieved robot walking on some terrains, there is a need for a framework…
The motion of flexible fibers through structured fluidic environments is ubiquitous in nature and industrial applications. Most often, their dynamics results from the complex interplay between internal elastic stresses, contact forces and…
We develop a theory of static friction by modeling the homogeneous surfaces of contact as being composed of a regular array of compressible elastic smooth microscopic inclines. Static friction is thought of as the resistance due to having…
Rectilinear crawling locomotion is a primitive and common mode of locomotion in slender, soft-bodied animals. It requires coordinated contractions that propagate along a body that interacts frictionally with its environment. We propose a…
Frictional contact has been extensively studied as the core underlying behavior of legged locomotion and manipulation, and its nearly-discontinuous nature makes planning and control difficult even when an accurate model of the robot is…
Locomotion requires that an animal or robot be able to move itself forward farther than it moves backward in each gait cycle (formally, that it be able to break the symmetry of its interactions with the world). Previous work has established…
To prolong lifetime and reduce energy consumption, a thorough understanding of abrasive wear is essential. The potentially crucial influence of surface topography intricacies on tribological behavior have been obscured, since roughness and…
Human softness perception in haptics has mainly been studied using mechanically homogeneous objects, despite the fact that many real-world objects exhibit heterogeneous layered structures with nonuniform stiffness. This study examined how…
Soft slender structures are ubiquitous in natural and artificial systems and can be observed at scales that range from the nanometric to the kilometric, from polymers to space tethers. We present a practical numerical approach to simulate…
We present a novel method for populating 3D indoor scenes with virtual humans that can navigate in the environment and interact with objects in a realistic manner. Existing approaches rely on training sequences that contain captured human…
The friction and adhesion between elastic bodies are strongly influenced by the roughness of the surfaces in contact. Here we develop a multiscale molecular dynamics approach to contact mechanics, which can be used also when the surfaces…
Despite contending with constraints imposed by the environment, morphology, and physiology, animals move well by physically interactingwith the environment to use and transition between modes such as running, climbing, and self-righting. By…
The recent development of novel aerial vehicles capable of physically interacting with the environment leads to new applications such as contact-based inspection. These tasks require the robotic system to exchange forces with…