Related papers: Efficient snap-through of spherical caps by applyi…
We use the image solution technique to compute the leading order frequency-dependent self-mobility function of a small solid particle moving perpendicular to the surface of a spherical capsule whose membrane possesses shearing and bending…
In-vivo, cells are frequently exposed to multiple mechanical stimuli arising from the extracellular microenvironment, with deep impact on many biological functions. On the other hand, current methods for mechanobiology do not allow to…
We demonstrate that through localised Rydberg excitation in a three-dimensional cold atom cloud atomic motion can be rendered directed and nearly confined to a plane, without spatial constraints for the motion of individual atoms. This…
We propose and analyze the suitability of a spiking controller to engineer the locomotion of a soft robotic crawler. Inspired by the FitzHugh-Nagumo model of neural excitability, we design a bistable controller with an electrical flipflop…
The ability to enhance light-matter interactions by increasing the energy stored in optical resonators is inherently dependent on their coupling to the incident wavefront. In practice, weak coupling may result from resonators' irregular…
Manipulation in cluttered environments like homes requires stable grasps, precise placement and robustness against external contact. We present the Soft-Bubble gripper system with a highly compliant gripping surface and dense-geometry…
When a hole is introduced into an elastic material, it will usually act to reduce the overall mechanical stiffness. A general ambition is to investigate whether a stiff shell around the hole can act to maintain the overall mechanical…
A millimetre-size superhydrophobic sphere impacting on the free surface of a quiescent bath can be propelled back into the air by capillary effects and dynamic fluid forces, whilst transferring part of its energy to the fluid. We report the…
Microswimmers, and among them aspirant microrobots, generally have to cope with flows where viscous forces are dominant, characterized by a low Reynolds number ($Re$). This implies constraints on the possible sequences of body motion, which…
This paper introduces a simulation study of fluid actuated multi-driven closed system as spherical mobile robot called "RollRoller". Robot's mechanism design consists of two essential parts: tubes to lead a core and mechanical controlling…
A leading concept in soft robotics actuation, as well as in microfluidics applications such as valves in lab-on-a-chip devices, is applying pressurized flow in cavities embedded within elastic bodies. Generating complex deformation patterns…
Molecular dynamics simulations are used to study contact between a rigid, nonadhesive, spherical tip with radius of order 30nm and a flat elastic substrate covered with a fluid monolayer of adsorbed chain molecules. Previous studies of bare…
Snap-fits are versatile mechanical designs in industrial products, which enable the repeated assembling and disassembling of two solid parts. This important property is attributed to a fine balance between geometry, friction, and bending…
A hole injected into a Mott insulator will gain an internal structure as recently identified by exact numerics, which is characterized by a nontrivial quantum number whose nature is of central importance in understanding the Mott physics.…
Lateral connection is a fundamental feature of biological neural circuits, facilitating local information processing and adaptive learning. In this work, we integrate lateral connections with a substructure selection network to develop a…
Experiments reveal that structural transitions in thin sheets are mediated by the passage of transient and stable mobile localized elastic excitations. These ``crumples'' or ``d-cones'' nucleate, propagate, interact, annihilate, and escape.…
Conforming materials to rigid substrates with Gaussian curvature --- positive for spheres and negative for saddles --- has proven a versatile tool to guide the self-assembly of defects such as scars, pleats, folds, blisters, and liquid…
In a previous work the authors described a fast high-fidelity computer model for acoustic scattering from multi-layered elastic spheres. This work is now extended with a scaling strategy significantly mitigating the problem of overflow and…
This paper introduces a novel design method that enhances the force/torque, bendability, and controllability of soft pneumatic actuators (SPAs). The complex structure of the soft actuator is simplified by approximating it as a cantilever…
Folding and unfolding of biopolymers are often manipulated in experiment by tuning pH, temperature, single-molecule force or shear field. Here we carry out Brownian dynamics simulations to explore the behavior of a single self-attracting…