Related papers: Design and Characterization of a 3D-printed Pneuma…
The morphing of 3D structures is suitable for i) future tunable material design for customizing material properties and ii) advanced manufacturing tools for fabricating 3D structures on a 2D plane. However, there is no inverse design method…
This paper presents a compact system, OpenPneu, to support the pneumatic actuation for multi-chambers on soft robots. Micro-pumps are employed in the system to generate airflow and therefore no extra input as compressed air is needed. Our…
The study of elastic structures embedded with fluid-filled cavities received considerable attention in fields such as autonomous materials, sensors, actuators, and smart systems. This work studies an elastic beam embedded with a set of…
Shell buckling is central in many biological structures and advanced functional materials, even if, traditionally, this elastic instability has been regarded as a catastrophic phenomenon to be avoided for engineering structures. Either way,…
Shape change enables new capabilities for robots. One class of robots capable of dramatic shape change is soft growing "vine" robots. These robots usually feature global actuation methods for bending that limit them to simple,…
With the development of additive manufacturing, 3D printing technology has become more common nowadays. We designed and 3D printed a cost-effective liquid fluid pressure measurement device that can convert liquid pressure to air pressure.…
Deformable microchannels emulate a key characteristic of soft biological systems and flexible engineering devices: the flow-induced deformation of the conduit due to slow viscous flow within. Elucidating the two-way coupling between…
Precise modeling soft robots remains a challenge due to their infinite-dimensional nature governed by partial differential equations. This paper introduces an innovative approach for modeling soft pneumatic actuators, employing a nonlinear…
For most acoustic metamaterials, once they have been fabricated, their operating frequencies and functions cannot be adjusted, which is an intrinsic barrier for development of realistic applications. The study to overcome this limit has…
This paper proposes a novel pneumatic soft robotic hand that incorporates a mechanism that can switch the airflow path using a single airflow control. The developed hand can control the finger motion and operate the surface friction…
Two-dimensional (2D) materials are considered for numerous applications in microelectronics, although several challenges remain when integrating them into functional devices. Weak adhesion is one of them, caused by their chemical inertness.…
To enable robust rheological measurements of the properties of yield stress fluids, we introduce a class of modified vane fixtures with fractal-like cross-sectional structures. A greater number of outer contact edges leads to increased…
Real-time proprioception is a challenging problem for soft robots, which have almost infinite degrees-of-freedom in body deformation. When multiple actuators are used, it becomes more difficult as deformation can also occur on actuators…
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…
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…
Open source hardware has the potential to revolutionise the way we build scientific instruments; with the advent of readily-available 3D printers, mechanical designs can now be shared, improved and replicated faster and more easily than…
Magnetic remote actuation of soft materials is attractive for applications such as transforming materials and medical robots. However, due to manufacturing limitations, microscale magnetoactive devices are scarce -- light-based additive…
Classical rigid-bodied robotic systems are presented with proven success in theoretical development and industrial applications, are recently challenged by the emergence of soft robotics due to a growing need in physical human-robot…
We introduce DuoMorph, a design and fabrication method that synergistically integrates Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) printing and pneumatic actuation to create novel shape-changing interfaces. In DuoMorph, the printed structures and…
The quality of 3D prints often varies due to different conditions inherent to each print, such as filament type, print speed, and nozzle size. Closed-loop process control methods improve the accuracy and repeatability of 3D prints. However,…