Related papers: Nematic colloidal micro-robots as physically intel…
Electrically manipulating the quantum properties of nano-objects, such as atoms or molecules, is typically done using scanning tunnelling microscopes and lateral junctions. The resulting nanotransport path is well established in these model…
We design a nematic collider for controlled out-of-equilibrium anisotropic aggregation of spherical colloidal particles. The nematic surrounding imparts dipolar interactions among the spheres. A bidirectional backflow of the nematic liquid…
Active colloids and liquid crystals are capable of locally converting the macroscopically-supplied energy into directional motion and promise a host of new applications, ranging from drug delivery to cargo transport at the mesoscale. Here…
Manipulation of small-scale matter is a fundamental topic in micro- and nanorobotics. Numerous magnetic robotic systems have been developed for the manipulation of microparticles in an ambient environment, liquid as well as on the…
Physical systems exhibiting neuromechanical functions promise to enable structures with directly encoded autonomy and intelligence. We report on a class of neuromorphic metamaterials embodying bioinspired mechanosensing, memory, and…
As soft robot design matures, researchers have converged to sophisticated design paradigms to enable the development of more suitable platforms. Two such paradigms are soft-rigid hybrid robots, which utilize rigid structural materials in…
Modular microrobotics can potentially address many information-intensive microtasks in medicine, manufacturing and the environment. However, surface area has limited the natural powering, communication, functional integration, and…
On-orbit servicing represents a critical frontier in future aerospace engineering, with the manipulation of dynamic non-cooperative targets serving as a key technology. In microgravity environments, objects are typically free-floating,…
Robots with multi-modal locomotion are an active research field due to their versatility in diverse environments. In this context, additional actuation can provide humanoid robots with aerial capabilities. Flying humanoid robots face…
Motion mimicking, i.e., encouraging the control policy to mimic human motion, facilitates the learning of complex tasks via reinforcement learning (RL) for humanoid robots. Although standard RL frameworks demonstrate impressive locomotion…
Rigid bodies, made of smaller composite beads, are commonly used to simulate anisotropic particles with molecular dynamics or Monte Carlo methods. To accurately represent the particle shape and to obtain smooth and realistic effective pair…
Legged robots have demonstrated remarkable agility on rigid, stationary ground, but their locomotion reliability remains limited in non-inertial environments, where the supporting ground moves, tilts, or accelerates. Such conditions arise…
The physical interaction of aerial robots with their environment has countless potential applications and is an emerging area with many open challenges. Fully-actuated multirotors have been introduced to tackle some of these challenges.…
Building autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) with optimized efficiency and adaptive capabilities-able to respond to changing task demands and dynamic environments-is a strongly desired goal for advancing construction robotics. Such robots can…
Quadrupedal wheeled-legged robots combine the advantages of legged and wheeled locomotion to achieve superior mobility, but executing dynamic jumps remains a significant challenge due to the additional degrees of freedom introduced by…
The growing need for intelligent, adaptive, and energy-efficient autonomous systems across fields such as robotics, mobile agents (e.g., UAVs), and self-driving vehicles is driving interest in neuromorphic computing. By drawing inspiration…
Cardiovascular diseases account for around 17.9 million deaths per year globally, the treatment of which is challenging considering the confined space and complex topology of the vascular network and high risks during operations. Robots,…
Through the implementation of reconfigurability to achieve flexibility and adaptation to tasks by morphology changes rather than by increasing the number of joints, malleable robots present advantages over traditional serial robot arms in…
Synthetic active collectives, composed of many nonliving individuals capable of cooperative changes in group shape and dynamics, hold promise for practical applications and for the elucidation of guiding principles of natural collectives.…
Legged locomotion is a highly promising but under-researched subfield within the field of soft robotics. The compliant limbs of soft-limbed robots offer numerous benefits, including the ability to regulate impacts, tolerate falls, and…