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Soft robots enable safe, adaptive interaction with complex environments but remain difficult to sense and control due to their highly deformable structures. Architected soft materials such as helicoid lattices offer tunable stiffness and…
Fabricating existing and popular open-source adaptive robotic grippers commonly involves using multiple professional machines, purchasing a wide range of parts, and tedious, time-consuming assembly processes. This poses a significant…
Torque and continuous rotation are fundamental methods of actuation and manipulation in rigid robots. Soft robot arms use soft materials and structures to mimic the passive compliance of biological arms that bend and extend. This use of…
Autonomous multirotor landings on uncrewed surface vessels (USVs) are critical for persistent maritime operations but remain challenging due to wave-induced tilt, wind disturbances, and limited landing area. Many existing approaches exhibit…
Current upper limb prostheses aim to enhance user independence in daily activities by incorporating basic motor functions. However, they fall short of replicating the natural movement and interaction capabilities of the human arm. In…
This paper presents the SoftHand Model-W: a 3D-printed, underactuated, anthropomorphic robot hand based on the Pisa/IIT SoftHand, with an integrated antagonistic tendon mechanism and 2 degree-of-freedom tendon-driven wrist. These four…
Frictional influences in tendon-driven robotic systems are generally unwanted, with efforts towards minimizing them where possible. In the human hand however, the tendon-pulley system is found to be frictional with a difference between…
This paper applies the UAV to the inspection of water diversion pipelines in hydropower stations. The diversion pipeline is an enclosed space, so the airflow disturbance caused by the rotation of the UAV blades and the strong air convection…
In this work, we propose a centralized control method based on nonlinear model predictive control to let multiple UAVs manipulate the full pose of an object via cables. At the best of the authors knowledge this is the first method that…
Additive manufacturing, such as 3D printing, offers unparalleled opportunities for rapid prototyping of complex three-dimensional objects, but typically requires simultaneous building of solid supports to minimize deformation and ensure…
The paper describes an electronic multiprocessor system that assures functionality of a miniature UAV capable of 3D flying. The apparatus consists of six independently controlled brushless DC motors, each having a propeller attached to it.…
The increasing use of drones in human-centric applications highlights the need for designs that can survive collisions and recover rapidly, minimizing risks to both humans and the environment. We present HoLoArm, a quadrotor with compliant…
Co-design optimisation of autonomous systems has emerged as a powerful alternative to sequential approaches by jointly optimising physical design and control strategies. However, existing frameworks often neglect the robustness required for…
Soft robotics has emerged as a promising technology that holds great potential for various application areas. This is due to soft materials unique properties, including flexibility, safety, and shock absorption, among others. Despite many…
Flow control for turbulent skin-friction drag reduction is applied to a transonic airfoil to improve its aerodynamic performance. The study is based on direct numerical simulations (with up to 1.8 billions cells) of the compressible…
Soft pneumatic gripping strategies are often based on pressurized actuation of structures made of soft elastomeric materials, which limits designs in terms of size, weight, achievable forces, and ease of fabrication. On the other hand,…
Soft robotics has emerged as a promising field with the potential to revolutionize industries such as healthcare and manufacturing. However, designing effective soft robots presents challenges, particularly in managing the complex interplay…
Achieving precise, highly-dynamic maneuvers with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) is a major challenge due to the complexity of the associated aerodynamics. In particular, unsteady effects -- as might be experienced in post-stall regimes or…
Soft pneumatic actuators have seen applications in many soft robotic systems, and their pressure-driven nature presents unique challenges and opportunities for controlling their motion. In this work, we present a new concept: designing and…
Fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) offer endurance and efficiency but lack low-speed agility due to highly coupled dynamics. We present an end-to-end sensing-to-control pipeline that combines bio-inspired hardware, physics-informed…