Related papers: Tunable Dynamic Walking via Soft Twisted Beam Vibr…
Soft pneumatic fingers are of great research interest. However, their significant potential is limited as most of them can generate only one motion, mostly bending. The conventional design of soft fingers does not allow them to switch to…
This paper presents a soft robot finger capable of adaptive-twist deformation to grasp objects by wrapping them. For a soft hand to grasp and pick-up one object from densely contained multiple objects, a soft finger requires the…
We present a real-time pattern generator for dynamic walking over rough terrains. Our method automatically finds step durations, a critical issue over rough terrains where they depend on terrain topology. To achieve this level of…
Dynamic walking on bipedal robots has evolved from an idea in science fiction to a practical reality. This is due to continued progress in three key areas: a mathematical understanding of locomotion, the computational ability to encode this…
Robust and energy-efficient bipedal locomotion in robotics is still a challenging topic. In order to address issues in this field, we can take inspiration from nature, by studying human locomotion. The Spring-Loaded Inverted Pendulum (SLIP)…
Bristle bots are vibration-driven robots actuated by the motion of an internal oscillating mass. Vibrations are translated into directed locomotion due to the alternating friction resistance between robots' bristles and the substrate during…
Teleoperated humanoid robots hold significant potential as physical avatars for humans in hazardous and inaccessible environments, with the goal of channeling human intelligence and sensorimotor skills through these robotic counterparts.…
We successfully evolved a neural network controller that produces dynamic walking in a simulated bipedal robot with compliant actuators, a difficult control problem. The evolutionary evaluation uses a detailed software simulation of a…
Many marine creatures, gastropods, and earthworms generate continuous traveling waves in their bodies for locomotion within marine environments, complex surfaces, and inside narrow gaps. In this work, we study theoretically and…
Inspired by the dynamic coupling of moto-neurons and physical elasticity in animals, this work explores the possibility of generating locomotion gaits by utilizing physical oscillations in a soft snake by means of a low-level spiking neural…
Tactile sensing on human feet is crucial for motion control, however, has not been explored in robotic counterparts. This work is dedicated to endowing tactile sensing to legged robot's feet and showing that a single-legged robot can be…
Dynamic bipedal walking on discrete terrain, like stepping stones, is a challenging problem requiring feedback controllers to enforce safety-critical constraints. To enforce such constraints in real-world experiments, fast and accurate…
We present a solvable biped walking model based on an inverted pendulum with two massless articulated legs capable of walking on uneven floors and inclined planes. The stride of the two-legged robot results from the pendular motion of a…
Legged locomotion benefits from embodied sensing, where perception emerges from the physical interaction between body and environment. We present a soft-surfaced, vision-based tactile foot sensor that endows a bipedal robot with a skin-like…
Design of robots at the small scale is a trial-and-error based process, which is costly and time-consuming. There are few dynamic simulation tools available to accurately predict the motion or performance of untethered microrobots as they…
Achieving robust legged locomotion on complex terrains poses challenges due to the high uncertainty in robot-environment interactions. Recent advances in bipedal and quadrupedal robots demonstrate good mobility on rugged terrains but rely…
Variable stiffness is a key capability in biological and robotic systems, enabling adaptive interaction across tasks and environments. Mechanical metamaterials offer an alternative to conventional mechatronic solutions by encoding stiffness…
Walking is among the most common human activities where the feet can gather rich tactile information from the ground. The dynamic contact between the feet and the ground generates vibration signals that can be sensed by the foot skin. While…
We present the modeling, design, fabrication and feedback control of an earthworm-inspired soft robot capable of crawling on surfaces by actively manipulating the frictional force between its body and the surface. Earthworms are segmented…
For humanoids to be deployed in demanding situations, such as search and rescue, highly intelligent decision making and proficient sensorimotor skill is expected. A promising solution is to leverage human prowess by interconnecting robot…