Related papers: Active Vibration Fluidization for Granular Jamming…
We use particle simulations to reveal two distinct propulsion mechanisms for a scallop-like swimmer to locomote itself in granular media by reciprocally flapping its wings. Based on the discrete element method, we examine the kinematics and…
The 3D shape of a robot's end-effector plays a critical role in determining it's functionality and overall performance. Many industrial applications rely on task-specific gripper designs to ensure the system's robustness and accuracy.…
Grasping has long been considered an important and practical task in robotic manipulation. Yet achieving robust and efficient grasps of diverse objects is challenging, since it involves gripper design, perception, control and learning, etc.…
Granulation is a ubiquitous process crucial for many products ranging from food and care products to pharmaceuticals. Granulation is the process in which a powder is mixed with a small amount of liquid (binder) to form solid agglomerates…
Jamming is a ubiquitous phenomenon that appears in many soft matter systems, including granular materials, foams, colloidal suspensions, emulsions, polymers, and cells -- when jamming occurs, the system undergoes a transition from flow-like…
Quasi-static models of robotic motion with frictional contact provide a computationally efficient framework for analysis and have been widely used for planning and control of non-prehensile manipulation. In this work, we present a novel…
Transluminal minimally invasive surgery uses natural orifices and small incisions to access internal anatomical structures, promoting quicker recovery and reduced morbidity. However, navigating instruments--catheters and endoscopes--through…
Robotic grippers are receiving increasing attention in various industries as essential components of robots for interacting and manipulating objects. While significant progress has been made in the past, conventional rigid grippers still…
Saving energy and enhancing performance are secular preoccupations shared by both nature and human beings. In animal locomotion, flapping flyers or swimmers rely on the flexibility of their wings or body to passively increase their…
Granular materials are heterogenous grains in contact, which are ubiquitous in many scientific and engineering applications such as chemical engineering, fluid mechanics, geomechanics, pharmaceutics, and so on. Granular materials pose a…
Organisms in nature, such as Cephalopods and Pachyderms, exploit stiffness modulation to achieve amazing dexterity in the control of their appendages. In this paper, we explore the phenomenon of layer jamming, which is a popular stiffness…
Sim-to-real transfer remains a significant challenge in soft robotics due to the unpredictability introduced by common manufacturing processes such as 3D printing and molding. These processes often result in deviations from simulated…
Much of the Earth and many surfaces of extraterrestrial bodies are composed of in-cohesive particle matter. Locomoting on granular terrain is challenging for common robotic devices, either wheeled or legged. In this work, we discover a…
Inspired by recent experiments demonstrating that vibrating elastic sheets can function as seemingly contactless suction cups, we investigate the elastohydrodynamic hovering of a thin elastic sheet vibrating near a rigid substrate. Previous…
Jammed states of frictional granular systems can be induced by shear strain at densities below the isostatic jamming density ($\phi_c$). It remains unclear, however, how much friction affects this so-called shear-jamming. Friction appears…
Granular solid hydrodynamics, constructed to describe quasi-elastic and plastic motion of granular solid, is shown also capable of accounting for the rheology of granular dense flow. This makes it a unified, though still qualitative,…
Soft robots are known for their ability to perform tasks with great adaptability, enabled by their distributed, non-uniform stiffness and actuation. Bending is the most fundamental motion for soft robot design, but creating robust, and…
We study the dynamics of an intruder moving through a fluidized granular medium in three dimensions ($d=3$). The intruder and grains have both translational and rotational degrees of freedom. The energy-dissipation mechanism is solid…
Using numerical simulations, we study the rheological response of dense non-Brownian suspensions containing active particles. The active particles are modelled as run-and-tumble particles with three controlling parameters: the fraction of…
This study seeks to understand conditions under which virtual gratings produced via vibrotaction and friction modulation are perceived as similar and to find physical origins in the results. To accomplish this, we developed two single-axis…