Related papers: Autonomous Material Composite Morphing Wing
Unmanned aerial vehicles have been demonstrated successfully in a variety of tasks, including surveying and sampling tasks over large areas. These vehicles can take many forms. Quadrotors' agility and ability to hover makes them well suited…
In this paper, a compressed air-actuated soft robotic module was developed by incorporating a shape memory alloy (SMA) wire into its structure to achieve the desired bending angle with greater precision. First, a fiber-reinforced bending…
A novel mathematical model for fiber-reinforced materials is proposed. It is based on a 1-dimensional beam model for the thin fiber structures, a flexible and general 3-dimensional elasticity model for the matrix and an overlapping domain…
Insect wings can undergo significant deformation during flapping motion owing to inertial, elastic and aerodynamic forces. Changes in shape then alter aerodynamic forces, resulting in a fully coupled Fluid-Structure Interaction (FSI)…
Fluidic locomotion of flapping Micro Aerial Vehicles (MAVs) can be very complex, particularly when the rules from insect flight dynamics (fast flapping dynamics and light wings) are not applicable. In these situations, widely used averaging…
We propose an effective route to fully control the phase of plane waves reflected from electrically (optically) thin sheets. This becomes possible using engineered artificial full-reflection layers (metamirrors) as arrays of electrically…
This study introduces an innovative design for a Variable Stiffness 3 Degrees of Freedom actuated wrist capable of actively and continuously adjusting its overall stiffness by modulating the active length of non-linear elastic elements.…
Understanding and controlling self-assembly processes at multiple length scales is vital if we are to design and create advanced materials. In particular, our ability to organise matter on the nanoscale has advanced considerably, but still…
The process of self-morphing in curved surfaces found in nature, such as with the growth of flowers and leaves, has generated interest in the study of self-morphing bilayers, which has been used in many soft robots or switchers. However,…
Ongoing effort has been devoted to applying metamaterials to boost the imaging performance of magnetic resonance imaging owing to their unique capacity for electromagnetic field confinement and enhancement. However, there are still major…
Flexible mechanical metamaterials are compliant structures engineered to achieve unique properties via the large deformation of their components. While their static character has been studied extensively, the study of their dynamic…
Vast tunable optical components are realized based on dynamic reconfigurations of the incident wavefronts, such as beam steering and tunable lens. However, the dominant paradigm of current wavefront reconfiguration technologies relies on…
As roles for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) continue to diversify, the ability to sense and interact closely with the environment becomes increasingly important. Within this paper we report on the initial flight tests of a novel adaptive…
Dynamic soaring is a flying technique to exploit the energy available in wind shear layers, enabling potentially unlimited flight without the need for internal energy sources. We propose a framework for autonomous dynamic soaring with a…
Precise manipulation of small objects using light holds transformative potential across diverse fields. While research in optical trapping and manipulation predominantly relies on the attraction of solid matter to light intensity maxima,…
Metamaterials are a new generation of advanced materials, exhibiting engineered microstructures that enable customized material properties not found in nature. The dynamics of metamaterials are particularly fascinating, promising the…
There is a growing need for uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) to operate in cities. However, the uneven urban landscape and complex street systems cause large-scale wind gusts that challenge the safe and effective operation of UAVs. Current…
The design and optimisation of aircraft wings are critical tasks in aerospace engineering, requiring a balance between structural integrity, aerostructural performance, and manufacturability. This multifaceted challenge involves the…
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…
A control design approach to achieve fully autonomous take-off and flight maneuvers with a tethered aircraft is presented and demonstrated in real-world flight tests with a small-scale prototype. A ground station equipped with a controlled…