Related papers: Growing structure based on viscous actuation of co…
This paper describes a method for steering deformable linear objects using two robot hands in environments populated by sparsely spaced obstacles. The approach involves manipulating an elastic inextensible rod by varying the gripping…
Floating-base multi-link robots can change their shape during flight, making them well-suited for applications in confined environments such as autonomous inspection and search and rescue. However, trajectory planning for such systems…
We study a simple two-dimensional model for motion of an elastic filament subject to internally generated stresses and show that wave-like propagating shapes which can propel the filament can be induced by a self-organized mechanism via a…
Soft polymer-based solid materials can be defined as solid materials with elastic moduli below 1 MPa. In order to obtain such a low modulus while retaining a solid character, all these materials are based on a network of fixed points…
Fully soft bistable mechanisms have shown extensive applications ranging from soft robotics, wearable devices, and medical tools, to energy harvesting. However, the lack of design and fabrication methods that are easy and potentially…
Back injuries are the most prevalent work-related musculoskeletal disorders and represent a major cause of disability. Although innovations in wearable robots aim to alleviate this hazard, the majority of existing exoskeletons are obtrusive…
Many soft-body organisms found in nature flourish underwater. Similarly, soft robots are potentially well-suited for underwater environments partly because the problematic effects of gravity, friction, and harmonic oscillations are less…
Viscous streaming refers to the rectified, steady flows that emerge when a liquid oscillates around an immersed microfeature, typically a solid body or a bubble. The ability of such features to locally concentrate stresses produces strong…
Robotic manipulation of flexible objects is widely required in both industrial and service applications. Among such objects, paper-like materials exhibit distinct mechanical characteristics compared to cloth, being more sensitive to…
We study the compaction and mobility properties of a dense granular material under weak random vibration. By putting in direct contact millimetric glass beads with piezoelectric transducers we manage to inject energy to the system in a…
Reduced traction limits the ability of mobile robotic systems to resist or apply large external loads, such as tugging a massive payload. One simple and versatile solution is to wrap a tether around naturally occurring objects to leverage…
Continuum models for the spatial dynamics of growing cell populations have been widely used to investigate the mechanisms underpinning tissue development and tumour invasion. These models consist of nonlinear partial differential equations…
Curvature and mechanics are intimately connected for thin materials, and this coupling between geometry and physical properties is readily seen in folded structures from intestinal villi and pollen grains, to wrinkled membranes and…
Elastic filaments are vital to biological, physical and engineering systems, from cilia driving fluid in the lungs to artificial swimmers and micro-robotics. Simulating slender structures requires intricate balance of elastic, body, active,…
We present a novel machine learning based surrogate modeling method for predicting spatially resolved 3D microstructure evolution of polycrystalline materials under uniaxial tensile loading. Our approach is orders of magnitude faster than…
We propose a novel mechanism that propagates vibration through soft twisted beams, taking advantage of dynamically-coupled anisotropic stiffness to simplify the actuation of walking robots. Using dynamic simulation and experimental…
Soft robots have attracted much attention in recent years owing to their high adaptability. Long articulated soft robots enable diverse operations, and tip-extending robots that navigate their environment through growth are highly effective…
Active materials are capable of converting free energy into mechanical work to produce autonomous motion, and exhibit striking collective dynamics that biology relies on for essential functions. Controlling those dynamics and transport in…
Step pattern stability of the vicinal surfaces during growth was analyzed using various surface kinetic models. It was shown that standard analysis of the vicinal surfaces provides no indication on the possible step coalescence and…
We propose a general multiscale approach for the mechanical behavior of three-dimensional networks of macromolecules undergoing strain-induced unfolding. Starting from a (statistically based) energetic analysis of the macromolecule…