Related papers: Modeling and parametric optimization of 3D tendon-…
Exoskeletons for rehabilitation can help enhance motor recovery in individuals suffering from neurological disorders. Precision in movement execution, especially in arm rehabilitation, is crucial to prevent maladaptive plasticity. However,…
Low back pain is one of the most common musculoskeletal disorder. To reduce its incidences, some back exoskeletons have been designed and already commercialized. However, there is a gap between the phases of device and testing on subjects.…
Athletic robots demand a whole-body actuation system design that utilizes motors up to the boundaries of their performance. However, creating such robots poses challenges of integrating design principles and reasoning of practical design…
Existing prosthetic/orthotic designs are rarely based on kinetostatics of a biological finger, especially its tendon-pulley system (TPS) which helps render a set of extraordinary functionalities. Studies on computational models or cadaver…
We propose Synchronous Dual-Arm Rearrangement Planner (SDAR), a task and motion planning (TAMP) framework for tabletop rearrangement, where two robot arms equipped with 2-finger grippers must work together in close proximity to rearrange…
Common disabilities like stroke and spinal cord injuries may cause loss of motor function in hands. They can be treated with robot assisted rehabilitation techniques, like continuously opening and closing the hand with help of a robot, in a…
Robotic systems driven by conventional motors often suffer from challenges such as large mass, complex control algorithms, and the need for additional braking mechanisms, which limit their applications in lightweight and compact robotic…
Tendon-driven continuum robot kinematic models are frequently computationally expensive, inaccurate due to unmodeled effects, or both. In particular, unmodeled effects produce uncertainties that arise during the robot's operation that lead…
The compliant nature of soft wearable robots makes them ideal for complex multiple degrees of freedom (DoF) joints, but also introduce additional structural nonlinearities. Intuitive control of these wearable robots requires robust sensing…
Spasticity is a common movement disorder symptom in individuals with cerebral palsy, hereditary spastic paraplegia, spinal cord injury and stroke, being one of the most disabling features in the progression of these diseases. Despite the…
Lower limbs exoskeletons provide assistance during standing, squatting, and walking. Gait dynamics, in particular, implies a change in the configuration of the device in terms of contact points, actuation, and system dynamics in general. In…
This paper presents a novel actuator system combining a twisted string actuator (TSA) with a winch mechanism. Relative to traditional hydraulic and pneumatic systems in robotics, TSAs are compact and lightweight but face limitations in…
This paper introduces a novel design method that enhances the force/torque, bendability, and controllability of soft pneumatic actuators (SPAs). The complex structure of the soft actuator is simplified by approximating it as a cantilever…
We describe a fluidic actuator design that replaces the sealed chamber of a hydraulic cylinder using a soft actuator to provide compliant linear compression with a large force ($\geq$100 N) at a low operation pressure ($\leq$50 kPa) for a…
Crawling is a common locomotion mechanism in soft robots and nonskeletal animals. In this work we propose modeling soft-robotic legged locomotion by approximating it with an equivalent articulated robot with elastic joints. For concreteness…
Many people could benefit from exoskeleton assistance during gait, for either medical or nonmedical purposes. But exoskeletons bring added mass and structure, which in turn require compensating for. In this work, we present a lightweight,…
Designing an exoskeleton to reduce the risk of low-back injury during lifting is challenging. Computational models of the human-robot system coupled with predictive movement simulations can help to simplify this design process. Here, we…
This paper presents a novel soft robotic system for a deformable mannequin that can be employed to physically realize the 3D geometry of different human bodies. The soft membrane on a mannequin is deformed by inflating several curved…
This paper concerns the forward kinematics and tension distribution of sinking winches mechanism, which is a type of four-cable-driven partly constrained parallel robot. Conventional studies on forward kinematics of cable-driven parallel…
The design of robots that are light, soft, powerful is a grand challenge. Since they can easily adapt to dynamic environments, soft robotic systems have the potential of changing the status-quo of bulky robotics. A crucial component of soft…