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In the fields of robotics and biomechanics, the integration of elastic elements such as springs and tendons in legged systems has long been recognized for enabling energy-efficient locomotion. Yet, a significant challenge persists:…
Rigidity is an emergent property of materials - it is not a feature of individual components that comprise the structure, but instead arises from interactions between many constituent parts. Recently, it has been recognized that…
The purpose of this research is to design, fabricate and test a tendon driven a continuum soft robot with three modular segments, each of which has a tunable stiffness enabled by layer jamming technology. Compared with previous studies, the…
4D printing of flat sheets that self-fold into architected 3D structures is a powerful origami-inspired approach for the fabrication of multi-functional devices and metamaterials. The possibility to endow the initially flat sheet with a…
This paper examines various ways of improving the impact resilience of protective structures. Such structures' purpose is to dissipate an impact's energy while avoiding cracking and failure. We have tested the reaction of plane…
Gradient structured (GS) metals processed by severe plastic deformation techniques can be designed to achieve simultaneously high strength and high ductility. Significant kinematic hardening is key to their excellent strain hardening…
The mechanics of complex soft matter often cannot be understood in the classical physical frame of flexible polymers or rigid rods. The underlying constituents are semiflexible polymers, whose finite bending stiffness ($\kappa$) leads to…
This work proposes a new efficient approach for calculating the bending stiffness of two-dimensional materials using simple atomistic tests on small periodic unit cells. The tests are designed such that bending deformations are dominating…
Flexible mechanical structures can undergo large deformations under small loads, enabling large, complex, and nonlinear wave responses under finite-frequency driving. Here, we study a dynamically driven canonical flexible mechanical…
Snapping beams enable rapid geometric transitions through nonlinear instability, offering an efficient means of generating motion in soft robotic systems. In this study, a tendon-driven mechanism consisting of spiral-based metabeams was…
Fibrous networks are ideal functional materials since they provide mechanical rigidity at low weight. Such structures are omnipresent in natural biomaterials from cells to tissues, as well as in man-made materials from polymeric composites…
Recent advances in additive manufacturing methods make it possible, for the first time, to manufacture complex micro-architectured solids that achieve desired stress versus strain responses. Here, we report experimental measurements and…
In this article, a novel explicit approach for designing complex thin-walled structures based on the Moving Morphable Component (MMC) method is proposed, which provides a unified framework to systematically address various design issues,…
This paper investigates the structure-property relations of thin-walled lattices under dynamic longitudinal compression, characterized by their cross-sections and heights. These relations elucidate the interactions of different geometric…
Interactions between active individuals in animal collectives lead to emergent responses that remain elusive in synthetic soft matter. Here, shape-morphing polymers are used to create bio-inspired transient solids that self-assemble with…
This paper discusses the possibility of making an object that precisely meets global structural requirements using additive manufacturing and feedback control. An experimental validation is presented by printing a cantilever beam with a…
The aim of this work is to study the dynamics and stability of soft shape-morphing configurations and specifically the modes of interaction between the front and rear airfoil segments. Initially we present several steady-state solutions,…
Soft robots manufactured with flexible materials can be highly compliant and adaptive to their surroundings, which facilitates their application in areas such as dexterous manipulation and environmental exploration. This paper aims at…
Constraint tightening to non-conservatively guarantee recursive feasibility and stability in Stochastic Model Predictive Control is addressed. Stability and feasibility requirements are considered separately, highlighting the difference…
The dynamic characteristics of near-field levitation bearings have been investigated in this study. Through theoretical analysis, two different types of system stiffness are defined and derived analytically. The dynamic stiffness relates…