Related papers: Mechanical Optimization of Skateboard Pumping
Simple, linear equations relate microscopic swimmers to the corresponding gliders and pumps. They have the following set of consequences: The swimming velocity of free swimmers can be inferred from the force on the tethered swimmer and vice…
The task of maneuvering ships in confined environments is a difficult task for a human operator. One major reason is due to the complex and slow dynamics of the ship which need to be accounted for in order to successfully steer the vehicle.…
This paper studies jumping for wheeled-bipedal robots, a motion that takes full advantage of the benefits from the hybrid wheeled and legged design features. A comprehensive hierarchical scheme for motion planning and control of jumping…
In this paper we study the controlled motion of an arbitrary two-dimensional body in an ideal fluid with a moving internal mass and an internal rotor in the presence of constant circulation around the body. We show that by changing the…
The stability of standing in humans is a complex process that leads to maintaining the upright position against external disturbances. Balance control during standing is of vital importance for humans in daily life. An issue that is still…
This paper investigates the flow of a solidifying liquid film on a solid surface subject to a complex kinematics, a process relevant to pancake making and surface coating. The flow is modeled using the lubrication approximation, with a…
Rock skipping is a highly dynamic and relatively complex task that can easily be performed by humans. This project aims to bring rock skipping into a robotic setting, utilizing the lessons we learned in Robotic Manipulation. Specifically,…
Optimal control problems are formulated and efficient computational procedures are proposed for combined orbital and rotational maneuvers of a rigid body in three dimensions. The rigid body is assumed to act under the influence of forces…
Quadruped robots are machines intended for challenging and harsh environments. Despite the progress in locomotion strategy, safely recovering from unexpected falls or planned drops is still an open problem. It is further made more difficult…
Human movements are physical processes combining the classical mechanics of the human body moving in space and the biomechanics of the muscles generating the forces acting on the body under sophisticated sensory-motor control. The…
Spin dynamics of a polarized spin system is studied when the latter is coupled with a resonant electric circuit and is under the action of an external pumping supporting a stationary nonequilibrium magnetization. A complete classification…
Nonsmooth phenomena, such as abrupt changes, impacts, and switching behaviors, frequently arise in real-world systems and present significant challenges for traditional optimal control methods, which typically assume smoothness and…
Our aim is to present a new model which encompasses pace optimization and motor control effort for a runner on a fixed distance. We see that for long races, the long term behaviour is well approximated by a turnpike problem. We provide…
Quantum pumping holds great potential for future applications in micro- and nanotechnology. Its main feature, dissipationless charge transport, is theoretically possible via several different mechanisms. However, since no unambiguous…
Despite extensive studies on motion stabilization of bipeds, they still suffer from the lack of disturbance coping capability on slippery surfaces. In this paper, a novel controller for stabilizing a bipedal motion in its sagittal plane is…
In legged locomotion, the relationship between different gait behaviors and energy consumption must consider the full-body dynamics and the robot control as a whole, which cannot be captured by simple models. This work studies the robot…
The aim of this work is to enable quadrupedal robots to mount skateboards using Reverse Curriculum Reinforcement Learning. Although prior work has demonstrated skateboarding for quadrupeds that are already positioned on the board, the…
The navigation of micro-robots in complex flow environments is controlled by rheotaxis, the reorientation with respect to flow gradients. Here we demonstrate how payloads can be exploited to enhance the motion against flows. Using fully…
This paper is devoted to the study of the dynamic optimization of several controlled crowd motion models in the general planar settings, which is an application of a class of optimal control problems involving a general nonconvex sweeping…
We study vertical jumping in a simple robot comprising an actuated mass-spring arrangement. The actuator frequency and phase are systematically varied to find optimal performance. Optimal jumps occur above and below (but not at) the robot's…