Related papers: Mechanical Optimization of Skateboard Pumping
We present an automated procedure for the design of optimal actuation for flagellar magnetic microswimmers based on numerical optimization. Using this method, a new magnetic actuation method is provided which allows these devices to swim…
Legged robots are typically in rigid contact with the environment at multiple locations, which add a degree of complexity to their control. We present a method to control the motion and a subset of the contact forces of a floating-base…
This paper considers the optimal control problem of an extended spring-loaded inverted pendulum (SLIP) model with two additional actuators for active leg length and hip torque modulation. These additional features arise naturally in…
A hyper-redundant robotic arm is a manipulator with many degrees of freedom, capable of executing tasks in cluttered environments where robotic arms with fewer degrees of freedom are unable to operate. This paper introduces a new method for…
Inspired by the classical Kepler and Rutherford problem, we investigate an analogous set-up in the context of active microswimmers: the behavior of a deformable microswimmer in a swirl flow. First we identify new steady bound states in the…
Humans experience small fluctuations in their gait when walking on uneven terrain. The fluctuations deviate from the steady, energy-minimizing pattern for level walking, and have no obvious organization. But humans often look ahead when…
Retargeting human kinematic reference motion onto a robot's morphology remains a formidable challenge. Existing methods often produce physical inconsistencies, such as foot sliding, self-collisions, or dynamically infeasible motions, which…
This paper mainly studies the accurate height jumping control of wheeled-bipedal robots based on torque planning and energy consumption optimization. Due to the characteristics of underactuated, nonlinear estimation, and instantaneous…
Real-life control tasks involve matters of various substances---rigid or soft bodies, liquid, gas---each with distinct physical behaviors. This poses challenges to traditional rigid-body physics engines. Particle-based simulators have been…
Our ability to numerically model and understand the complex flow behavior of solid-bearing suspensions has increased significantly over the last couple of years, partly due to direct numerical simulations that compute flow around individual…
We report that liquids perform self-propelled motion when they are placed in contact with hot surfaces with asymmetric (ratchet-like) topology. The pumping effect is observed when the liquid is in the film-boiling regime, for many liquids…
Continuum robotic grasping, inspired by biological appendages such as octopus arms and elephant trunks, provides a versatile and adaptive approach to object manipulation. Unlike conventional rigid-body grasping, continuum robots leverage…
We establish through numerical simulation conditions for optimal undulatory propulsion for a single fish, and for a pair of hydrodynamically interacting fish, accounting for linear and angular recoil. We first employ systematic 2D…
As technological advances allow us to fabricate smaller autonomous self-propelled devices, it is clear that at some point directed propulsion could not come from pre-specified deterministic periodic deformation of the swimmer's body and we…
The problem of a rigid disk rolling down a ramp is a classic problem given to students in introductory mechanics courses. In contrast, systematic studies on the rolling behavior of an ellipse have only recently emerged. Unlike a rolling…
Torque-driven microscale swimming robots, or microrotors, hold significant potential in biomedical applications such as targeted drug delivery, minimally invasive surgery, and micromanipulation. This paper addresses the challenge of…
A major field of industrial robot applications deals with repetitive tasks that alternate between operating points. For these so-called pick-and-place operations, parallel kinematic manipulators (PKM) are frequently employed. These tasks…
We propose a method to dynamically generate and control the flow of spin-entangled electrons, each belonging to a spin-singlet, by means of adiabatic quantum pumping. The pumping cycle functions by periodic time variation of localized…
Balance control is important for human and bipedal robotic systems. While dynamic balance during locomotion has received considerable attention, quantitative understanding of static balance and falling remains limited. This work presents a…
When a fluid jet strikes an inclined solid surface at normal incidence, gravity creates a flow pattern with a thick outer rim resembling a parabola and reminiscent of a hydraulic jump. There appears to be little theory or experiments…