Related papers: Stretchable Pneumatic Sleeve for Adaptable, Low-Di…
Grip surfaces with tunable friction can actively modify contact conditions, enabling transitions between higher- and lower-friction states for grasp adjustment. Friction can be increased to grip securely and then decreased to gently release…
Manipulating deformable objects in robotic cells is often costly and not widely accessible. However, the use of localized pneumatic gripping systems can enhance accessibility. Current methods that use pneumatic grippers to handle deformable…
Stroke-induced motor impairment often results in substantial loss of upper-limb function, creating a strong demand for rehabilitation robots that enable safe and transparent physical human-robot interaction (pHRI). Variable stiffness…
This paper presents design, fabrication and control of a compliant 2D manipulator, a so called soft actuator. Our focus is on fiber-reinforced elastomer actuators driven by a constant pressure hydraulic supply and modulated on/off valves.…
Adapting upper-limb impedance (i.e., stiffness, damping, inertia) is essential for humans interacting with dynamic environments for executing grasping or manipulation tasks. On the other hand, control methods designed for state-of-the-art…
Soft pneumatic gripping strategies are often based on pressurized actuation of structures made of soft elastomeric materials, which limits designs in terms of size, weight, achievable forces, and ease of fabrication. On the other hand,…
Pneumatic soft robots are typically fabricated by molding, a manual fabrication process that requires skilled labor. Additive manufacturing has the potential to break this limitation and speed up the fabrication process but struggles with…
Wearable exoskeletons hold transformative promise for restoring mobility across diverse users with muscular weakness or other impairments. However, their translation beyond laboratory environments remains limited by sensing systems that…
The kinematics of human movements and locomotion are closely linked to the activation and contractions of muscles. To investigate this, we present a multimodal dataset with benchmarks collected using a novel pair of Intelligent Knee Sleeves…
Robotic dressing assistance has the potential to improve the quality of life for individuals with limited mobility. Existing solutions predominantly rely on rigid robotic manipulators, which have challenges in handling deformable garments…
A large subset of the population suffers injury or disease that causes knee pain and difficulty navigating day-to-day tasks. Off-the-shelf knee orthoses that are commonly used to treat these ailments overlook user-specific joint geometry…
Human limb motion tracking and recognition plays an important role in medical rehabilitation training, lower limb assistance, prosthetics design for amputees, feedback control for assistive robots, etc. Lightweight wearable sensors,…
People learn motor activities best when they are conscious of their errors and make a concerted effort to correct them. While haptic interfaces can facilitate motor training, existing interfaces are often bulky and do not always ensure…
Robot-assisted feeding systems enhance the independence of individuals with motor impairments and alleviate caregiver burden. While existing systems predominantly rely on software-based safety features to mitigate risks during unforeseen…
Functional magnetic composites capable of large deformation, load bearing, and multifunctional motion are essential for next-generation adaptive soft robots. Here, we present muscle-inspired magnetic actuators (MMA), additively manufactured…
Soft robotics, with their inherent flexibility and infinite degrees of freedom (DoF), offer promising advancements in human-machine interfaces. Particularly, pneumatic artificial muscles (PAMs) and pneumatic bending actuators have been…
Electric prosthetic hands should be lightweight to decrease the burden on the user, shaped like human hands for cosmetic purposes, and have motors inside to protect them from damage and dirt. In addition to the ability to perform daily…
The application of a polymer brush in sensing, actuation, self-folding, among others acutely depends on the tuneable bending of a brush-grafted substrate caused by the stress in the brush. However, the stress in a stimuli-responsive brush…
Hand exoskeletons have significant potential in labor-intensive fields by mitigating hand grip fatigue, enhancing hand strength, and preventing injuries. However, most of the traditional hand exoskeletons are driven by motors, whose output…
In this work, an experimental characterization of the configuration space of a soft, pneumatically actuated morphing quadrotor is presented, with a focus on precise thrust characterization of its flexible arms, considering the effect of…