Related papers: TVIM: Thermo-Active Variable Impedance Module: Eva…
A flat mounting unit with electronically variable thermal resistance [1] has been presented in the last year [2]. The design was based on a Peltier cell and the appropriate control electronics and software. The device is devoted especially…
We have developed a new technique to measure viscoelasticity in soft materials such as polymer solutions, by monitoring thermal fluctuations of embedded probe particles using laser interferometry in a microscope. Interferometry allows us to…
Robotic systems operating in unstructured environments require the ability to switch between compliant and rigid states to perform diverse tasks such as adaptive grasping, high-force manipulation, shape holding, and navigation in…
We describe a high-resolution, high-bandwidth technique for determining the local viscoelasticity of soft materials such as polymer gels. Loss and storage shear moduli are determined from the power spectra of thermal fluctuations of…
Rapid acceleration and burst maneuvers in underwater robots depend less on maintaining precise resonance and more on force--velocity phase alignment during thrust generation. In this work, we investigate constrained-layer damping (CLD) as a…
Hypothesis: While the mechanical disruption of microscopic structures in complex fluids by large shear flows has been studied extensively, the effects of applied strains on the dielectric properties of macromolecular aggregates has received…
Compliance is a strong requirement for human-robot interactions. Soft-robots provide an opportunity to cover the lack of compliance in conventional actuation mechanisms, however, the control of them is very challenging given their intrinsic…
This is an integrated experimental and theoretical study of the dynamics and rheology of self-crosslinked, slightly charged, temperature responsive soft Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (pNIPAM) microgels over a wide range of concentration and…
Poly-L-lactide (PLLA) is a popular choice for medical devices due to its bioresorbability and superior mechanical properties compared with other polymers. However, although PLLA has been investigated for use in bioresorbable cardiovascular…
We have developed a non-isothermal analytical model for the impedance of the cathode catalyst layer (CCL) in a PEM fuel cell. In-phase harmonic perturbations to the current density and temperature reduce the impedance and the static…
Polymers are attractive in applications like flexible electronics and thermal interface materials due to their mechanical compliance and processability. However, conventional polymers have low thermal conductivity (TC), limiting their heat…
We design, build, and thoroughly test a new type of actuator dubbed viscoelastic liquid cooled actuator (VLCA) for robotic applications. VLCAs excel in the following five critical axes of performance: energy efficiency, torque density,…
Temperature-sensitive hydrogels based on polymers such as poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) undergo a volume phase transition in response to changes in temperature. During this transition, distinct changes in both thermal and mechanical…
Poly-vinlyacetate (PVAc) forms very stable and reproducible monolayers on the surface of water, a model system to understand polymer physics on two dimensions. A recently introduced technique is applied here to to study viscoelasticity of…
While its biological significance is well-documented, its application in soft robotics, particularly for the transport of fragile and irregularly shaped objects, remains underexplored. This study presents a modular soft robotic actuator…
In human-robot systems, ensuring safety during force control in the presence of both internal and external disturbances is crucial. As a typical loosely coupled floating-base robot system, the supernumerary robotic leg (SRL) system is…
A programmable linear resistor with a compact footprint would have profound implications for microelectronics, enabling efficient in-sensor analog signal processing and in-memory computing. Non-volatile memory offers a potential solution…
Compliant robotics have seen successful applications in energy efficient locomotion and cyclic manipulation. However, exploitation of variable physical impedance for energy efficient sequential movements has not been extensively addressed.…
We propose a novel method for measuring linear and non-linear viscoelastic properties of a liquid by the oscillatory motion of an immersed rotating body in a vessel. The shape of a rotating object is general and we tested four different…
The thermosensitive behavior of microgel particles suspended in solvents, i.e. their temperature-dependent swelling properties, has triggered ongoing interest in industry and academia over the past forty years. The most-studied polymer is…