Related papers: Energy-storing analysis and fishtail stiffness opt…
Matching the swimming efficiency and agility of fish has remained an elusive goal in underwater robotics. Such locomotion capabilities rely on complex vortex interactions between the robot's body and the surrounding fluid. However,…
We discuss the processes underlying the excitation of fishbone-like internal kink instabilities driven by supra-thermal electrons generated experimentally by different means: Electron Cyclotron Resonance Heating (ECRH) and by Lower Hybrid…
Mitigation of load fluctuations due to flow unsteadiness is critical in a broad range of applications, including wind/tidal turbines, and aerial/underwater vehicles. While the use of active control systems is an established practice in…
Many species of fish, as well as biorobotic underwater vehicles, employ body caudal fin propulsion, in which a wave-like body motion culminates in high-amplitude caudal fin oscillations to generate thrust. This study uses high fidelity…
A single flexible filament can be actuated to escape from the scallop theorem and generate net propulsion at low Reynolds number. In this work, we study the dynamics of a simple boundary-driven multi-filament swimmer, a two-arm clamshell…
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 realize a heat engine using a single electron spin as a working medium. The spin pertains to the valence electron of a trapped $^{40}$Ca$^+$ ion, and heat reservoirs are emulated by controlling the spin polarization via optical pumping.…
Accurate simulation of soft mechanisms under dynamic actuation is critical for the design of soft robots. We address this gap with our differentiable simulation tool by learning the material parameters of our soft robotic fish. On the…
Traditional locomotion strategies become ineffective at low Reynolds numbers, where viscous forces predominate over inertial forces. To adapt, microorganisms have evolved specialized structures like cilia and flagella for efficient…
The energetic optimization problem, e.g., searching for the optimal switch- ing protocol of certain system parameters to minimize the input work, has been extensively studied by stochastic thermodynamics. In current work, we study this…
Continuum strain energy functions are developed for soft biological tissues that possess long fibrillar components. The treatment is based on the model of an elastica, which is our fine scale model, and is homogenized in a simple fashion to…
Worm-inspired robots provide an effective locomotion strategy for constrained environments by combining cyclic body deformation with alternating anchoring. For compliant robots, however, the interaction between deformable anchoring…
This paper focusses on the energy-efficient control of a cable-driven robot for tasks that only require precise positioning at few points in their motion, and where that accuracy can be obtained through contacts. This includes the majority…
The effect of flexibility on the hydrodynamic loads and on the flow structures generated on a rectangular foil when oscillating in pitch has been studied. Hydrodynamic loads were measured with a 6-axes balance, and the flow structures were…
The acoustofluidic method holds great promise for manipulating microorganisms. When exposed to the steady vortex structures of acoustic streaming flow, these microorganisms exhibit intriguing dynamic behaviors, such as hydrodynamic trapping…
The Hair clip mechanism (HCM) is an in-plane prestressed bistable mechanism proposed in our previous research [1]~[5] to enhance the functionality of soft robotics. HCMs have several advantages, such as high rigidity, high mobility, good…
The pursuit of agile and efficient underwater robots, especially bio-mimetic robotic fish, has been impeded by challenges in creating motion controllers that are able to fully exploit their hydrodynamic capabilities. This paper addresses…
The spine plays a crucial role in the dynamic locomotion of quadrupedal animals, improving the stability, speed, and efficiency of their gait, especially for fast-paced and highly agile movements. Therefore, the spine is also a promising…
Natural selection has tuned many flying and swimming animals across different species to share the same narrow design space for optimal high-efficient and energy-saving locomotion, e.g., their dimensionless Strouhal numbers St that relate…
Non-linear dynamical systems represent a compact, flexible, and robust tool for reactive motion generation. The effectiveness of dynamical systems relies on their ability to accurately represent stable motions. Several approaches have been…