Related papers: 3D Modular Microrobots: Micro-Origami Cubes with I…
Designing a robot or structure that can fold itself into a target shape is a process that involves challenges originated from multiple sources. For example, the designer of rigid self-folding robots must consider foldability from geometric…
Soft modular robots enable more flexibility and safer interaction with the changing environment than traditional robots. However, it has remained challenging to create deformable connectors that can be integrated into soft machines. In this…
Here we describe an ultra-low-cost origami-based approach for large-scale manufacturing of microscopes, specifically demonstrating brightfield, darkfield, and fluorescence microscopes. Merging principles of optical design with origami…
It may be possible to reinvent how microelectronics are made using a two step process: (1) Synthesizing modular, nanometer-scale components -- transistors, sensors, and other devices -- and suspending them in a liquid "ink" for storage or…
Cooperative collective dynamics is a principal determinant of the ability of synthetic micromotors to perform specific functions. However, realizing controllable and predictable collective behavior in complex physiological environments…
Soft materials have many important roles in animal locomotion and object manipulation. In robotic applications soft materials can store and release energy, absorb impacts, increase compliance and increase the range of possible shape…
By leveraging their high mobility and small size, insects have been combined with microcontrollers to build up cyborg insects for various practical applications. Unfortunately, all current cyborg insects rely on implanted electrodes to…
We propose a scalable cooperative control approach which coordinates a group of rigidly connected autonomous surface vessels to track desired trajectories in a planar water environment as a single floating modular structure. Our approach…
The nonlinear mechanical response of soft materials and slender structures is purposefully harnessed to program functions by design in soft robotic actuators, such as sequencing, amplified response, fast energy release, etc. However,…
Fiberboids are active filaments trapped at the interface of two phases, able of harnessing energy (and matter) fluxes across the interface in order to produce a rolling-like self-propulsion. We discuss several table-top examples and develop…
Mobile smartphones compactly provide sensors such as cameras, IMUs, GNSS measurement units, and wireless and wired communication channels required for robotics projects. They are affordable, portable, and programmable, which makes them…
Manipulation of thin sheets by folding and cutting offers opportunity to engineer structures with novel mechanical properties, and to prescribe complex force-displacement relationships via material elasticity in combination with the…
Flexible surfaces can modulate fluid forces through deformation, enabling passive adaptation to flow conditions. Here we show that kirigami sheets, planar surfaces patterned with arrays of parallel slits, provide a simple route to tunable…
Physics governing the locomotion of microorganisms and other microsystems is dominated by viscous damping. An effective swimming strategy involves the non-reciprocal and periodic deformations of the considered body. Here, we show that a…
We introduce a large-scale robotic system designed as a lightweight, modular, and reconfigurable structure for lunar applications. The system consists of truss-like robotic triangles formed by continuous inflated fabric tubes routed through…
Soft underwater robots typically explore bioinspired designs at the expense of power efficiency when compared to traditional underwater robots, which limits their practical use in real-world applications. We leverage a fluidic closed-loop…
Herein, self-healing small-scale swimmers capable of autonomous propulsion and on-the-fly structural recovery are described. The new strategy instantaneously restores the functionality of the swimmer after it has suffered severe damage.…
Integrated micro-nanochannel networks in fluidic devices are desirable in a number of applications ranging from self-healing/cooling materials to bioengineering. The conventional micro-manufacturing techniques are capable of either…
Microresonator frequency combs (microcombs) hold great potential for precision metrology within a compact form factor, impacting a wide range of applications such as point-of-care diagnostics, environmental monitoring, time-keeping,…
Materials made from active, living, or robotic components can display emergent properties arising from local sensing and computation. Here, we realize a freestanding active metabeam with piezoelectric elements and electronic feed-forward…