Related papers: The Soft-Membrane Surface Forces Apparatus
Due to their inherent compliance, soft robots are more versatile than rigid linked robots when they interact with their environment, such as object manipulation or biomimetic motion, and considered the key element in introducing robots to…
A systematic study for a single-specie lattice Boltzmann model with frustrated-short range attractive and mid/long-range repulsive-interactions is presented. The equilibrium analysis is performed along the guidelines proposed by [X. Shan,…
We propose a hardware and software pipeline to fabricate flexible wearable sensors and use them to capture deformations without line of sight. Our first contribution is a low-cost fabrication pipeline to embed multiple aligned conductive…
The application of granular jamming in soft robotics is a recent and promising new technology offer exciting possibilities for creating higher performance robotic devices. Granular jamming is achieved via the application of a vacuum…
Membrane-induced interactions have been predicted to be important for the organization of membrane proteins. Measurements of the interactions between two and three membrane deforming objects have revealed their non-additive nature. They are…
In this paper, we study the equilibrium properties of polymer chains end-tethered to a fluid membrane. The loss of conformational entropy of the polymer results in an inhomogeneous pressure field that we calculate for gaussian chains. We…
Properties of typical MEMS materials have been widely investigated. Mechanical properties of MEMS structures depend not only on the bulk material properties, but also structural factors. A measurement system has been made to measure…
Metamaterials provide exceptional control over physical phenomena, enabling many disruptive technologies. However, researches in hydrodynamic meta-devices have mainly used intrusive methods to manipulate material structures, limited by…
We explore the force generation and surface interactions arising when electric fields are applied across fluid films. Using a surface force balance (SFB) we measure directly the force between two electrodes in crossed-cylinder geometry…
Medical applications of robots are increasingly popular to objectivise and speed up the execution of several types of diagnostic and therapeutic interventions. Particularly important is a class of diagnostic activities that require physical…
Crystalline membranes at finite temperatures have an anomalous behavior of the bending rigidity that makes them more rigid in the long wavelength limit. This issue is particularly relevant for applications of graphene in nano- and…
We have fabricated and characterized a novel superhydrophobic system, a mesh-like porous superhydrophobic membrane with solid area fraction $\Phi_s$, which can maintain intimate contact with outside air and water reservoirs simultaneously.…
Elastic membranes composed of paramagnetic beads offer the possibility of assembling versatile actuators operated autonomously by external magnetic fields. Here we develop a theoretical framework to study shapes of such paramagnetic…
Microphones exploit the motion of suspended membranes to detect sound waves. Since the microphone performance can be improved by reducing the thickness and mass of its sensing membrane, graphene-based microphones are expected to outperform…
Sensitivity and resolution of space telescopes are directly related to the size of the primary mirror. Enabling such future extremely large space telescopes or even arrays of those will require to drastically reduce the areal weight of the…
In this paper, we describe a simple apparatus consisting of a scale, capable of a one milligram resolution, and a commonly obtainable magnet to measure magnetic forces. This simple apparatus is capable of measuring magnetic properties of…
We describe a fluidic actuator design that replaces the sealed chamber of a hydraulic cylinder using a soft actuator to provide compliant linear compression with a large force ($\geq$100 N) at a low operation pressure ($\leq$50 kPa) for a…
Structures with artificial mechanical properties, often called mechanical metamaterials, exhibit divergent yet tunable performance. Various types of mechanical metamaterials have been proposed, which harness light or magnetic interactions,…
Several new experiments have extended studies of the Casimir force into new and interesting regimes. This recent work will be briefly reviewed. With this recent progress, new issues with background electrostatic effects have been uncovered.…
An elastic membrane that is forced to reside in a container smaller than its natural size will deform and, upon further volume reduction, eventually crumple. The crumpled state is characterized by the localization of energy in a complex…