Related papers: Reconfigurable Tendon-Driven Robots: Eliminating I…
Continuum robots have gained widespread popularity due to their inherent compliance and flexibility, particularly their adjustable levels of stiffness for various application scenarios. Despite efforts to dynamic modeling and control…
Humans possess a remarkable ability to react to unpredictable perturbations through immediate mechanical responses, which harness the visco-elastic properties of muscles to maintain balance. Inspired by this behaviour, we propose a novel…
Continuum parallel robots (CPR) combine rigid actuation mechanisms with multiple elastic rods in a closed-loop topology, making forward statics challenging when rigid--continuum junctions are enforced by explicit kinematic constraints. Such…
Truss robots are highly redundant parallel robotic systems that can be applied in a variety of scenarios. The variable topology truss (VTT) is a class of modular truss robots. As self-reconfigurable modular robots, a VTT is composed of many…
Passive elastic elements can contribute to stability, energetic efficiency, and impact absorption in both biological and robotic systems. They also add dynamical complexity which makes them more challenging to model and control. The impact…
Robotic manipulators, traditionally designed with classical joint-link articulated structures, excel in industrial applications but face challenges in human-centered and general-purpose tasks requiring greater dexterity and adaptability. To…
In-situ aeroengine maintenance works are highly beneficial as it can significantly reduce the current maintenance cycle which is extensive and costly due to the disassembly requirement of engines from aircrafts. However, navigating in/out…
Tendon-Driven Continuum Robots (TDCRs) pose significant modeling and control challenges due to complex nonlinearities, such as frictional hysteresis and transmission compliance. This paper proposes a differentiable learning framework that…
A hybrid continuum robot design is introduced that combines a proximal tendon-actuated section with a distal telescoping section comprised of permanent-magnet spheres actuated using an external magnet. While, individually, each section can…
Reconfigurable robot swarms are capable of connecting with each other to form complex structures. Current mechanical or magnetic connection mechanisms can be complicated to manufacture, consume high power, have a limited load-bearing…
This paper presents a novel, modular, cable-driven soft robotic arm featuring multi-segment reconfigurability. The proposed architecture enables a stackable system with independent segment control, allowing scalable adaptation to diverse…
This paper presents the design, modeling, and fabrication of 3D-printed, tendon-actuated continuum robots featuring a flexible, tapered backbone constructed from thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU). Our scalable design incorporates an…
Reconfigurable robots that can change their physical configuration post-fabrication have demonstrate their potential in adapting to different environments or tasks. However, it is challenging to determine how to optimally adjust…
Snake robots have been studied for decades with the aim of achieving biological snakes' fluent locomotion. Yet, as of today, their locomotion remains far from that of the biological snakes. Our recent study suggested that snake locomotion…
Continuum robots, characterized by their high flexibility and infinite degrees of freedom (DoFs), have gained prominence in applications such as minimally invasive surgery and hazardous environment exploration. However, the intrinsic…
This paper presents an object manipulation strategy for the Variable Topology Truss (VTT) system, a truss robot that comprises actuated truss members connected by passive spherical joints. Although truss robots were originally proposed as…
For robots to become more versatile and expand their areas of application, their bodies need to be suitable for contact with the environment. When the human body comes into contact with the environment, it is possible for it to continue to…
In this work, the joint-control strategy is presented for the humanoid robot, PANDORA, whose structural components are designed to be compliant. As opposed to contemporary approaches which design the elasticity internal to the actuator…
Animals can finely modulate their leg stiffness to interact with complex terrains and absorb sudden shocks. In feats like leaping and sprinting, animals demonstrate a sophisticated interplay of opposing muscle pairs that actively modulate…
Collaborative robots and space manipulators contain significant joint flexibility. It complicates the control design, compromises the control bandwidth, and limits the tracking accuracy. The imprecise knowledge of the flexible joint…