Related papers: Toggling stiffness via multistability
Pneumatic soft everting robotic structures have the potential to facilitate human transfer tasks due to their ability to grow underneath humans without sliding friction and their utility as a flexible sling when deflated. Tubular structures…
The deformable and continuum nature of soft robots promises versatility and adaptability. However, control of modular, multi-limbed soft robots for terrestrial locomotion is challenging due to the complex robot structure, actuator mechanics…
We study avenues to shape multistability and shape-morphing in flexible crystalline membranes of cylindrical topology, enabled by glide mobility of dislocations. Using computational modeling, we obtain states of mechanical equilibrium…
The interplay between cytoskeletal architecture and the nonlinearity of the interactions due to bucklable filaments plays a key role in modulating the cell's mechanical stability and affecting its structural rearrangements. We study a model…
Rapid advances in additive manufacturing over the past decade have kindled widespread interest in the rational design of metamaterials with unique properties. However, many applications require multi-physics metamaterials, where multiple…
Modular robotics holds immense potential for space exploration, where reliability, repairability, and reusability are critical for cost-effective missions. Coordination between heterogeneous units is paramount for precision tasks -- whether…
Precise control of the polarization and propagation direction of elastic waves is a fundamental challenge in elastodynamics. Achieving efficient mode conversion along arbitrary paths with conventional techniques has proven difficult. In…
An overview of several dynamic properties of SQUID metamaterials is given in the presence of both constant and alternating magnetic field. The total current as a function of the driving frequency exhibits hysteretic effects which are…
Metasurfaces, the two-dimensional counterpart of metamaterials, have caught great attention thanks to their powerful control over electromagnetic waves. Recent times have seen the emergence of a variety of metasurfaces exhibiting not only…
Many mechanical structures, both engineered and biological, combine heavy rigid elements such as bones and beams with lightweight flexible ones such as cables and membranes. These are referred to as tensegrities, reflecting that cables can…
Mechanical metamaterials leverage geometric design to achieve unconventional properties, such as high strength at low density, efficient wave guiding, and complex shape morphing. The ability to control shape changes builds on the complex…
Mechanical reliability plays an outsized role in determining the durability of flexible electronic devices because of the significant mechanical stresses they can experience during manufacturing and operation. These devices are typically…
The paper presents a methodology for the enhanced stiffness analysis of parallel manipulators with internal preloading in passive joints. It also takes into account influence of the external loading and allows computing both the non-linear…
In many scenarios -- when we bite food or during a crash -- fracture is inevitable. Finding solutions to steer fracture to mitigate its impact or turn it into a purposeful functionality, is therefore crucial. Strategies using composites,…
Exploring the dynamical response of mechanical metamaterials has gathered increasing attention in the last decades, enabling the design of microstructures exotically interacting with elastic waves (focusing, channeling, band-gaps, negative…
Mechanical compliance is a key design parameter for dynamic contact-rich manipulation, affecting task success and safety robustness over contact geometry variation. Design of soft robotic structures, such as compliant fingers, requires…
Soft robots have the ability to adapt to their environment, which makes them suitable for use in disaster areas and agricultural fields, where their mobility is constrained by complex terrain. One of the main challenges in developing soft…
Slow dynamic nonlinearity is widely observed in brittle materials with complex heterogeneous or cracked microstructures. It is seen in rocks, concrete and cracked glass blocks. Unconsolidated structures show the behavior as well: aggregates…
This paper describes a 2D and 3D simulation engine that quantitatively models the statics, dynamics, and non-linear deformation of heterogeneous soft bodies in a computationally efficient manner. There is a large body of work simulating…
Metamaterials can be engineered with tunable bandgaps to adapt to dynamic and complex environments, particularly for controlling elastic waves and vibration. However, achieving wide-range, seamless, reversible, in-situ and robust tunability…