Related papers: Preliminary Analysis and Simulation of a Compact V…
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…
Supernumerary Robotic Limbs (SRLs) are wearable robots augmenting human capabilities by acting as a co-worker, reaching objects, support human arms, etc. However, existing SRLs lack the mechanical backdrivability and bandwidth required for…
Object manipulation in robotics faces challenges due to diverse object shapes, sizes, and fragility. Gripper-based methods offer precision and low degrees of freedom (DOF) but the gripper limits the kind of objects to grasp. On the other…
Robotic arms, integral in domestic care for individuals with motor impairments, enable them to perform Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) independently, reducing dependence on human caregivers. These collaborative robots require users to…
A bio-inspired, passively deployable flap attached to an airfoil by a torsional spring of fixed stiffness can provide significant lift improvements at post-stall angles of attack. In this work, we describe a hybrid active-passive variant to…
Wrist exoskeletons play a vital role in rehabilitation and assistive applications, yet conventional actuation mechanisms such as electric motors or pneumatics often introduce undesirable weight, friction, and complexity. This paper presents…
Antagonistic artificial muscles can decouple joint torque and stiffness, but contact transients often degrade this independence. We present a unified real-time framework applicable across pneumatic, electrohydraulic, and dielectric…
Soft robots are notoriously hard to control. This is partly due to the scarcity of models able to capture their complex continuum mechanics, resulting in a lack of control methodologies that take full advantage of body compliance. Currently…
This paper introduces a novel compliant mechanism combining lightweight and energy dissipation for aerial physical interaction. Weighting 400~g at take-off, the mechanism is actuated in the forward body direction, enabling precise position…
Soft robots could bring robotic systems to new horizons, by enabling safe human-machine interaction. For precise control, these soft structures require high level position feedback that is not easily achieved through conventional…
One of the most elusive goals in myographic prosthesis control is the ability to reliably decode continuous positions simultaneously across multiple degrees-of-freedom. Goal: To demonstrate dexterous, natural, biomimetic finger and wrist…
This study presents a new hardware design and control of a minimally actuated 5 control degrees of freedom (CDoF) quadrotor-based tiltrotor. The proposed tiltrotor possesses several characteristics distinct from those found in existing…
Multisection continuum arms offer complementary characteristics to those of traditional rigid-bodied robots. Inspired by biological appendages, such as elephant trunks and octopus arms, these robots trade rigidity for compliance, accuracy…
The subject of this paper is the design of a new concept of modular parallel mechanisms for three, four or five-axis machining applications. Most parallel mechanisms are designed for three- or six-axis machining applications. In the last…
This paper presents a new stiffness modulation mechanism that enables infinite-range stiffness modulation in a fast manner. The proposed stiffness modulation mechanism can help improve many robot environment interaction applications such as…
Grasping deformable objects with varying stiffness remains a significant challenge in robotics. Estimating the local stiffness of a target object is important for determining an optimal grasp pose that enables stable pickup without damaging…
Modulating the stiffness of soft actuators is crucial for improving the efficiency of interaction with the environment. However, current stiffness modulation mechanisms are hard to achieve high lateral stiffness and a wide range of bending…
Robotic arms built from stiffness-adjustable, continuously bending segments serially connected with revolute joints have the ability to change their mechanical architecture and workspace, thus allowing high flexibility and adaptation to…
Understanding the physical interaction with wearable robots is essential to ensure safety and comfort. However, this interaction is complex in two key aspects: (1) the motion involved, and (2) the non-linear behaviour of soft tissues.…
This paper presents the SoftHand Model-W: a 3D-printed, underactuated, anthropomorphic robot hand based on the Pisa/IIT SoftHand, with an integrated antagonistic tendon mechanism and 2 degree-of-freedom tendon-driven wrist. These four…