Related papers: Introducing V-Soft Pro: a Modular Platform for a T…

The human shoulder, with its glenohumeral joint, tendons, ligaments, and muscles, allows for the execution of complex tasks with precision and efficiency. However, current robotic shoulder designs lack the compliance and compactness…

Variable impedance actuators (VIAs) as tool devices for teleoperation could extend the range of tasks that humans can perform through a teleoperated robot by mimicking the change of upper limb stiffness that humans perform for different…

An arm amputation is extremely invalidating since many of our daily tasks require bi-manual and precise control of hand movements. Perfect hand prostheses should therefore offer a natural, intuitive and cognitively simple control over their…

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…

Despite decades of research and development, myoelectric prosthetic hands lack functionality and are often rejected by users. This lack in functionality can be partially attributed to the widely accepted anthropomorphic design ideology in…

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…

Biped robots usually adopt feet with a rigid structure that simplifies walking on flat grounds and yet hinders ground adaptation in unstructured environments, thus jeopardizing stability. We recently explored in the SoftFoot the idea of…

Variable stiffness is a key capability in biological and robotic systems, enabling adaptive interaction across tasks and environments. Mechanical metamaterials offer an alternative to conventional mechatronic solutions by encoding stiffness…

Variable stiffness actuators undergo lower peak force in contacts compared to their rigid counterparts, and are thus safer for human-robot interaction. Furthermore, they can store energy in their elastic element and can release it later to…

Existing robotic lower-limb prostheses use autonomous control to address cyclic, locomotive tasks, but they are inadequate to operate the prosthesis for daily activities that are non-cyclic and unpredictable. To address this challenge, this…

Most traditional robotic mechanisms feature inelastic joints that are unable to robustly handle large deformations and off-axis moments. As a result, the applied loads are transferred rigidly throughout the entire structure. The…

Over the years, the number of exoskeleton devices utilized for upper-limb rehabilitation has increased dramatically, each with its own set of pros and cons. Most exoskeletons are not portable, limiting their utility to daily use for house…

The design and evaluation of a robotic prosthesis for a drummer with a transradial amputation is presented. The principal objective of the prosthesis is to simulate the role fingers play in drumming. This primarily includes controlling the…

Powered ankle-foot prostheses can often reduce the energy cost of walking by assisting with push-off. However, focus on providing mechanical work may lead to ignoring or exacerbating common issues with chronic pain, irritation, pressure…

Reinforcement-learned locomotion enables legged robots to perform highly dynamic motions but often accompanies time-consuming manual tuning of joint stiffness. This paper introduces a novel control paradigm that integrates variable…

Building robotic prostheses requires a sensor-based interface designed to provide the robotic hand with the control required to perform hand gestures. Traditional Electromyography (EMG) based prosthetics and emerging alternatives often face…

This paper presents a motion analysis framework for an athlete wearing sport-specific flexible prosthesis based on the soft-rigid hybrid-link system. Such a motion analysis is a challenging problem because we need to consider the…

Stability and reliable operation under a spectrum of environmental conditions is still an open challenge for soft and continuum style manipulators. The inability to carry sufficient load and effectively reject external disturbances are two…

Current prosthesis control methods are primarily model-independent - lacking formal guarantees of stability, relying largely on heuristic tuning parameters for good performance, and neglecting use of the natural dynamics of the system.…

Back injuries are the most prevalent work-related musculoskeletal disorders and represent a major cause of disability. Although innovations in wearable robots aim to alleviate this hazard, the majority of existing exoskeletons are obtrusive…