Related papers: Modular Isoperimetric Soft Robotic Truss for Lunar…
In most macro-scale robotics systems , propulsion and controls are enabled through a physical tether or complex on-board electronics and batteries. A tether simplifies the design process but limits the range of motion of the robot, while…
Modular Reconfigurable Robots (MRRs) represent an exciting path forward for industrial robotics, opening up new possibilities for robot design. Compared to monolithic manipulators, they promise greater flexibility, improved maintainability,…
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…
Large-scale shape-changing interfaces have great potential, but creating such systems requires substantial time, cost, space, and efforts, which hinders the research community to explore interactions beyond the scale of human hands. We…
Magnetic-responsive composites that consist of soft matrix embedded with hard-magnetic particles have recently been demonstrated as robust soft active materials for fast-transforming actuation. However, the deformation of the functional…
Molecular robotics is challenging, so it seems best to keep it simple. We consider an abstract molecular robotics model based on simple folding instructions that execute asynchronously. Turning Machines are a simple 1D to 2D folding model,…
Exploration of Mars has been made possible using a series of landers, rovers and orbiters. The HiRise camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has captured high-resolution images covering large tracts of the surface. However, orbital…
Soft robotic instruments could navigate delicate, tortuous anatomy more safely than rigid tools, but clinical adoption is limited by insufficient tip functionalization and real-time feedback at the tissue interface. Few sensing and…
Small satellites such as CubeSats pose demanding requirements on the weight, size, and multifunctionality of their structures due to extreme constraints on the payload mass and volume. To address this challenge, we introduce a concept of…
Soft robotic systems present a variety of new opportunities for solving complex problems. The use of soft robotic grippers, for example, can simplify the complexity in tasks such as the of grasping irregular and delicate objects. Adoption…
Functionally graded porous plates have been validated as remarkable lightweight structures with excellent mechanical characteristics and numerous applications. With inspiration from the high strength-to-volume ratio of triply periodic…
Moving a module in a modular robot is a very complex and error-prone process. Unlike in swarm, in the modular robots we are targeting, the moving module must keep the connection to, at least, one other module. In order to miniaturize each…
We design a two-dimensional ultra-thin elastic metasurface consisting of steel cores coated with elliptical rubbers embedded in epoxy matrix, capable of manipulating bulk elastic wave modes for reflected waves. The energy exchanges between…
Surgical robotic systems equipped with microscale, high-dexterity manipulators have shown promising results in minimally invasive surgery (MIS). One barrier to the widespread adoption of such systems is the prohibitive cost of research and…
For humans accustomed to 1-G environments on Earth, microgravity conditions in orbit and on celestial bodies with lower gravitational field, such as the Moon, can be physiologically compromising. Of these, motor and fine-dexterity tasks…
This paper introduces a Cosserat rod based mathematical model for modeling a self-controllable variable curvature soft continuum robot. This soft continuum robot has a hollow inner channel and was developed with the ability to perform…
Autonomous space systems operating in extreme thermal environments require accurate and efficient thermal modeling to support both pre-mission system design and onboard autonomy. For lunar rovers, large temperature gradients, radiative heat…
A lattice model of critical dense polymers is solved exactly for arbitrary system size on the torus. More generally, an infinite family of lattice loop models is studied on the torus and related to the corresponding Fortuin-Kasteleyn random…
Triply periodic minimal surface (TPMS) shell lattices are attracting increasingly attention due to their unique combination of geometric and mechanical properties, and their open-cell topology. However, uniform thickness TPMS shell lattices…
Soft robots are compliant but often cannot support loads or hold their shape, while rigid robots provide structural strength but are less adaptable. Existing variable-stiffness systems usually operate at the scale of whole segments or…