Related papers: Ori-Sense: origami capacitive sensing for soft rob…
Designing a robot or structure that can fold itself into a target shape is a process that involves challenges originated from multiple sources. For example, the designer of rigid self-folding robots must consider foldability from geometric…
Human skin can accurately sense the self-decoupled normal and shear forces when in contact with objects of different sizes. Although there exist many soft and conformable tactile sensors on robotic applications able to decouple the normal…
Torque sensors such as the torsion balance enabled the first determination of the gravitational constant by Cavendish and the discovery of Coulomb's law. Torque sensors are also widely used in studying small-scale magnetism, the Casimir…
Two-dimensional (2D) origami tessellations such as the Miura-ori are often generalized to build three-dimensional (3D) architected materials with sandwich or cellular structures. However, such 3D blocks are densely packed with continuity of…
Tactile sensing in soft robots remains particularly challenging because of the coupling between contact and deformation information which the sensor is subject to during actuation and interaction with the environment. This often results in…
This study proposes and examines a novel approach to generate peristaltic-like locomotion in a segmented origami robot. Specifically, we demonstrate the use of multi-stability embedded in origami skeleton to eliminate the need for multiple…
Rotational displacement about the grasping point is a common grasp failure when an object is grasped at a location away from its center of gravity. Tactile sensors with soft surfaces, such as GelSight sensors, can detect the rotation…
This study starts from the counter-intuitive question of how we can render a conventional stiff, non-stretchable and even brittle material conformable so that it can fully wrap around a curved surface, such as a sphere, without failure.…
We introduce a novel shape-sensing method using Resistive Flex Sensors (RFS) embedded in cable-driven Continuum Dexterous Manipulators (CDMs). The RFS is predominantly sensitive to deformation rather than direct forces, making it a…
Simulating optical tactile sensors presents significant challenges due to their high deformability and intricate optical properties. To address these issues and enable a physically accurate simulation, we propose DOT-Sim: Differentiable…
A shapeable planar Hall sensor has been fabricated by lift-off a bilayer structure of NiFe(10 nm)/IrMn (8 nm) grown on a Kapton/PDMS substrate without using a buffer layer. The sensor exhibits a magnetic field sensitivity of 0.74…
Programmable folding of elastic sheets typically relies on predefined flexible creases or active materials-enabled hinges, which lack intrinsic bistability and limit reprogrammability within a single structure. Here, we present a…
Origami-inspired self-deployable structures offer lightweight, compact, and autonomous deployment capabilities, making them highly attractive for aerospace and defence applications, such as solar panels, antennas, and reflector systems.…
We propose a new robotic cover prototype that achieves thermal display while also being soft. We focus on the thermal cue because previous human studies have identified it as part of the touch pleasantness. The robotic cover surface can be…
Real-time proprioception is a challenging problem for soft robots, which have almost infinite degrees-of-freedom in body deformation. When multiple actuators are used, it becomes more difficult as deformation can also occur on actuators…
This study presents an enhanced proprioceptive method for accurate shape estimation of soft robots using only off-the-shelf sensors, ensuring cost-effectiveness and easy applicability. By integrating inertial measurement units (IMUs) with…
Biological systems, such as the octopus, exhibit masterful cross-scale manipulation by adaptively reconfiguring their entire form, a capability that remains elusive in robotics. Conventional soft grippers, while compliant, are mostly…
Tactile sensing can enable robots to perform complex, contact-rich tasks. Magnetic sensors offer accurate three-axis force measurements while using affordable materials. Calibrating such a sensor involves either manual data collection, or…
We demonstrate the integration of a mesoscopic ferromagnetic needle with a cavity optomechanical torsional resonator, and its use for quantitative determination of the needle's magnetic properties, as well as amplification and cooling of…
Mechanical transduction of torque has been key to probing a number of physical phenomena, such as gravity, the angular momentum of light, the Casimir effect, magnetism, and quantum oscillations. Following similar trends as mass and force…