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We investigate the drag reduction on a heavy-duty vehicle using dielectric-barrier discharge plasma actuators located on the A-pillars. An experimental campaign is carried out on a generalized truck model, the Ground Transportation System…
Impressive animal locomotion capabilities are mediated by the co-evolution of the skeletal morphology and muscular properties. Legged robot performance would also likely benefit from the co-optimization of actuators and leg morphology.…
Shear-wave elastography (SWE) measures shear-wave speed (SWS), which is related to the underlying shear modulus of soft tissue. SWE methods generally assume that soft tissue viscoelasticity is independent of mechanical loading, however,…
Elastic actuation taps into elastic elements' energy storage for dynamic motions beyond rigid actuation. While Series Elastic Actuators (SEA) and Variable Stiffness Actuators (VSA) are highly sophisticated, they do not fully provide control…
This article presents a novel SOFA based finite element method for the soft body modeling and the corresponding dynamic simulation and control of a pneumatic morphing soft quadrotor. The proposed modeling preserves the physical…
Parallel robots based on Handed Shearing Auxetics (HSAs) can implement complex motions using standard electric motors while maintaining the complete softness of the structure, thanks to specifically designed architected metamaterials.…
Nematic liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) have anomalously high vibration damping, and it has been assumed this is the cause of their anomalously high pressure-sensitive adhesion (PSA). Here we investigate the mechanism behind this enhanced…
Soft robots have immense potential given their inherent safety and adaptability, but challenges in soft actuator forces and design constraints have limited scaling up soft robots to larger sizes. Electrothermal shape memory alloy (SMA)…
Algorithms that use derivatives of governing equations have accelerated rigid robot simulations and improved their accuracy, enabling the modeling of complex, real-world capabilities. However, extending these methods to soft and hybrid…
Mechanically characterizing the human-machine interface is essential to understanding user behavior and optimizing wearable robot performance. This interface has been challenging to sensorize due to manufacturing complexity and non-linear…
Soft robots are powerful tools for manipulating delicate objects, yet their adoption is hindered by two gaps: the lack of integrated tactile sensing and sensor signal distortion caused by actuator deformations. This paper addresses these…
We propose a mechanically simple and cheap design for a series elastic actuator with controllable stiffness. Such characteristics are necessary for animals for running, jumping, throwing, and manipulation, yet in robots, variable stiffness…
Soft robotic manipulators offer operational advantage due to their compliant and deformable structures. However, their inherently nonlinear dynamics presents substantial challenges. Traditional analytical methods often depend on simplifying…
Soft electrohydraulic actuators known as HASEL actuators have attracted widespread research interest due to their outstanding dynamic performance and high output power. However, the displacement of electrohydraulic actuators usually…
Soft robots are promising for manipulation tasks thanks to their compliance, safety, and high degree of freedom. However, the commonly used bidirectional continuum segment design means soft robotic manipulators only function in a limited…
In this paper, a compressed air-actuated soft robotic module was developed by incorporating a shape memory alloy (SMA) wire into its structure to achieve the desired bending angle with greater precision. First, a fiber-reinforced bending…
Soft pneumatic gripping strategies are often based on pressurized actuation of structures made of soft elastomeric materials, which limits designs in terms of size, weight, achievable forces, and ease of fabrication. On the other hand,…
Soft robot arms have made significant progress towards completing human-scale tasks, but designing arms for tasks with specific load and workspace requirements remains difficult. A key challenge is the lack of model-based design tools,…
Recently, soft actuator-based exosuits have gained interest, due to their high strength-to-weight ratio, inherent safety, and low cost. We present a novel wrist exosuit actuated by fabric pneumatic artificial muscles that has lightweight…
Bio-inspired soft robots have already shown the ability to handle uncertainty and adapt to unstructured environments. However, their availability is partially restricted by time-consuming, costly and highly supervised design-fabrication…