8 accepted papers
“Vine robots” are thin-walled, tubular, pneumatic soft robots that lengthen at their tips to navigate constrained and complex environments. Previous studies have already explored the mechanics of vine robot bodies and investigated applications for which the device is well-suited. However, these stud…
In robotics, high gear reductions are often required when using an electromagnetic motor to drive revolute joints, as in a humanoid robot. Strain wave gears (SWGs), also known as harmonic drives, are often used. However, these transmissions are relatively expensive and have a fixed gear ratio. Here,
While much work has focused on the design of actuators for inputting energy into robotic systems, less work has been dedicated to devices that remove energy in a controlled manner, especially in the field of soft robotics. Such devices have the potential to significantly modulate the dynamics of a s
Antennas are essential in wireless communications and powering systems. Applications, such as search and rescue and space exploration would greatly benefit from antenna reconfigurability, as well as antenna deployment from a compact and easy-to-transport form. We present the design and analysis of a
Flexible medical robots can improve surgical procedures by decreasing invasiveness and increasing accessibility within the body. Using preoperative images, these robots can be designed to optimize a procedure for a particular patient. To minimize invasiveness and maximize biocompatibility, the actua
We present the inverse pneumatic artificial muscle (IPAM), a new soft actuator that is powered by pneumatics in a manner inverse to traditional pneumatic muscles: low pressure, rather than high, contracts the muscle. The IPAM improves on the 50-year-old standard in soft pneumatic actuators, the McKi
We explore the use of grippers with gecko-inspired adhesives for spacecraft docking and acquisition of tumbling objects in microgravity. Towards the goal of autonomous object manipulation in space, adhesive grippers mounted on planar free-floating platforms are shown to be tolerant of a broad range
To minimize weight and cost, it is sometimes desirable to power multiple functions with a single actuator. In this letter, we present a new mechanism for powering two degrees of freedom with a single motor. We introduce a method, termed dynamic response switching (DRS), in which the actuator can dri