In the realm of quadrupedal locomotion, there's a growing interest in understanding the concept of passive leg stiffness. This stiffness, when tuned correctly, can significantly influence a robot's locomotion dynamics and performance. However, integrating passive stiffness into quadruped robots has been challenging due to complexities in design,...

Background Actuation and transmission through soft robotic systems has been studied extensively in recent years. Soft actuators, unlike traditional rigid-body robotic systems, can be deformed to subsequently alter body shapes and drive robots by stimulating or deforming soft materials. While many soft actuators have been developed to drive soft robots...

A variety of rigid exoskeletons have been developed for improving mobility over the decades. High forces and torques provided by those rigid exoskeletons assist the ankle, hip and/or knee, facilitating activities such as walking or lifting heavy objects. However, due to the complexity of the human musculoskeletal system, adjusting and aligning human...

­Background When a soft tube is pinched, its stiffness is lowered at the pinching location, making it possible to buckle the tube at the pinch location. This phenomenon can be stimulated through the use of mechanical interference and vacuum, tendon-based pulling forces, or by pushing out a hinge from the inside. Once pinched, a hinge is formed...

­Background Tape springs (or tape measures) exhibit nonlinear stiffness and asymmetric behavior when bent in one direction compared to the opposite direction. This behavior can be utilized, tuned and actively reconfigured to achieve locomotion on land and in fluids. Even in the presence of symmetric flapping, a swimming gait similar to “breaststroke”...

Background Adaptive materials—materials able to change their properties based on certain stimuli—can provide valuable modes of actuation for many applications. Development of these materials has derived much inspiration from muscle tissue, which is robust and adaptable owing to its inherent hierarchical structure, from molecules to proteins...

Background In conventional quadrotors, motors and electronics are mounted on a rigid structure, which limits vehicle maneuverability. To address this challenge, several flexible multirotor designs have emerged. These include pulley-operated schemes for rotation of arms that enable in-flight morphing, and mechanisms for tilting motors to alter flight...

Background Unchecked growth of algae and unwanted plants in bodies of water can result in undesirable changes that affect ecological stability, recreational value, and human health. Surface overgrowth of aquatic plants and algae restrict swimming, fishing, and boating, while depleting oxygen available for fish and other plant life. Excess levels of...

Foldable Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Based on Laminate Structure Background Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have shown to be in a continuous state of growth and have become an attractive solution across a wide range of field applications. UAVs have become popular for environmental monitoring, search and rescue, package delivery, and surveillance. Advancements...

Background Numerous countries worldwide are contaminated today with unexploded bombs, resulting in about 15,000 to 20,000 deaths every year and severely injuring countless more. Approximately 80% of these casualties are civilian, with children as the most affected age group. Further, these landmines render terrain unusable to local populations for...