Perching highlights the ability for aerial robots to save energy and maintain a vantage position for monitoring or surveillance. Existing aerial robots coordinate perching mechanisms and flight dynamics to achieve perching. However, there is often a dissociation between controlled collision and dynamic perching in existing designs of aerial robots,...

Background With interest in soft robotics on the rise, there have been extensive studies on soft materials, actuation, control, sensing, and even soft pneumatic pumps and valves. Soft robotic systems have the advantages of being lightweight, highly compliant, articulate, and inherently safe for interactions with human body and environment. Soft continuum...

Background Soft pneumatic actuators (SPAs) have been a cornerstone of soft robotics for various applications such as mobile and assistive devices. SPAs are generally lightweight with a high power-to-weight ratio, inexpensive to fabricate, compliant, and can safely interact with the user and surrounding environment. Motions enabled by SPAs include combinations...

Plantar flexion contracture (PFC), a painful condition where the ankle remains in a plantar flexed state, is common in patients who have suffered from traumatic brain injury, acquired brain injury or stroke. PFC makes it difficult for patients to walk, reduces their range of motion and causes gait changes. Current treatments for PFC, serial casts made...

Hemiparesis, which is muscle weakness or partial paralysis on one side of the body, affects about 8 out of 10 stroke survivors, resulting in reduced motor performance which can include difficulty walking or grasping items. Gait training has been found to improve muscular strength and movement coordination. While there are many devices to help with lower-limb...

Patients with neurological conditions, particularly stroke patients, often suffer from somatosensory impairment, or loss of feeling, in their hands. Because they can’t gauge the force of their grip, they have difficulty picking up items and may inadvertently crush or drop them, causing embarrassment and reduced quality of life. While there are...

Background Prosthetic limbs are devices widely in use to remedy the impairment of functionality that results from the loss of a patient’s limb. Additionally, exoskeletons are “wearable robots” that provide a shell around the body and act as a bodily extension, increasing safety and functionality. These machines are frequently utilized...