Summary—In this work (link to paper) we developed an underwater gripper that utilizes soft robotics technology to delicately manipulate and sample fragile species on the deep reef. Existing solutions for…
Introduction Bellows-type soft actuators are a common architecture that creates asymmetric motion by unfolding the excess material in the bellows. Compared to fiber-reinforced actuators where the elastomer material must strain…
This video showcases some of my earlier explorations on soft robotic grippers. Â The video on the left is an anthropomorphic soft robotic hand with fiber-reinforce bending actuators for fingers. Â The…
Project Description Grip Glove is a wearable assistive device that gives people suffering from chronic and severe hand weakness the strength to perform simple activities that they otherwise could not…
Abstract Musculoskeletal injuries are one of the most common types of both battlefield and civilian injuries. Early and reliable stabilization is important to prevent further injury, minimize pain, and facilitate…
Zero Volume Air Chambers This prototyping technique uses simple tools to create a network of inflatable bladders of abitrary geometry in thin elastomers. Â There are five basic steps that include…
This multi-degree-of-freedom soft actuator was an exploration project aimed at identifying techniques for molding multi-lumen fiber-reinforced actuators. In this particular example, I created three independent fiber-reinforced, tube-shaped, linear actuators (M4601…
Abstract -Â A pneumatically powered, fully untethered mobile soft robot is described. Composites consisting of silicone elastomer, polyaramid fabric, and hollow glass microspheres were used to fabricate a sufficiently large soft…
Abstract - Soft fluidic actuators consisting of elastomeric matrices with embedded flexible materials are of particular interest to the robotics community because they are affordable and can be easily customized to a given…
Abstract - Locomoting soft robots typically walk or crawl slowly relative to their rigid counterparts. In order to execute agile behaviors such as jumping, rapid actuation modes are required. Here we present an untethered…
Abstract—Established design and fabrication guidelines exist for achieving a variety of motions with soft actuators such as bending, contraction, extension, and twisting. These guidelines typically involve multi-step molding of composite materials (elastomers, paper, fiber,…
Abstract — In this work we developed a unique flapping-wing micro air vehicle (FWMAV) whose major components, i.e. the motor, transmission mechanisms, and wings, are rapidly interchangeable. When coupled with a…
Edubot is a bio-inspired six legged robot that rotates compliant C-legs in a tripod fashion to produce energetic running gaits. A PD controller at each hip controls the leg's angular…
In the summer of 2008, Sandbox Innovations, a start-up robotics company, contracted me to lead a design team to turn Edubot, an educational legged robotic platform, into a commercial product…
Abstract - Biomechanical studies suggest that animals’ abilities to tune their effective leg compliance in response to changing terrain conditions plays an important role in their agile, robust locomotion. However,…
Abstract - Motivated by the need for torque sensing in the Nm range for experiments with insect-sized flapping-wing robots, we present the design, fabrication and testing of a custom single-axis torque sensor. The…
Background A treatment course for many traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients involves drilling a hole in the cranium to measure cranial pressure and to administer medication. Â What is astonishing about…
One night in December of 2006, I was driving down University Avenue in Philadelphia during a power outage, and found police officers stationed at most of the major intersections trying…
This vacuum chamber was designed to be a research tool for studying the flight characteristics of insect sized flapping robots. Sixteen viewports were positioned around the chamber to allow researchers…