Latest Papers

ASME Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics

  • Mechanical Characterization of Supernumerary Robotic Tails for Human Balance Augmentation
    on August 31, 2023 at 12:00 am

    AbstractHumans are intrinsically unstable in quiet stance from a rigid body system viewpoint; however, they maintain balance, thanks to neuro-muscular sensory control properties. With increasing levels of balance related incidents in industrial and ageing populations globally each year, the development of assistive mechanisms to augment human balance is paramount. This work investigates the mechanical characteristics of kinematically dissimilar one and two degrees-of-freedom (DoF) supernumerary robotic tails for balance augmentation. Through dynamic simulations and manipulability assessments, the importance of variable coupling inertia in creating a sufficient reaction torque is highlighted. It is shown that two-DoF tails with solely revolute joints are best suited to address the balance augmentation issue. Within the two-DoF options, the characteristics of open versus closed loop tails are investigated, with the ultimate design selection requiring trade-offs between environmental workspace, biomechanical factors, and manufacturing ease to be made.

Discrete Cosserat Method for Soft Manipulators Workspace Estimation: An Optimization-Based Approach

Abstract

This article investigates the workspace estimation of soft manipulators. Given a configuration of such a soft robot, with the bounded actuators, the discrete Cosserat method is adopted to deduce the mathematical model of soft manipulators, based on which an optimization-based approach is proposed to estimate the workspace. Implemented to various soft manipulators’ configurations, numerical simulations are provided to highlight the feasibility of the proposed methodology.
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