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.

Algorithmic Spatial Form-Finding of Four-Fold Origami Structures Based on Mountain-Valley Assignments

Abstract

Origami has attracted tremendous attention in recent years owing to its capability of inspiring and enabling the design and development of reconfigurable structures and mechanisms for applications in various fields such as robotics and biomedical engineering. The vast majority of origami structures are folded starting from an initial two-dimensional crease pattern. However, in general, the planar configuration of such a crease pattern is in a singular state when the origami starts to fold. Such a singular state results in different motion possibilities of rigid or non-rigid folding. Thus, planar origami patterns cannot act as reliable initial configurations for further kinematic or structural analyses. To avoid the singularities of planar states and achieve reliable structural configurations during folding, we introduce a nonlinear prediction–correction method and present a spatial form-finding algorithm for four-fold origami. In this approach, first, initial nodal displacements are predicted based on the mountain-valley assignments of the given origami pattern, which are applied to vertices to form an initial spatial and defective origami model. Subsequently, corrections of nodal displacements are iteratively performed on the defective model until a satisfactory nonplanar configuration is obtained. Numerical experiments demonstrate the performance of the proposed algorithm in the form-finding of both trivial and non-trivial four-fold origami tessellations. The obtained configurations can be effectively utilized for further kinematic and structural analyses. Additionally, it has been verified that corrected and nonplanar configurations are superior to initial configurations in terms of matrix distribution and structural stiffness.

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