Contents
19 December 2018
Vol 3, Issue 25
Vol 3, Issue 25
Focus
- Chasing biomimetic locomotion speeds: Creating untethered soft robots with shape memory alloy actuators
Untethered soft robots using compliant lightweight actuators are capable of dynamic locomotion at biologically relevant speeds.
Research Articles
- An anthropomorphic soft skeleton hand exploiting conditional models for piano playing
Conditional models provide a method of achieving varying behaviors by using hybrid and passive mechanical structures.
- Morphogenesis in robot swarms
Endowing robot swarm systems with biological morphogenetic behavior makes swarm shape formation emergent, adaptive, and robust.
- Electro-ribbon actuators and electro-origami robots
Insulated conducting ribbons can be used to make powerful, versatile, ultrathin actuators and smart origami structures.
- Inverted and vertical climbing of a quadrupedal microrobot using electroadhesion
A legged microrobot can climb inverted and vertical surfaces by using voltage-controlled electroadhesion and a newly designed gait.
- Soft wall-climbing robots
A soft wall-climbing robot was designed by integrating and synchronizing dielectric-elastomer muscles and electroadhesive feet.
About The Cover
ONLINE COVER Piano Forte. Human hands are complex and agile, but most robotic end effectors are simple and bulky. Hughes et al. used 3D-printing technology to create robotic devices that mimic human hands, with stiff skeletal frames surrounded by flexible "ligaments" controlling movement at joints. They varied ligament stiffness and the force applied to strike a piano key; the resulting data led to models predicting the range of motion for a specific set of conditions. The validity of the approach and the design was demonstrated with a system able to play excerpts of three different pieces of music, representing a range of styles, in a manner close to that of a human. [CREDIT: J. HUGHES & N. CHORNAY/UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE]
