Article
Robotics
Caio Mucchiani, Mark Yim
Summary: This innovative grasping approach uses object inertia to pick up objects with end-effectors that lack actuated degrees of freedom. The end-effector provides fixed contacts on opposing edges of a convex object, ensuring stability throughout the motion. The method proves useful for low complexity pick-and-place applications and sensorless object transfer in human-robot interaction.
IEEE ROBOTICS AND AUTOMATION LETTERS
(2021)
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Yuxuan Sun, Yuwei Ju, Hao Wen, Ruiqi Liu, Quanliang Cao, Liang Li
Summary: This research proposes a novel hybrid-excited magnetic actuation approach that combines permanent magnets and electromagnets, achieving a balance between flexibility and energy efficiency. They also develop a magnetic soft gripper system capable of versatile object manipulation and demonstrate its exceptional performance through experiments.
APPLIED MATERIALS TODAY
(2023)
Article
Robotics
Xinbo Chen, Jiantao Yao, Shuai Zhang, Kunming Zhu, Shuaiqi Kong, Shupeng Qi, Xuanhao Zhang
Summary: This article introduces a bioinspired cobweb soft gripper named WebGripper, which takes inspiration from spiders' predation behavior and exhibits stable and reliable grasping capability. The gripper mimics a spider web's structure before grasping an object, and then entangles the object like a snake after grasping. The WebGripper shows versatile adaptability and enhanced grasping stability, making it suitable for a wide range of applications such as goods sorting, fruit picking, and underwater fishing.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ROBOTICS
(2023)
Article
Robotics
Snehal Jain, Saikrishna Dontu, Joanne Ee Mei Teoh, Pablo Valdiva Y. Alvarado
Summary: This article introduces a reconfigurable workspace soft gripper that uses compliant structures and pneumatic actuators to adapt to various grasping tasks. Finite element analysis is used to design the actuators and materials, and the gripper's various grasping capabilities and workspace reconfiguration are demonstrated.
Article
Robotics
Zichao Ji, Guangming Song, Fei Wang, Yawen Li, Aiguo Song
Summary: This letter introduces a snake robot with a gripper for inspection and maintenance in narrow spaces. The proposed robot has a gripper equipped with a camera and a laser distance sensor for inspection and object grasping. The control methods of the robot include a double-layer controller based on central pattern generator (CPG) for locomotion, a circular posture to improve the payload capacity, and a three-stage grasping strategy for semi-automatic grasping operations. A prototype of the robot has been developed and its effectiveness has been verified in various experiments.
IEEE ROBOTICS AND AUTOMATION LETTERS
(2023)
Article
Robotics
Hang Wei, Yu Shan, Yanzhi Zhao, Lizhe Qi, Xilu Zhao
Summary: To address the lack of multidirectional grasping ability in soft grippers under inclination, researchers propose a novel variable stiffness module that combines rigid multidirectional loading with local variable stiffness. This allows for soft grasping and multidirectional rigid loading in a soft gripper. The stiffness control is achieved through a double-layer pneumatic driving structure with simple control and fast response. The prototype experiments verify the adaptability and stable grasping ability of the robot, and the variable stiffness increases the maximum grasping weight in each direction by more than three times.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ROBOTICS
(2022)
Article
Robotics
Sara Marullo, Gionata Salvietti, Domenico Prattichizzo
Summary: This letter proposes a physics-based framework to utilize magnets in robotic manipulation. By equipping soft and underactuated hands with magnetic elements, the manipulation capabilities of robots can be enhanced. The interaction between the soft hand and itself, as well as the environment, is investigated to expand the shaping and grasping capabilities of the hand.
IEEE ROBOTICS AND AUTOMATION LETTERS
(2022)
Review
Automation & Control Systems
Yuxuan Liu, Jixin Hou, Changying Li, Xianqiao Wang
Summary: This review article provides a comprehensive overview of the design and control aspects of intelligent soft robotic grippers specifically tailored for agricultural product handling. It discusses the recent progress in gripper design and the role of advanced control approaches in enabling intelligent functions. The challenges and opportunities pertaining to the implementation of soft grippers in the agricultural industry are thoroughly discussed.
ADVANCED INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS
(2023)
Article
Computer Science, Information Systems
Hyeonjun Park, Myunghyun Kim, Bumjoo Lee, Donghan Kim
Summary: This paper introduces an anthropomorphic robot hand with variable grasping stiffness, achieved through variable impedance control for broader stiffness range. Parameter update is used to adjust impedance parameters, and the procedure for evaluating grasping capability of the robot hand is explained.
Article
Robotics
Haili Li, Xingzhi Li, Bo Wang, Xiaoyang Shang, Jiantao Yao
Summary: This work presents a soft swallowing robot with a continuous grasping mode to enhance the efficiency and robustness of soft grippers. The robot exhibits grasping fault tolerance and structural fault tolerance, allowing uninterrupted grasping action and maintaining its function even after a part of its core structures fail. Finite element modeling quantitatively analyzes the impact of object size, friction coefficient, and manufacturing materials on the swallowing force. Experimental results demonstrate the robot's ability to tolerate up to 50% of structural faults and its effectiveness in manipulating delicate structures, as shown in grasping experiments on underwater animals. The research findings have potential applications in underwater biological sample collection and seafood fishing.
IEEE ROBOTICS AND AUTOMATION LETTERS
(2023)
Article
Automation & Control Systems
Bin Fang, Ziwei Xia, Fuchun Sun, Yiyong Yang, Huaping Liu, Cheng Fang
Summary: This article proposes a novel fingertip design that combines soft tactile skin and a particle-jamming structure, enabling the fingertip to both perceive and grasp objects simultaneously. The soft fingertip module is fabricated by molding, reducing processing time and cost. Experimental results validate the design's ability to grasp tiny objects while perceiving contact position and force information.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS
(2023)
Article
Robotics
Bin Hu, Xiaodong Zhang, Tianju Ding, Xisong Dong, Bidan Huang, Yu Zheng
Summary: The solution proposed in the letter successfully competed in the Robotic Grasping and Manipulation Competition, utilizing a new type of modular gripper design, machine vision, and force control techniques.
IEEE ROBOTICS AND AUTOMATION LETTERS
(2021)
Article
Robotics
Saeed Hashemi, Darrin Bentivegna, William Durfee
Summary: Soft robot fingers with embedded bones improve performance, mathematical models predict robot finger characteristics and trajectory planning, experiments show bone-inspired soft robots have higher natural frequency and stiffness.
Article
Robotics
Valerio Bo, Enrico Turco, Maria Pozzi, Monica Malvezzi, Domenico Prattichizzo
Summary: This article proposes a method to enhance the versatility of soft grippers by adding special passive components to their structure. The design parameters of optimal scoop for each object are derived by solving an optimization problem, considering the object-environment relative pose. The obtained optimal scoops are clustered to get a limited set of representative scoop designs which can be prototyped and used in grasping tasks. Experiments validate the proposed approach.
IEEE ROBOTICS AND AUTOMATION LETTERS
(2022)
Article
Automation & Control Systems
Tomoki Anzai, Moju Zhao, Takuzumi Nishio, Fan Shi, Kei Okada, Masayuki Inaba
Summary: This study proposes a fully autonomous pick-and-place scheme in outdoor environments using articulated aerial robots. It develops an articulated robot model with an actively tiltable sensor and designs object detection methods based on the distance between the robot and target object. A comprehensive motion strategy is developed for autonomous object searching, picking, and placing. Experimental results show the successful autonomous brick picking and placing in various outdoor environments.
IEEE ROBOTICS & AUTOMATION MAGAZINE
(2023)
Article
Robotics
Dongbao Sui, Yanhe Zhu, Sikai Zhao, Tianshuo Wang, Sunil K. Agrawal, He Zhang, Jie Zhao
Summary: This article presents the design, fabrication, modeling, and preliminary tests of a bloodworm-inspired soft gripper for universal grasping. The gripper, based on a water snake wiggly toy, achieves a flexible and passive form-fitting grasp by imitating the behavior of a bloodworm. The experimental results demonstrate the gripper's good performance in handling a wide range of objects with different characteristics and its unique abilities in picking multiple objects and grasping powdered objects.
Article
Engineering, Mechanical
Tian Xu, Jizhuang Fan, Qianqian Fang, Yanhe Zhu, Jie Zhao
Summary: This article proposes a systematic framework for robot dynamic calibration on current level, which includes modeling, identification and its applications. It is the first systematic work on robot dynamic calibration on current level. The proposed theories are validated by experiments on the UR10 robot.
NONLINEAR DYNAMICS
(2022)
Article
Robotics
Tian Xu, Jizhuang Fan, Qianqian Fang, Yanhe Zhu, Jie Zhao
Summary: This article proposes an accurate identification method based on double weighting for inertial parameters of robot payloads. Experimental comparisons show that this method performs the best, especially in improving the identification accuracy of mass and center of mass of the payload.
Article
Robotics
Qinghua Zhang, Changle Li, Hongwei Jing, Hongwu Li, Xianglong Li, Haotian Ju, Yuan Tang, Jie Zhao, Yanhe Zhu
Summary: Supernumerary robotic limbs, also known as the third limb, are wearable robots designed to provide better auxiliary ability for humans. This paper presents the design and implementation of a lightweight, compact, and multi-assistive Series-Parallel-Reconfigurable Tendon-driven Supernumerary Robotic Arms (RTSRAs). By balancing load capacity and flexibility through clever end-conversion tools, the RTSRAs can adapt to variable tasks effectively. The evaluation based on forward and inverse kinematics analysis shows the potential of RTSRAs in future applications, especially in typical load operation scenarios.
IEEE ROBOTICS AND AUTOMATION LETTERS
(2022)
Article
Robotics
Junming Zhang, Yubin Liu, Liang Gao, Benshan Liu, Yanhe Zhu, Xizhe Zang, Jie Zhao, Hegao Cai
Summary: This article introduces a new bionic deformable wing drone, which improves roll control ability by combining wing deformation and ailerons, and verifies that the folding deformation of the wing can change the flight envelope.
IEEE ROBOTICS AND AUTOMATION LETTERS
(2022)
Article
Automation & Control Systems
Hongwu Li, Dongbao Sui, Haotian Ju, Yiyang An, Jie Zhao, Yanhe Zhu
Summary: Misalignments between exoskeletons and human joints can lead to interference and undesired interaction forces in locomotion. The weight and inertia of exoskeletons also result in rapid changes in impact forces on the wearer. To address these issues, a novel lower limb exoskeleton with a constant-force suspension mechanism and self-adapting compliant joints is proposed. Experimental results demonstrate improved performance in reducing impact forces and misalignments during locomotion.
IEEE-ASME TRANSACTIONS ON MECHATRONICS
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Multidisciplinary
Boyang Chen, Xizhe Zang, Yue Zhang, Liang Gao, Yanhe Zhu, Jie Zhao
Summary: This paper proposes a multi-modal biped gait planner based on DIRCON for generating different gaits on multiple non-flat terrains. Virtual knot and slacked complementary constraints are used for trajectory optimization in gait planning. Experimental results demonstrate the stability of the planned gaits on non-flat terrains.
Article
Engineering, Mechanical
Congcong Xu, Gangfeng Liu, Changle Li, Yanhe Zhu, Jie Zhao
Summary: Precise identification of inertial and nonlinear friction parameters of the Stewart platform has been a pending problem due to strong coupling and small workspace. This paper proposes a novel identification model based on symmetric excitation trajectory, and its validity and accuracy are demonstrated through experiments.
NONLINEAR DYNAMICS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Analytical
Boyang Chen, Xizhe Zang, Yue Zhang, Liang Gao, Yanhe Zhu, Jie Zhao
Summary: This paper proposes a full-order biped gait planner that considers symmetry, energy efficiency, and trajectory smoothness at the joint level, without relying on morphological priors. The planner is validated through dynamic simulations and physical comparison experiments with a real robot device.
Article
Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence
Sikai Zhao, Tianjiao Zheng, Dongbao Sui, Jie Zhao, Yanhe Zhu
Summary: In order to address the difficulties of maintaining the appropriate position during spacewalks, we propose the development of a wearable robotic limb system and a variable damping control method for astronaut assistance and positioning. The simulations demonstrate that the proposed method can meet the requirements for maintaining an astronaut's position during spacewalks.
FRONTIERS IN NEUROROBOTICS
(2023)
Article
Automation & Control Systems
He Zhang, Chunbo Wang, Ming Bai, Haoran Yi, Jiahui Yang, Yanhe Zhu, Jie Zhao
Summary: In this study, a micro-3-degree of freedom (DOF) force sensor is proposed to improve the flexibility of the intraocular robot during retinal surgery. The sensor, embedded in a nitinol tube with flexible hinges, integrates force sensing and injection functions. A new fiber Bragg grating (FBG) configuration method and linear decoupling algorithm are proposed. Static calibration experiments demonstrate excellent resolution of the force sensor. The feasibility and effectiveness of the developed sensor for monitoring the interaction forces during retinal vein cannulation (RVC) are further confirmed through an ex vivo experiment on pig cadaver eyes.
ADVANCED INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS
(2023)
Article
Automation & Control Systems
Ning Zhao, Liang Gao, Zhiyuan Yang, Jian Qi, Kai Han, Xin Sui, Jie Zhao, Yanhe Zhu
Summary: This study proposes a self-assembly strategy inspired by biological cooperative and mutual assistance behaviors, to enable the modular space robot to reorganize into different structures with different functions. The strategy utilizes the meta-module method to give nonmobile modules mobility and utilizes mutual assistance to achieve position and posture reachability of the assembly unit. An assembly planner is designed based on the motion characteristics of the meta-module and mutual assistance to obtain assembly sequences for self-manufacturing desired configurations.
ADVANCED INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS
(2023)
Article
Automation & Control Systems
Jingsong Gao, Hongzhe Jin, Liang Gao, Jie Zhao, Yanhe Zhu, Hegao Cai
Summary: This article introduces a new two-wheel-legged land-air locomotion robot (TLR) with three independent modes: flight, two-wheel, and four-wheel. By studying the cooperative control of rotor power and leg power, stable cooperative algorithm and walking cooperative algorithm are proposed to improve the stability, load capacity, and uphill ability of the robot.
IEEE-ASME TRANSACTIONS ON MECHATRONICS
(2023)
Article
Engineering, Aerospace
Benshan Liu, Yongsheng Gao, Liang Gao, Junming Zhang, Yanhe Zhu, Xizhe Zang, Jie Zhao
Summary: This paper proposes a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft that uses one-dimensional thrust vectoring nozzle modules to overcome the slow response of turbojet engines. The aircraft is easier to operate and has reduced fuselage thickness and ground effect.
