2019 December - 12 articles
This research paper presents the second part of a comparative analysis of a novel self-contained electro-hydraulic cylinder with passive load-holding capability against a state of the art, valve-controlled hydraulic system that is typically used in l...
This research paper presents the first part of a comparative analysis of a novel self-contained electro-hydraulic cylinder with passive load-holding capability against a state of the art, valve-controlled actuation system that is typically used in lo...
In the paper a model is developed for a proposed eddy current damper using finite element analysis. Several damper configurations are studied and its characteristics are analyzed. The steady state performance for the configurations is compared to rea...
Soft robotic grippers often incorporate pneumatically-driven actuators that can elastically deform to grasp delicate, curved organic objects with minimal surface damage. The complexity of the actuator geometry and the nonlinear stress–strain be...
Piezoelectric unimorph deformable mirrors offer a cheap solution to adaptive optics, with mass production capability. However, standard solutions have significant drawbacks: (i) the static shape is sensitive to the temperature, and (ii) the low struc...
A combustion-based mesoscale thermal actuator is proposed and its performance is studied in both open and closed cycle operations using a physics-based lumped-parameter model. The actuator design is unique as it implements a free-piston complaint arc...
The present editorial paper analyzes the hundred recent research works on soft actuation to understand the current main research focus in the light of the grand challenges in the field. Two characteristic paper types were obtained: one focuses on sof...
Dynamic compliant robotics is a fast growing field because of its ability to widen the scope of robotics. The reason for this is that compliant mechanisms may ensure safe/compliant interactions between a robot and an external element—for instan...
Although 3D printing has been extensively used to create passive machines and mechanisms, 3D printing of actuators is a relatively new concept. 3D printing of actuators allows greater customization, accelerates the design and development, and consequ...
A major inhibition to the widespread use of laminate structures is the inability of nondestructive testing techniques to effectively evaluate the bondline integrity. This work proposes and analyzes a bondline-integrity health monitoring approach util...
This paper presents a review of electrothermal micro-actuators and applications. Electrothermal micro-actuators have been a significant research interest over the last two decades, and many different designs and applications have been investigated. T...
Mechanically responsive materials are promising as next-generation actuators for soft robotics, but have scarce reports on the statistical modeling of the actuation behavior. This research reports on the development and modeling of the photomechanica...
