Flexible Mechanisms in Robot Design and Application

Dear Colleagues,

In recent years, there has been a notable shift in interest from robots and automation equipment being formed exclusively from solid structures and rigid materials. Instead, there is increased interest in forming machines from flexible and soft materials and using variable stiffness and compliant actuation to form more flexible mechanisms. There are a range of advantages offered by flexible mechanisms including increased safety when operating alongside human, enhanced deployability, energy storage, and other improved abilities compared to traditional robot designs.

This Special Issue aims to discuss the state of the art in the design of flexible robotic mechanisms. It will also include papers highlighting the application of flexible robot systems, particularly where they provide advantages when compared to more traditional mechanism designs.

Submissions on, but not limited to, the following are welcome:

• Non-rigid robots;
• Soft robotics;
• Compliant and variable stiffness mechanisms;
• Deployable structures;
• Novel materials for robots;
• Control of flexible robots.

Prof. Dr. Samia Nefti-Meziani
Dr. Steve Davis
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Machines is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• compliant robots/actuation
• soft robotics
• deployable structures
• robot mechanism design
• flexible materials