Robots with Tails

Dinosaurs, Robots and Tails

Modern birds are derived from a group of carnivorous bipedal dinosaurs known as theropods, with which they share many morphological characteristics [1-7]. For this reason cursorial birds have been widely used as models for understanding the locomotion of their non-avian ancestors (non avian theropods) [8-11]. In our research we have demonstrated that chickens grown with artificial tails exhibit...

Perpetuities with Thin Tails

Hazard Estimation with Flexible Tails

Polynomial splines are used to estimate the log-hazard function based on possibly censored, positive data. Two additional log terms are incorporated into the fitted model for the log-hazard function to allow for greater flexibility in the extreme tails. A fully automatic procedure involving the maximum likelihood method, stepwise knot addition, stepwise knot deletion and BIC is used to select t...

Momentum control using limbs, tails in mobile robots: Challenges and tradeoffs

Cheetahs exhibit extreme mobility not only in running speed, but also in agility. In particularly, tail-assistive maneuver in chase of a gazelle shows the potential usage of tail in robotic quadruped as well. This talk presents several examples of appendage-assisted dynamic balance in nature along with hypothesized principles. Although the benefits of using additional limbs to augment the agili...

Dynamics of Space Free-Flying Robots with Flexible Appendages

A Space Free-Flying Robot (SFFR) includes an actuated base equipped with one or more manipulators to perform on-orbit missions. Distinct from fixed-based manipulators, the spacecraft (base) of a SFFR responds to dynamic reaction forces due to manipulator motions. In order to control such a system, it is essential to consider the dynamic coupling between the manipulators and the base. Explicit d...