This work demonstrates that metal nanowires in a percolating network can reversibly slide across one another. Reversible sliding allows networks of metal nanowires to maintain electrical contact while being stretched to strains greater than the fracture strain for individual nanowires. This phenomenon was demonstrated by using networks of nanowires as compliant electrodes for a dielectric elast...

ADROIT Manipulation platform is a pneumatically actuated, tendon driven 28 degree of freedom platform being developed for investigating complex hand manipulation behaviors. ADROIT derives its unique capabilities, necessary to support dynamic and dexterous manipulation, from a custom designed high performance pneumatic actuation system for tendon driven hands. The custom pneumatic actuation syst...

The pursuit of increasing the efficiency internal combustion engines is an ongoing engineering task that requires numerous research efforts. New concepts injection or systems require preliminary investigation work using engines. These engines, usually single-cylinder, make it possible to isolate a single variable in complex mixture preparation process, thus enabling analysis changes being made....

As the key control component of water hydraulic systems, proportional valve has a significant influence on performance systems. Due to poor viscosity and lubricity water, spool resistance is large non-linear. In this study, novel fast-response presented. The actuator adopts voice coil motor (VCM), which advantages fast response, high precision small volume. order realize valve, lever amplifier ...

A new microfluidic valve or a "v-type valve" which can be flexibly actuated to focus a fluid flow and block a specific area of a microchannel is demonstrated. Valves with different design parameters were fabricated by multilayer soft lithography and characterized at various operating pressures. To evaluate the functionality of the valve, single microparticles (∅ 7 μm and ∅ 15 μm) and single cel...

A piezoelectrically driven hydraulic amplification microvalve for use in compact high-performance hydraulic pumping systems was designed, fabricated, and experimentally characterized. High-frequency, high-force actuation capabilities were enabled through the incorporation of bulk piezoelectric material elements beneath a micromachined annular tethered-piston structure. Large valve stroke at the...

Real-world environments are complex, unstructured, and often fragile. Soft robotics offers a solution for robots to safely interact with the environment and human coworkers, but suffers from a host of challenges in sensing and control of continuously deformable bodies. To overcome these challenges, this article considers a modular soft robotic architecture that offers proprioceptive sensing of ...

This paper focuses on a theoretical and experimental investigation on the control of a valve actuated hydraulic system driving a biologically inspired robotic leg. The study is part of a more complex project aiming at the design of a power and cognitive autonomous quadruped robot for outdoor operations called HyQ. The first leg prototype has currently two hydraulically activated degrees of free...

an s-curve to describe the gradual transition between exhaust pressure and intake or inlet pressure. The start of compression, which marks the end of the intake process, does not necessarily occur at the same time as the close of the intake valve (IVC). The intake valve closes after bottom center (BC) while the volume in the cylinder is decreasing. The engine speed determines the point at which...