This paper presents an elegant contact dynamics model in screw bondgraph form. It can model the contact between any two objects of finite curvature. It does so by defining a Gauss frame on the surfaces of both objects in the points that are closest to each other. Then it describes how the Gauss frames move as the objects move relative to each other. This is called the contact kinematics. The co...

In this paper we shall present the progress of the ROBOCOQ project. This project aims to design a prototype of autonomous biped based on the avian model, capable of exploring cluttered environments. This design relies on experimental kinematics data obtained from the quail. The experimental protocol used to reconstruct a 3D model is presented in this paper as well as the procedure and criteria ...

We present a composite material with embedded sensing and actuation that can perform permanent shape changes by temporarily varying its stiffness and applying an external moment. Varying stiffness is a complementary approach to actuator-chain based approaches that can be accomplished using a large variety of means ranging from heat, electric field or vacuum. A polycaprolactone (PCL) bar provide...

This paper presents the fomulation of the inverse kinematics and dvnamics of the1 3-RRS parallel platform with three degrees of freedom. For inverse kinematics, The position analysis is f irs f ly performed. Then the differential motion constraint vquations of the movable platform are established, based on which the velocity and acceleration formulae of leg actuators are derived. In inverse dyn...

Despite the huge progress made in interactive physics-based mesh deformation, manipulating a geometrically complex mesh or posing a detailed character is still a tedious and time-consuming task. Example-driven methods significantly simplify the modeling process by incorporating structural or anatomical knowledge learned from example poses. However, these approaches yield counter-intuitive, non-...

The present paper studies Plücker coordinates for line elements in Euclidean three-space. The well known relation between line geometry and kinematics is generalized to equiform motions and the geometry of line elements. We consider bundles and linear complexes of line elements and survey their properties. MSC 2000: 51M30, 53A17

After writing programs for a production robot, an operator must manually teach hundreds or thousands of poses. Teaching poses is extremely time consuming and, unfortunately, periodic reteaching is necessary. The need to reteach is commonly due to: wear, repair, slight movements of workpieces, or replacement of the robot and its tools. Our experience has shown that conventional methods of adjust...