Abstract: Mobility analysis is an important step in the conceptual design of flexure systems. It involves identifying directions with relatively compliant motion (freedoms) and directions with relatively restricted motion (constraints). ...

Abstract: Conceptual design of spatial compliant mechanisms with distinct input and output ports may be hard because of its complex interconnected topology and is currently accomplished by computationally intensive automated techniques. ...

Abstract: Design synthesis of distributed compliant mechanisms is often a two-stage process involving (a) conceptual topology synthesis and a subsequent (b) refinement stage to meet strength and manufacturing specifications. The ...

Abstract: This paper presents a new mechanics-based framework for the qualitative analysis and conceptual design of mechanical metamaterials, and specifically materials exhibiting auxetic behavior. The methodology is inspired by ...

Abstract: Fluid filled fiber reinforced elastomeric enclosures (FREEs) have been a popular choice for actuators in prosthetics and soft robots owing to their high power density and cost effective manufacturing. While a narrow class ...

Abstract: Load flow visualization, which is an important step in structural and machine assembly design may aid in the analysis and eventual synthesis of compliant mechanisms. In this paper, we present a kinetostatic formulation to ...

Abstract: Compliant mechanisms with evenly distributed stresses have better loadbearing ability and larger range of motion than mechanisms with compliance and stresses lumped at flexural hinges. In this paper, we present a metric ...

Abstract: The local thermal nonequilibrium (LTNE) model has been used widely for analyzing heat transfer during internal flow through porous media, including when a channel is only partially filled with a porous medium. In such ...

Abstract: Patients who have limited body movement ability need assistance with frequent repositioning and transfers from their caregivers. These common manual tasks are physically strenuous for caregivers. To minimize caregiver ...

Abstract: In this paper, we introduce a new type of spatial parallel robot that is comprised of soft inflatable constraints called trichamber actuators (TCAs). We extend the principles of the freedom and constraint topologies (FACT) ...