Soft robotics promise to enable large reconfigurability in robotic systems, in turn allowing interaction with unknown objects in unstructured environments. Most applications in soft robotics draw from natural examples for inspiration in sensing, actuation and control functions needed to achieve desired operations. In this respect, many organisms realize complex tasks with minimal efforts exploiting material system architectures that store mechanical energy that can be used for reconfiguration. Examples include the fast motion exhibited by the Venus Flytrap and the remarkable multifunctionality of the Earwig wing, both of which exploit prestress and multistability. We present a bioinspired spring origami gripper that is capable of conforming and holding objects several times its weight with minimal sensing and actuation systems drawing from the characteristics of the Earwig wing. This is achieved by exploiting the multiple functions afforded by the multistability that allows functional geometries for gripping and holding onto objects. We extend a previously developed model to design the bistable gripper and validate the obtained results with experimental tests.
Grape vines are susceptible to many diseases. Routine scouting is critically important to keep vineyards in healthy condition. Currently, scouting relies on experienced farm workers to inspect acres of land while arduously filling out reports to document crop health conditions. This process is both labor and time consuming. Using drones to assist farm workers in scouting has great potential to improve the efficiency of vineyard management. Due to the complexity in grape farm disease detection, the drones are normally used to detect suspicious areas to help farm workers to prioritize scouting activities. Operations still rely heavily on humans for further inspection to be certain about the health conditions of the vines. This paper introduces an autonomous transition flight control method for a transformable drone, which is suitable for the future virtual presence of humans in further inspecting suspicious areas. The transformable drone adopts a tilt-rotor mechanism to automatically switch between hover and horizontal flight modes, following commands from virtual reality devices held in the ground control station. The conceptual design and transformation dynamics of the drone will be first discussed, followed by a model predictive control system developed to automatically control the transition flight. Simulation is also provided to show the effectiveness of the proposed control system.
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