Brief description not available

Brief description not available

Prof. Konstantinos Karydis’ lab at the University of California, Riverside has developed a soft hexapedal robot (SoRx) that may serve as a new tool to applications where operation over rough and/or unstructured terrain is required.  For example when looking for survivors in the aftermath of an earthquake this soft legged robot may be easily deployed. Operation in such terrains still challenges more rigid legged robots; instead, soft legged robots could squeeze and bend to overcome obstacles and fit into crevices to explore their environment. Other uses of SoRX may include educational and recreational applications.       Fig 1: shows that SoRX maintains stable locomotion on an unstable platform that is oscillating in the X-Y plane at speeds comparable to the robot’s forward speed,

Prof. Konstantinos Karydis’ lab at the University of California, Riverside has developed a new active resilient quadrotor (ARQ), which incorporates passive springs within its frame to absorb shocks and survive collisions.  Each arm of the quadrotor is equipped with sensors to accurately and rapidly detect the location (in the drone’s frame) and intensity of a collision.  In addition, a recovery controller that enables the drone to sustain flight after collision with objects like wall, poles, or moving objects. The technology has been proven on the quadrotor however it may be applied to drones with more than four arms. Fig 1: Instances of the novel ARQ drone detecting and recovering from colllisions in (a) and (b) and from collision with a wall (c) and (d). Fig 2: shows ARQ detecting and recovering from a passive collision. (a) ARQ hovers. (b) Collision starts and the ARQ arm absorbs the shock. (c) recovery control starts and there is a body interfering with the ARQ’s flight path. (d) ARQ is stabilized and hovering again.