Tilt-X: Enabling Compliant Aerial Manipulation through a Tiltable-Extensible Continuum Manipulator

Aerial manipulators extend the reach and manipulation capabilities of uncrewed multirotor aerial vehicles for inspection, agriculture, sampling, and delivery. Continuum arm aerial manipulation systems offer lightweight, dexterous, and compliant interaction opportunities. Existing designs allow manipulation only below the UAV which restricts their deployability in multiple directions and through clutter. They are also sensitive to propeller downwash. Addressing these limitations, we present Tilt-X, a continuum arm aerial manipulator that integrates a tilting mechanism, a telescopic stage, and a cable-driven continuum section. We present its design and kinematic model and validate it through flight demonstrations. Tilt-X enables a volumetric workspace with up to 75 mm extension and planar orientations between 0$^\circ$ to 90$^\circ$. Experiments comparing end effector pose with and without downwash quantitatively measure its accuracy, providing critical evidence to guide the design and control of reliable aerial manipulators. Results show stabilisation of end effector pose as the manipulator extends out of the propeller influence zone.

A Comprehensive Experimental Characterization of Mechanical Layer Jamming Systems

Organisms in nature, such as Cephalopods and Pachyderms, exploit stiffness modulation to achieve amazing dexterity in the control of their appendages. In this paper, we explore the phenomenon of layer jamming, which is a popular stiffness modulation mechanism that provides an equivalent capability for soft robots. More specifically, we focus on mechanical layer jamming, which we realise through two-layer multi material structure with tooth-like protrusions. We identify key design parameters for mechanical layer jamming systems, including the ability to modulate stiffness, and perform a variety of comprehensive tests placing the specimens under bending and torsional loads to understand the influence of our selected design parameters (mainly tooth geometry) on the performance of the jammed structures. We note the ability of these structures to produce a peak change in stiffness of 5 times in bending and 3.2 times in torsion. We also measure the force required to separate the two jammed layers, an often ignored parameter in the study of jamming-induced stiffness change. This study aims to shed light on the principled design of mechanical layer jammed systems and guide researchers in the selection of appropriate designs for their specific application domains.

Programmable Telescopic Soft Pneumatic Actuators for Deployable and Shape Morphing Soft Robots

Soft Robotics presents a rich canvas for free-form and continuum devices capable of exerting forces in any direction and transforming between arbitrary configurations. However, there is no current way to tractably and directly exploit the design freedom due to the curse of dimensionality. Parameterisable sets of designs offer a pathway towards tractable, modular soft robotics that appropriately harness the behavioural freeform of soft structures to create rich embodied behaviours. In this work, we present a parametrised class of soft actuators, Programmable Telescopic Soft Pneumatic Actuators (PTSPAs). PTSPAs expand axially on inflation for deployable structures and manipulation in challenging confined spaces. We introduce a parametric geometry generator to customise actuator models from high-level inputs, and explore the new design space through semi-automated experimentation and systematic exploration of key parameters. Using it we characterise the actuators' extension/bending, expansion, and stiffness and reveal clear relationships between key design parameters and performance. Finally we demonstrate the application of the actuators in a deployable soft quadruped whose legs deploy to walk, enabling automatic adaptation to confined spaces. PTSPAs present new design paradigm for deployable and shape morphing structures and wherever large length changes are required.