(Nanowerk Information) Frequent push puppet toys within the shapes of animals and common figures can transfer or collapse with the push of a button on the backside of the toys’ base. Now, a workforce of UCLA engineers has created a brand new class of tunable dynamic materials that mimics the interior workings of push puppets, with functions for comfortable robotics, reconfigurable architectures and area engineering.
Inside a push puppet, there are connecting cords that, when pulled taught, will make the toy stand stiff. However by loosening these cords, the “limbs” of the toy will go limp. Utilizing the identical wire tension-based precept that controls a puppet, researchers have developed a brand new sort of metamaterial, a cloth engineered to own properties with promising superior capabilities.
The undeployed metamaterial (left) features energy and type when deployed (heart), with the flexibility to return to its limp state (proper). (Picture: Wenzhong Yan, UCLA)
Printed in Supplies Horizons (“Self-deployable contracting-cord metamaterials with tunable mechanical properties”), the UCLA examine demonstrates the brand new light-weight metamaterial, which is outfitted with both motor-driven or self-actuating cords which are threaded by means of interlocking cone-tipped beads. When activated, the cords are pulled tight, inflicting the nesting chain of bead particles to jam and straighten right into a line, making the fabric flip stiff whereas sustaining its total construction.
The examine additionally unveiled the fabric’s versatile qualities that might result in its eventual incorporation into comfortable robotics or different reconfigurable buildings:
The extent of pressure within the cords can “tune” the ensuing construction’s stiffness — a completely taut state provides the strongest and stiffest stage, however incremental adjustments within the cords’ pressure permit the construction to flex whereas nonetheless providing energy. The bottom line is the precision geometry of the nesting cones and the friction between them.
Constructions that use the design can collapse and stiffen time and again, making them helpful for long-lasting designs that require repeated actions. The fabric additionally provides simpler transportation and storage when in its undeployed, limp state.
After deployment, the fabric reveals pronounced tunability, turning into greater than 35 occasions stiffer and altering its damping functionality by 50%.
The metamaterial might be designed to self-actuate, by means of synthetic tendons that set off the form with out human management
“Our metamaterial enables new capabilities, showing great potential for its incorporation into robotics, reconfigurable structures and space engineering,” stated corresponding writer and UCLA Samueli College of Engineering postdoctoral scholar Wenzhong Yan. “Built with this material, a self-deployable soft robot, for example, could calibrate its limbs’ stiffness to accommodate different terrains for optimal movement while retaining its body structure. The sturdy metamaterial could also help a robot lift, push or pull objects.”
Push puppet toys can collapse after which stiffen once more. UCLA developed a tunable metamaterial mimicking the interior workings of push puppets to manage the form and rigidity of a construction.
“The general concept of contracting-cord metamaterials opens up intriguing possibilities on how to build mechanical intelligence into robots and other devices,” Yan stated.
Senior authors on the paper are Ankur Mehta, a UCLA Samueli affiliate professor {of electrical} and laptop engineering and director of the Laboratory for Embedded Machines and Ubiquitous Robots of which Yan is a member, and Jonathan Hopkins, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering who leads UCLA’s Versatile Analysis Group.
In keeping with the researchers, potential functions of the fabric additionally embrace self-assembling shelters with shells that encapsulate a collapsible scaffolding. It might additionally function a compact shock absorber with programmable dampening capabilities for autos shifting by means of tough environments.
“Looking ahead, there’s a vast space to explore in tailoring and customizing capabilities by altering the size and shape of the beads, as well as how they are connected,” stated Mehta, who additionally has a school appointment in mechanical and aerospace engineering.
Whereas earlier analysis has explored contracting cords, this paper has delved into the mechanical properties of such a system, together with the perfect shapes for bead alignment, self-assembly and the flexibility to be tuned to carry their total framework.
