A herringbone soft pneu-net actuator for enhanced conformal gripping

Advances in material science in recent years have had such a tremendous impact on the field of soft robotics that has fostered the development of many bio-inspired devices. One such device, which has been subject to extensive study in recent times, is soft pneumatic-network (pneu-net) actuators (SPAs). In this study, we present a new SPA structure whose chamber configuration mimics the fish bone (herringbone) structure to facilitate simultaneous bending deformations in both longitudinal and transverse directions. Such as cannot be obtained from the regular pneu-net structure – which bends only lengthwise, the coupled bending curvatures allow for gripping with maximized contact area, a property which facilitates firmness, security, and stability in gripping. Using the corresponding chamber inclination angle of the configuration as key parameter, the combined transverse and longitudinal deformation feature is studied through finite element simulation as well as experiments. Also, the functional behavior of the actuator/gripper prototypes is experimentally investigated using a series of approaches including blocked (or tip) force test, grip strength test, and stability (or sustained grasping force) test. Furthermore, the viability of the said conformal gripping characteristic is demonstrated by subjecting the structure to a couple of gripping tests. This utility-enhancing design approach could really guide into the development of more sophisticated application-custom soft robotic capabilities.

A novel GNSS deformation feature extraction method based on ensemble improved LMD threshold denoising

In order to solve the problem that the moving span of basic local mean decomposition (LMD) method is difficult to choose reasonably, an improved LMD method (ILMD), which uses three cubic spline interpolation to replace the sliding average, is proposed. On this basis, with the help of noise aided calculation, an ensemble improved LMD method (EILMD) is proposed to effectively solve the modal aliasing problem in original LMD. On the basis of using EILMD to effectively decompose the data of GNSS deformation monitoring series, GNSS deformation feature extraction model based on EILMD threshold denoising is given by means of wavelet soft threshold processing mode and threshold setting method in empirical mode decomposition denoising. Through the analysis of simulated data and the actual GNSS monitoring data in the mining area, the results show that denoising effect of the proposed method is better than EILMD, ILMD and LMD direct coercive denoising methods. It is also better than wavelet analysis denoising method, and has good adaptability. This fully demonstrates the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method in GNSS feature extraction.

Modulation of tissue growth heterogeneity by responses to mechanical stress

Morphogenesis often yields organs with robust size and shapes, whereas cell growth and deformation feature significant spatiotemporal variability. Here, we investigate whether tissue responses to mechanical signals contribute to resolve this apparent paradox. We built a model of growing tissue made of fiber-like material, which may account for the cytoskeleton, polar cell–cell adhesion, or the extracellular matrix in animals and for the cell wall in plants. We considered the synthesis and remodeling of this material, as well as the modulation of synthesis by isotropic and anisotropic response to mechanical stress. Formally, our model describes an expanding, mechanoresponsive, nematic, and active fluid. We show that mechanical responses buffer localized perturbations, with two possible regimes—hyporesponsive and hyperresponsive—and the transition between the two corresponds to a minimum value of the relaxation time. Whereas robustness of shapes suggests that growth fluctuations are confined to small scales, our model yields growth fluctuations that have long-range correlations. This indicates that growth fluctuations are a significant source of heterogeneity in development. Nevertheless, we find that mechanical responses may dampen such fluctuations, with a specific magnitude of anisotropic response that minimizes heterogeneity of tissue contours. We finally discuss how our predictions might apply to the development of plants and animals. Altogether, our results call for the systematic quantification of fluctuations in growing tissues.

Modulation of tissue growth heterogeneity by responses to mechanical stress

Morphogenesis often yields organs with robust size and shapes, whereas cell growth and deformation feature significant spatio-temporal variability. Here, we investigate whether tissue responses to mechanical signals contribute to resolve this apparent paradox. We built a model of growing tissues made of fiber-like material, which may account for the cytoskeleton, polar cell-cell adhesion, or the extracellular matrix in animals, and for the cell wall in plants. We considered the synthesis and remodeling of this material, as well as the modulation of synthesis by isotropic and anisotropic response to mechanical stress. Formally, our model describes an expanding, mechanoresponsive, nematic, and active fluid. We show that mechanical responses buffer localized perturbations, with two possible regimes - hypo-responsive and hyper-responsive, and the transition between the two corresponds to a minimum value of the relaxation time. Whereas robustness of shapes suggests that growth fluctuations are confined to small scales, our model yields growth fluctuations that have long-range correlations. This indicates that growth fluctuations are a significant source of heterogeneity in development. Nevertheless, we find that mechanical responses may dampen such fluctuations, with a specific magnitude of anisotropic response that minimizes heterogeneity of tissue contours. We finally discuss how our predictions might apply to the development of plants and animals. Altogether, our results call for the systematic quantification of fluctuations in growing tissues.