This paper investigates the in-hand manipulation capabilities of a compliant, underactuated planar robotic hand by treating the system as a simple, symmetric, 6-bar linkage mechanism with compliant joints. Although underactuated hands are generally not considered to be adept at dexterous tasks, we have found through past work that an underactuated manipulator can control n degrees of freedom wi...

Hydraulic rescue spreaders are used by emergency response personnel to extricate occupants from a vehicle crash. A lighter and more portable rescue spreader is required for better usability and to enable utilization in a variety of scenarios. To meet this requirement, topological synthesis, dimensional synthesis, and an optimization were used to develop a solution linkage. The topological synth...

A classic question in evolutionary biology is how form-function relationships promote or limit diversification. Mechanical metrics, such as kinematic transmission (KT) in linkage systems, are useful tools for examining the evolution of form and function in a comparative context. The convergence of disparate systems on equivalent metric values (mechanical equivalence) has been highlighted as a s...

Abstract Musculoskeletal and nervous system injuries strokes can influence the ankle in a way, that rehabilitation exercise is inevitable to regain patient’s quality of life. However, increasing needs for physiotherapists complex machinery independent limit possibility experiencing proper care. One approach address this issue developing an affordable, safe, cheap treatment solution. This paper ...

The relationship between form and function can have profound effects on evolutionary dynamics and such effects may differ for simple versus complex systems. In particular, functions produced by multiple structural configurations (many-to-one mapping, MTOM) may dampen constituent trade-offs and promote diversification. Unfortunately, we lack information about the genetic architecture of MTOM fun...

1. Abstract This paper presents a simple approach to optimize the dimensions and the positions of 2D mechanisms for path or function-generator synthesis. The proposed method is particularly adapted to assembled mechanisms since time-varying dimensions always satisfy the assembly conditions which may represent a real difficulty when dealing with closed-loop mechanisms. The objective is to minimi...