Metin Sitti (Project Leader),
Hamid Marvi
()
The methodology proposed in this study would allow us to actively control frictional forces of fibrillar structures in any planar direction. Active control of friction would enable pick-and-place type of robotic manipulation and transfer printing systems for flexible electronics and miniature electronic, optical, and mechanical device assembly and packaging. It would also enable advanced snake, gecko or other biologically inspired crawling and climbing robots, which could traverse various surfaces and terrain by active friction control for search and rescue, exploration, inspection, and field robotics applications.