Rapid Design of Mechanical Logic Based on QuasiStatic Electromechanical Modeling Mechanical logic is a class of dynamic electromechanical mechanisms which leverages carefully designed mechanical structures to generate programmed control actions from a constant electrical power supply; thus, it can be employed as a control method for fully printable autonomous robots. Composed of a bistable buckled beam driven by conductive supercoiled polymer (CSCP) actuators, this type of electromechanical system features nontrivial relationships between its design parameters and resulting behavioral characteristics. In this paper we present an efficient method to rapidly design mechanical logic structures from desired behavioral specifications. We describe this dynamic system with a simplified, quasistatic model, whose validity is verified by time constant comparison. An analytical formula of the mechanical logicxe2x80x99s behavioral characteristics, i.e. its oscillation period, is then derived as a simplified expression of the design parameters. Based on this expression, we formulate the design of mechanical logic from behavioral specifications into an optimization problem that maximizes the robustness to manufacturing tolerances, as demonstrated by an example case study.

Design of LowProfile Compliant Transmission Mechanisms Robotic origami design allows creating mesoscale robotic systems and mechanisms not limited by degrees of freedom, miniaturization and assembly downsides of conventional transmission mechanisms. However, unlike the traditional rigid approaches, robotic origami application has been limited by the complex deformation and kinematics of the compliant joints and actuation based on active materials or conventional electric motors. To generalize their application at mesoscale requires a combination of the predictability of traditional rigid kinematics and the manufacturing flexibility of robotic origami. Here we present a study of conventional transmission mechanisms, including a slidercrank and camfollower, made in quasi2D form by selective machining and stacking of multiple layers of composite material with minimal assembly. Owing to a compliant design powered by lowprofile piezoelectric motors, our 5.3 mm thick and lightweight mechanisms transmit rotational motion to translational movements in and outofplane. We develop analytic models that we validate in terms of force and motion output on our prototypes.