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Related Concept Videos

Simple Harmonic Motion01:21

Simple Harmonic Motion

13.9K
Simple harmonic motion is the name given to oscillatory motion for a system where the net force can be described by Hooke's law. If the net force can be described by Hooke's law and there is no damping (by friction or other non-conservative forces), then a simple harmonic oscillator will oscillate with equal displacement on either side of the equilibrium position. To derive an equation for period and frequency, the equation of motion is used. The period of a simple harmonic oscillator is given...
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Forced Oscillations01:06

Forced Oscillations

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When an oscillator is forced with a periodic driving force, the motion may seem chaotic. The motions of such oscillators are known as transients. After the transients die out, the oscillator reaches a steady state, where the motion is periodic, and the displacement is determined.
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Problem Solving: Energy in Simple Harmonic Motion01:17

Problem Solving: Energy in Simple Harmonic Motion

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Simple harmonic motion (SHM) is a type of periodic motion in time and position, in which an object oscillates back and forth around an equilibrium position with a constant amplitude and frequency. In SHM, there is a continuous exchange between the potential and kinetic energy, which results in the oscillation of the object.
Consider the spring in a shock absorber of a car. The spring attached to the wheel executes simple harmonic motion while the car is moving on a bumpy road. The force on the...
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Characteristics of Simple Harmonic Motion01:17

Characteristics of Simple Harmonic Motion

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The key characteristic of the simple harmonic motion is that the acceleration of the system and, therefore, the net force are proportional to the displacement and act in the opposite direction to the displacement. Additionally, the period and frequency of a simple harmonic oscillator are independent of its amplitude. For example, diving boards move faster or slower based on their thickness. A stiff, thick diving board has a large force constant, which causes it to have a smaller period, while a...
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Torsional Pendulum01:09

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A torsional pendulum involves the oscillation of a rigid body in which the restoring force is provided by the torsion in the string from which the rigid body is suspended. Ideally, the string should be massless; practically, its mass is much smaller than the rigid body's mass and is neglected.
As long as the rigid body's angular displacement is small, its oscillation can be modeled as a linear angular oscillation. The amplitude of the oscillation is an angle. The role of mass is played...
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Simple Harmonic Motion and Uniform Circular Motion01:42

Simple Harmonic Motion and Uniform Circular Motion

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While simple harmonic motion and uniform circular motion may be two separate concepts, they correlate and interlink with each other. Simple harmonic motion is an oscillatory motion in a system where the net force can be described by Hooke's law, while uniform circular motion is the motion of an object in a circular path at constant speed.
There is an easy way to produce simple harmonic motion by using uniform circular motion. For instance, consider a ball attached to a uniformly rotating...
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Cardiac Muscle Cell-based Actuator and Self-stabilizing Biorobot - Part 2
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Pulse-driven robot: Motion via solitary waves.

Bolei Deng1, Liyuan Chen1, Donglai Wei2

  • 1Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.

Science Advances
|June 5, 2020
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Flexible structures can now crawl using nonlinear waves. This research shows that using solitons, a type of nonlinear wave, maximizes efficiency for this novel pulse-driven locomotion on various surfaces.

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Area of Science:

  • Physics
  • Mechanical Engineering
  • Robotics

Background:

  • Nonlinear waves possess unique properties enabling applications like impact mitigation and focusing.
  • Harnessing these properties for locomotion in flexible structures remains an underexplored area.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To demonstrate and investigate the use of nonlinear waves for achieving locomotion in flexible structures.
  • To determine the optimal conditions for pulse-driven crawling and explore the capabilities of such a system.

Main Methods:

  • Combined experimental and theoretical approaches to study wave propagation and its effect on structure movement.
  • Initiated nonlinear waves, specifically solitons, to drive the locomotion of a flexible machine.

Main Results:

  • Nonlinear wave propagation can effectively drive flexible structures to crawl.
  • Maximum locomotion efficiency is achieved when using solitons as the driving pulses.
  • The flexible machine demonstrated movement across diverse surfaces and exhibited steering capabilities.

Conclusions:

  • Nonlinear waves offer a new and versatile platform for developing mobile flexible machines.
  • This study expands the application scope of nonlinear waves into the field of robotics and locomotion.