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Jayaram, Kaushik

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Jayaram

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Kaushik

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Jayaram, Kaushik
Author's Publications: search.filters.isAuthorOfPublication.46ed272b-ec33-4f13-94b4-f50a2689f5ab

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    Transition by head-on collision: mechanically mediated manoeuvres in cockroaches and small robots
    (The Royal Society, 2018) Jayaram, Kaushik; Mongeau, Jean-Michel; Mohapatra, Anand; Birkmeyer, Paul; Fearing, Ronald S.; Full, Robert J.
    Exceptional performance is often considered to be elegant and free of ‘errors’ or missteps. During the most extreme escape behaviours, neural control can approach or exceed its operating limits in response time and bandwidth. Here we show that small, rapid running cockroaches with robust exoskeletons select head-on collisions with obstacles to maintain the fastest escape speeds possible to transition up a vertical wall. Instead of avoidance, animals use their passive body shape and compliance to negotiate challenging environments. Cockroaches running at over 1 m or 50 body lengths per second transition from the floor to a vertical wall within 75 ms by using their head like an automobile bumper, mechanically mediating the manoeuvre. Inspired by the animal's behaviour, we demonstrate a passive, high-speed, mechanically mediated vertical transitions with a small, palm-sized legged robot. By creating a collision model for animal and human materials, we suggest a size dependence favouring mechanical mediation below 1 kg that we term the ‘Haldane limit’. Relying on the mechanical control offered by soft exoskeletons represents a paradigm shift for understanding the control of small animals and the next generation of running, climbing and flying robots where the use of the body can off-load the demand for rapid sensing and actuation.
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    Fabrication of Paper-Templated Structures of Noble Metals
    (Wiley-Blackwell, 2017) Christodouleas, Dionysios C.; Simeone, Felice C.; Tayi, Alok; Targ, Sonia; Weaver, James; Jayaram, Kaushik; Fernández-Abedul, Maria Teresa; Whitesides, George
    This manuscript describes a simple and rapid method for fabricating freestanding structures composed primarily (>94% w/w, and 55–80 at%) of noble metals (e.g., gold, silver, platinum, etc.) and having physical morphologies that resemble paper, thread, or fabric. In this method, templates (i.e., pieces of paper, or cotton fabric) are loaded with aqueous solutions of salts of noble metals, and then the cellulosic component is burned off in a furnace held at high temperatures (i.e., from 550 °C to 800 °C, depending on the procedure, in air). Even though the environment in a furnace is ostensibly oxidizing (e.g., hot air), the metal ions are reduced to elemental metal and form paper-template or fabric-templated structures that have morphologies similar to that of the material from which they were derived (i.e., paper or fabric). Paper template structures are fibrous, permeable to gases and liquids, electrically conductive, and in some cases (e.g., paper templated gold and paper template platinum structures), their surfaces are electroactive. The surface areas of paper-templated structures are more than 20 times higher than their projected areas. Paper-templated structures thus have properties that make them potentially useful in catalysis, sensing, and electroanalysis.