Mechanics of Flexible Structures and Soft Robots

Applied introduction to mechanics and modeling of rods, plates, shells, and robots. Rod and shell-like structures appear across wide range of length-scale from carbon nanotubes at microscale to undersea cables at kilometer-scale. Covers algorithms for numerical simulation of such structures, inspired by recent advances in field of computer graphics and machine learning. Specifically, discrete differential geometry and neural ordinary differential equations are used for modeling of highly deformable structures. Such simulations are widely used in movies and video games for animation of hair and clothes. Final project involves design and simulation of soft robot (or any other complex structure agreed upon by instructor and student). Topics include elastic stress-strain relations for rod, plate, and shell elements; equations of equilibrium; discrete differential geometry-based numerical simulation; neural ordinary differential equations.

Letter grading.