Examples

See the code for this section here.

Two cases of hybrid rigid-continuum systems are modeled and the results are verified in comparison to experimental results. The studied cases are as follows.

• Dynamic motion of a single STIFF-FLOP continuum appendage in presence of external loading (E1) - see code here.
• Dynamic deformation of a fabric sleeve worn on an elbow-like rigid-link pendulum (E2) - see the code here.

Different modeling assumptions for continuum rods are tested and compared for E1 in terms of modeling complexity, EOM derivation time, dynamic and static simulation time, and accuracy of the results in comparison with experiments. As a result, the most efficient and accurate method for modeling 1D continuum elements, i.e. continuum rods, is identified. The challenges in modeling a 2D (fabric) continuum media are investigated in E2. The case studies show how the proposed unified modeling framework and software package help in deriving simple Lagrange EOM for hybrid systems. Where applicable, unit quaternions are used to model the systems since a rotation larger than 180 [deg] is not observed in our test cases.