@misc{Schulz25-RSEA-Stiffness,
  title = {Bio-Inspired Gradient ({BIG}) Whiskers: Stiffness-Shifting Structures Provide Dynamic Functional Benefits for Contact Sensing},
  abstract = {Mammal whiskers have inspired many sensors that can help robots find obstacles, identify textures, or sense flow. Though they vary in geometry, past bio-inspired whisker sensors were primarily constructed from homogenous materials. Interestingly, animal whiskers tend to shift from a stiff root to a much softer point; this material stiffness gradient is hypothesized to provide functional benefits such as reduction of wear and amplification of contact sensations. We take inspiration from nature to fabricate bio-inspired gradient (BIG) whiskers via 3D printing, and we assess their performance compared to stiff, medium, and soft homogenous artificial whiskers with the same geometry. Tests with controlled quasi-static and dynamic perturbations allow us to measure the whisker point deflection and the reaction torque at the stationary whisker root, respectively. The dynamic results reveal that BIG whiskers uniquely encode contact location along their length through torque magnitude and frequency, features that are not seen in the homogenous whiskers. These exciting preliminary findings motivate further exploration of robotic whiskers and other sensing structures with bio-inspired stiffness gradients.},
  howpublished = {Extended abstract (3 pages) presented at the IEEE-RAS International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft)},
  address = {Lausanne, Switzerland},
  month = apr,
  year = {2025},
  slug = {schulz25-rsea-stiffness},
  author = {Schulz, Andrew K. and Andrussow, Iris and Farsijani, Fatemeh and Faulkner, Robert and Kuchenbecker, Katherine J.},
  month_numeric = {4}
}