PoSM Lab Github
Physics of Soft Matter Lab at Harvey Mudd College
Recoil Code Reference
This page serves as the documentation for the MATLAB scripts and functions used in the Recoil project. The code lives in the posmlab/Recoil repository.
Experimental Analysis
findSpots.m
Detects dots on the first frame of our high-speed video. Identifies tracking markers (usually white) on the sample by binarizing the image and detecting bright (or dark) spots against the background.
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|—|—|
| Inputs | filepath (path to video), experimentNum (integer) |
| Outputs | bbox_final (bounding boxes of detected dots), startX, startCol (crop boundaries), pixel_per_mm (spatial calibration) |
| Interactive | User draws lines on clamp edges to set the boundaries, then passes or rejects detected bounding boxes |
computeRecoilPositionv4.m
Tracks dot positions across all frames uby sing cross-correlation template matching. Main tracking function that gives us position vs time data.
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|—|—|
| Inputs | filepath, experimentNum, material, load_mass, lookAheadFactor (default 1.2), debugMode_level (0/1/2) |
| Outputs | x_position_center (dot positions in mm over time), filename (path to output tracking video) |
| Calls | findSpots.m, findLastPosition.m |
| Produces | nDots_xPosition.csv (time + dot positions), track.avi (annotated tracking video) |
find_sync.m
Finds the synchronized frame between the high-speed camera and the force sensor by detecting when the solenoid taps. This is done by tracking a user-selected region where the solenoid tip increases pixel intensity and brightness.
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|—|—|
| Inputs | vidObj (VideoReader), experimentNumber, material, load_mass |
| Outputs | sync_idx (frame index of sync event) |
| Produces | tap_debug video for verification |
findLastPosition.m
Reads the experiment metadata and the last loading step CSV to find the final position before recoil
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|—|—|
| Inputs | experimentNumber |
| Outputs | lastPosition (mm, includes any position offset) |
recoil_processing.mlapp
Our main app for processing recoil data after an experiment is completed. Sychronizes camera video with force sensor data, creates a common time grid, and fits free-knot splines to position and force data. Outputs are stored in the workspace final_analysis_E[N].mat
positionPolynomial— cell array of piecewise polynomial fits for each dot’s position (mm)forcePolynomial— piecewise polynomial fit for the force sensor signal (N)t0— the synchronized start time of recoil
Utilities
ginputzp.m
Modified version of ginput that supports user zooming and panning during point selection. Used by the tracking scripts and others
testBSFK.m
Test script for the B-Spline Free Knot fitting library. It generates noisy test data and fits a free-knot spline
startup.m
This adds the Recoil root directory and Simulating Recoil/ to the MATLAB path on startup, necessary for filepath and pointer stuff.
ppdiff.m
Differentiates a piecewise polynomial returned by spline or ppval to compute velocity and acceleration from position polynomial fitting
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|—|—|
| Inputs | pp (piecewise polynomial struct), j (derivative order, default 1) |
| Outputs | qq (differentiated piecewise polynomial) |
| Author | Jonas Lundgren |
Simulation
simulate_experiment.m
Viscoelastic recoil finite-difference solving driven by experimental parameters. Reads the experiment metadata and runs a 1D SLS + neo-Hookean simulation. Uses DMA-calibrated relaxation spectra hardcoded per material used.
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|—|—|
| Inputs | expnum, nx (spatial nodes, default 20), nt (time steps, default 40000), plot_stuff (boolean) |
| Outputs | resilience (max KE / input energy), K_max (max kinetic energy, J), maxPower (max power, W) |
| Calls | get_exp_info.m, get_c.m, get_linear_unlatching.m |
| Produces | Plots (displacement, position, velocity, stress, strain, KE, power, loading/unloading, time scales) and workspace.mat saved to Simulated Experiments/[expnum]/ |
simulate_recoil.m
Version of simulate_experiment that takes physical parameters directly instead of reading from experiment metadata.
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|—|—|
| Inputs | L0 (equilibrium length, m), e0 (initial strain), M (load mass, kg), m (spring mass, kg), h (thickness, m), w (width, m), material (string) |
| Outputs | resilience, K_max, maxPower |
calcResilience.m
Calculates resilience and power from experimental data. Uses the quasi-static loading curve to get input energy, then uses polynomial fits from recoil_processing to find kinetic energy, CoM velocity, and power vs time.
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|—|—|
| Inputs | experimentNum, show_plots (default true) |
| Outputs | resilience, maxPower, maxKE, maxVcm, maxV_fromForce, delta_t (time to first zero-crossing of force) |
compute_inverse_dynamics.m
Computes the recoil force from position data using F = ma. Differentiates the position polynomial fits twice to find acceleration, then multiplies by mass distribution of dots.
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|—|—|
| Inputs | expnum |
| Outputs | Fnet (net force array, N), t_inv (time array, s) |
Simulation Helpers
get_c.m
Finds the neo-Hookean parameter c from the second quasi-static loading curve (step3.csv). Normalizes by the material’s modulus E_inf.
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|—|—|
| Inputs | expnum, plot_stuff (default false) |
| Outputs | c (dimensionless neo-Hookean parameter) |
get_exp_info.m
Returns all experiment and recoil key physical parameters in SI units from metadata
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|—|—|
| Inputs | expnum |
| Outputs | material, M (load mass, kg), w (width, m), h (thickness, m), e0 (initial strain), m (band mass, kg), L0 (equilibrium length, m) |
get_finalAnalysis_path.m
Returns the file path to the final_analysis_E[N].mat workspace for a given experiment number.
get_sim_workspace.m
Returns the file path to the simulation workspace.mat for a given experiment number.
get_linear_unlatching.m
Linear approximation of unlatching force as a function of time. Compares inverse dynamics force to the experiment force sensor to find crossing point, then returns function for linear ramp from initial force to zero.
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|—|—|
| Inputs | expnum |
| Outputs | linear_unlatching (function handle: t -> force) |
Comparison
compare_expsim.m
Experiment vs Simulation, plotting center of mass position and force all versus time, and a raw position comparison and overlayed inverse dynamics force. This serves as verification and sanity check for our experiments
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|—|—|
| Inputs | expnum, CM (use center-of-mass positions, default true) |
| Calls | get_sim_workspace.m, get_finalAnalysis_path.m, compute_inverse_dynamics.m |