Announcements
- Special Issue “Advances in Bio-Inspired Soft Robotics” (MDPI Mechanics)
- special Issue of “Advances in Soft Robotics: Design, Sensing and Control” (MDPI Sensors)
- Summer School “Deformations in Robotics”
- Upcoming ICRA Workshops
- Jamming in Robotics: From Fundamental Building Blocks to Robotic Applications (ICRA 2022, 23.05.22)
- Challenges and Opportunities of Bio-inspired Design, Actuation, and Locomotion (ICRA 2022, 23.05.22)
- Determining Appropriate Metrics and Test Methods for Soft Actuators in Robotic Systems (ICRA 2022, 23.05.22)
- Leveraging Advancements in Smart Materials Science: Soft Robots Gaining New Abilities through Smart and Functional Materials (ICRA 2022, 27.05.22)
- CFP: 15th International Workshop on Human-Friendly Robotics (HFR 2022)
Vacancies
- Postdoctoral Fellows in Artificial Intelligence for Robotics
- Research Assistant and Postdoc positions on Advanced Soft Manipulation and Grasping – SUTD, Singapore
Featured Videos
- Soft robot finger reading Braille (IEEE Spectrum, Jan 2022)
- Selectively Soft Robotics: Integration Smart Materials in Soft Robotics by Mark Cutkosky (IEEE Spectrum, Jan 2022)
- Soft Robotics and Harpak-ULMA Packaging Tackle Protein Automation (IEEE Spectrum, Feb 2022)
- Top Half of a Robot Giraffe The power and flexibility of giraffe necks have inspired a new robot in Japan (IEEE Spectrum, Feb 2022)
- Two-chamber soft finger flicking a coin (IEEE Spectrum, Feb 2022)
- Seafood Automation with Soft Robotics mGrip (IEEE Spectrum Feb 2022)
- FingerPrint, A Fully 3D-Printed Fingertip Haptic Device (IEEE Spectrum, Feb 2022)
Featured Books
- Smart Systems for Industrial Applications (Wiley, Jan 2022)
Featured Articles
Views and Reviews
- Harnessing the circular economy to develop sustainable soft robots (Science, Feb 2022)
- Soft, Wearable Robotics and Haptics: Technologies, Trends, and Emerging Applications (IEEE, Jan 2022)
- The Machines from Our Future (MIT Press, May 2022)
- Soft Robotic Perspective and Concept for Planetary Small Body Exploration (SoRo Journal, Jan 2022)
New Materials, Actuators & Stiffening Methods
- Electronics-free soft robot has a nice ring to it (Science, Feb 2022)
- Hybrid Robotic Manipulator Using Sensorized Articulated Segment Joints With Soft Inflatable Rubber Bellows (IEEE, Mar 2022)
- A Multi-Material, Anthropomorphic Metacarpophalangeal Joint With Abduction and Adduction Actuated by Soft Artificial Muscles (IEEE RA-L, Mar 2022)
- A Snake-Inspired Multi-Segmented Magnetic Soft Robot Towards Medical Applications (IEEE RA-L, Mar 2022)
- Flexible Fiber Inductive Coils for Soft Robots and Wearable Devices (IEEE RA-L, Mar 2022)
- Soft Artificial Muscle With Proprioceptive Feedback: Design, Modeling and Control (IEEE RA-L, Feb 2022)
- Pitch-Up Motion Mechanism With Heat Welding by Soft Inflatable Growing Robot (IEEE RA-L, Feb 2022)
- Soft Tensegrity Robot Driven by Thin Artificial Muscles for the Exploration of Unknown Spatial Configurations (IEEE RA-L, Feb 2022)
- Liquid-Metal Magnetic Soft Robot With Reprogrammable Magnetization and Stiffness (IEEE RA-L, Feb 2022)
- A Healable Resistive Heater as a Stimuli-Providing System in Self-Healing Soft Robots (IEEE RA-L, Feb 2022)
- Design, Modeling and Validation of a Tendon-Driven Soft Continuum Robot for Planar Motion Based on Variable Stiffness Structures (IEEE RA-L, Feb 2022)
- Design and Characterisation of a Muscle-Mimetic Dielectrophoretic Ratcheting Actuator (IEEE RA-L, Feb 2022)
- Modulation of Magnetorheological Fluid Flow in Soft Robots Using Electropermanent Magnets (IEEE RA-L, Feb 2022)
- Body Temperature-Triggered Mechanical Instabilities for High-Speed Soft Robots (SoRo Journal, Feb 2022)
- Modeling and analysis of soft robotic surfaces actuated by pneumatic network bending actuators (smart mater struct, Mar 2022)
- Tuning the grasping strength of soft actuators with magnetic elastomer fingertips (smart mater struct, Mar 2022)
- Development of modular multi-degree-of-freedom hybrid joints and robotic flexible legs via fluidic elastomer actuators (smart struct mater, Feb 2022)
- Fabrication, modeling, and characterization of soft twisting electrothermal actuators with directly printed oblique heater (J micromech microeng, Jan 2022)
Sensing, Flexible Electronic & Skins
- Data-driven design of soft sensors (Nature, Mar 2022)
- Self-healing ionic gelatin/glycerol hydrogels for strain sensing applications (Nature, Feb 2022)
- HaPouch: A Miniaturized, Soft, and Wearable Haptic Display Device Using a Liquid-to-Gas Phase Change Actuator (IEEE, Jan 2022)
- Soft Robot Skin With Conformal Adaptability for On-Body Tactile Perception of Collaborative Robots (IEEE RA-L, Mar 2022)
- Tactile Super-Resolution Model for Soft Magnetic Skin (IEEE RA-L, Jan 2022)
- Tentacled snakes-inspired flexible pressure sensor for pain sensation monitoring (Smart Mater Struct, Feb 2022)
Fabrication Techniques & Hardware Toolkits
- 3D printing of resilient biogels for omnidirectional and exteroceptive soft actuators (Science, Feb 2022)
- One reaction to make highly stretchable or extremely soft silicone elastomers from easily available materials (Nature, Jan 2022)
- Origami-inspired folding assembly of dielectric elastomers for programmable soft robots (Science, Mar 2022)
- A Modular Approach to Design Multi-Channel Bistable Valves for Integrated Pneumatically-Driven Soft Robots via 3D-Printing (IEEE RA-L, Feb 2022)
Locomotion, Swimming & Flying
- Topological Solitons Make Metamaterials Crawl (Applied Physics, Jan 2022)
- Development and experiment evaluation of a compact inchworm piezoelectric actuator using three-jaw type clamping mechanism (smart mater struct, Mar 2022)
Manipulation & Grasping
- Design of a Soft Gripper With Improved Microfluidic Tactile Sensors for Classification of Deformable Objects (IEEE RA-L, Mar 2022)
- A 3D Printed Soft Robotic Gripper With a Variable Stiffness Enabled by a Novel Positive Pressure Layer Jamming Technology (IEEE RA-L, Mar 2022)
- A Plant Tendril-Like Soft Robot That Grasps and Anchors by Exploiting its Material Arrangement (IEEE RA-L, Feb 2022)
- Combining Suction and Friction to Stabilize a Soft Gripper to Shear and Normal Forces, for Manipulation of Soft Objects in Wet Environments (IEEE RA-L, Feb 2022)
- The Role of Stiffness in Versatile Robotic Grasping (IEEE RA-L, Feb 2022)
- Tendon-Driven Soft Robotic Gripper for Blackberry Harvesting (IEEE RA-L, Jan 2022)
- Controlling Palm-Object Interactions Via Friction for Enhanced In-Hand Manipulation (IEEE RA-L, Jan 2022)
- A Bidirectional Soft Biomimetic Hand Driven by Water Hydraulic for Dexterous Underwater Grasping (IEEE RA-L, Jan 2022)
- Topology Optimization Design and Experiment of a Soft Pneumatic Bending Actuator for Grasping Applications (IEEE RA-L, Jan 2022)
- Versatile Soft Robot Gripper Enabled by Stiffness and Adhesion Tuning via Thermoplastic Composite (SoRo Journal, Jan 2022)
- A Bioinspired Soft Swallowing Gripper for Universal Adaptable Grasping (SoRo Journal, Feb 2022)
- Pneumatically Actuated Soft Gripper with Bistable Structures (SoRo Journal, Feb 2022)
- Octopus-inspired sucker to absorb soft tissues: stiffness gradient and acetabular protuberance improve the adsorption effect (Bioinspir. Biomim., Mar 2022)
Biomimicry & Bioinspiration
- Soft robotic origami crawler (Science, Mar 2022)
- Giraffe Neck Robot: First Step Toward a Powerful and Flexible Robot Prototyping Based on Giraffe Anatomy (IEEE RA-L, Jan 2022)
- Fluid-Driven Traveling Waves in Soft Robots (SoRo Journal, Feb 2022)
- Redundancy and overactuation in cephalopod-inspired soft robot arms (Bioinspir Biomim, Mar 2022)
- An Ambidextrous STarfish-Inspired Exploration and Reconnaissance Robot (The ASTER-bot) (SoRo Journal, Jan 2022)
Soft Robot Applications
- Soft Wearable Robot With Shape Memory Alloy (SMA)-Based Artificial Muscle for Assisting With Elbow Flexion and Forearm Supination/Pronation (IEEE RA-L, Mar 2022)
- FEM-Based Nonlinear Controller for a Soft Trunk Robot (IEEE RA-L, Mar 2022)
- Soft Robotic Hand With Finger-Bending/Friction-Reduction Switching Mechanism Through 1-Degree-of-Freedom Flow Control (IEEE RA-L, Mar 2022)
- Layer Jamming for Variable Stiffness Shoes (IEEE RA-L, Feb 2022)
- Design of a 3D-Printed Soft Robotic Hand With Integrated Distributed Tactile Sensing (IEEE RA-L, Feb 2022)
- MRI-Compatible Soft Robotic Sensing Pad for Head Motion Detection (IEEE RA-L, Feb 2022)
- Unfolding Textile-Based Pneumatic Actuators for Wearable Applications (SoRo Journal, Feb 2022)
Theory: Learning, Modeling, & Control
- Dynamic analysis of dielectric elastomer membrane for actuation in soft fish robots (Sage Journals, Mar 2022)
- Steady-state dynamic analysis of a nonlinear fluidic soft actuator (Sage Journals, Mar 2022)
- Maneuver and formation control of a pair of soft pneumatic bending fingers by a cooperative strategy for planar in-hand object manipulation (Sage Journals, Feb 2022)
- Designing and Modeling of Tightly Wrapped Twisted Artificial Muscles With Large Stroke and Low Hysteresis (IEEE, Mar 2022)
- The Soft Compiler: A Web-Based Tool for the Design of Modular Pneumatic Circuits for Soft Robots (IEEE RA-L, Mar 2022)
- Controlling Soft Robotic Arms Using Continual Learning (IEEE RA-L, Mar 2022)
- Calibration Method for Soft Robots Modeled With FEM: Application to Anisotropy (IEEE RA-L, Mar 2022)
- Sim-to-Real for Soft Robots Using Differentiable FEM: Recipes for Meshing, Damping, and Actuation (IEEE RA-L, Feb 2022)
- Constrained Motion Planning of a Cable-Driven Soft Robot With Compressible Curvature Modeling (IEEE RA-L, Feb 2022)
- Feedback Regulation of Elastically Decoupled Underactuated Soft Robots (IEEE RA-L, Feb 2022)
- SoMoGym: A Toolkit for Developing and Evaluating Controllers and Reinforcement Learning Algorithms for Soft Robots (IEEE RA-L, Feb 2022)
- Dynamic Control of Soft Robotic Arm: A Simulation Study (IEEE RA-L, Feb 2022)
- FEM-Based Exterior Workspace Boundary Estimation for Soft Robots via Optimization (IEEE RA-L, Feb 2022)
- Robust Control of a Multi-Axis Shape Memory Alloy-Driven Soft Manipulator (IEEE RA-L, Jan 2022)
- A Static Modeling Approach for Thin-Walled Soft Robotic Arms Considering Geometric and Material Nonlinearity (IEEE RA-L, Jan 2022)
- Experimental Closed-Loop Excitation of Nonlinear Normal Modes on an Elastic Industrial Robot (IEEE RA-L, Jan 2022)
- Evolutionary Inverse Material Identification: Bespoke Characterization of Soft Materials Using a Metaheuristic Algorithm (Front Rob AI, Jan 2022)
Featured News Articles
- The 11 Commandments of Hugging Robots How to build a humanoid that gives perfect hugs (IEEE Spectrum, Mar 2022)
- The next generation of robots will be shape-shifters (Science Daily, Mar 2022)
The future might be filled with squishy robots printed to order (PopSci+, Feb 2022)