Announcements
- ECCOMAS 2024 Minisymposium Computational Methods for Soft Robotics (Submission deadline 15.01.2024)
- Research Topic on Accessible Soft Robotics Toolbox and Validation Test Rigs (Submission Deadline 01.02.2024)
Featured Videos
- Self-Regulated Self-Healing Robotic Gripper for Resilient and Adaptive Grasping (BruBotics YouTube, Sep 23)
- GE Aerospace’s “Sensiworm” (GE Research YouTube, Sep 23)
- This 3D Printed Gripper Doesn’t Need Electronics To Function (JacobsSchoolNews YouTube, Jul 23)
- ROSE hand: design, fabrication, and evaluation (HO Lab YouTube, Jun 23)
- Variable Stiffness and fruit harvesting (QB Robotics YouTube, Jul 23)
- Playing Beethoven’s Ode to Joy with one input (Nature Picture Research Youtube, Jun 23)
- Battery-free origami microfliers take flight (IEEE Spectrum, Sep-23)
Featured Articles
Views and Reviews
- Integrated and Intelligent Soft Robots (IEEE Access, Sep-23)
- Chemically fueling new microrobot abilities (Science, Sep-23)
- Artificial intelligence meets medical robotics (Science, Jul-23)
- Mechanical metamaterials and beyond (Nature, Sep-23)
- 3D-printed PEDOT:PSS for soft robotics (Nature, Aug-23)
- Engineering Magnetic Soft and Reconfigurable Robots (SoRo Journal, Aug-23)
- Recent Advances in Sensor–Actuator Hybrid Soft Systems: Core Advantages, Intelligent Applications, and Future Perspectives (Adv Sci, Sep 23)
- Soft Robotics in Waste Management (Book Chapter, Wiley, Sep 23)
- The Emergence of Cyber-Physical System in the Context of Self-Powered Soft Robotics (Book Chapter, Wiley, Sep 23)
- Materializing Autonomy in Soft Robots across Scales (Adv Intel Sys, Aug 23)
- Recent Progress in Advanced Tactile Sensing Technologies for Soft Grippers (Adv Func Mater, Aug 23)
- A Review on High-Frequency Dielectric Elastomer Actuators: Materials, Dynamics, and Applications (Adv Intel Sys, Jul 23)
- Electrically Controllable Materials for Soft, Bioinspired Machines (Annual Rev Mater Res, Jul 23)
New Materials, Actuators & Stiffening Methods
- Design and Validation of a High DOF Origami Inspired Soft Actuated Assistive Exoskeleton Arm and Spine (IEEE T-MRB, Sep-23)
- A Strong Underwater Soft Manipulator With Planarly-Bundled Actuators and Accurate Position Control (IEEE RA-L, Sep-23)
- A Small Steerable Tip Based on Dielectric Elastomer Actuators (IEEE RA-L, Aug-23)
- A Miniaturized Variable Stiffness Soft Manipulator With a Customizable LMPA Pattern (IEEE RA-L, Jul-23)
- Programmable Soft Robotics Actuator With Pneumatic Networks (PneuNets) (IEEE Sensors Journal, Jul-23)
- A review of the recent development in self-healing rubbers and their quantification methods (Sage, Sep-2023)
- Increasing the payload capacity of soft robot arms by localized stiffening (Science, Aug-23)
- Powerful, soft combustion actuators for insect-scale robots (Science, Sep-23)
- Elastocapillary rolling transfer weaves soft materials to spatial structures (Science, Aug-23)
- X-crossing pneumatic artificial muscles (Science, Sep-23)
- Pneumatic cells toward absolute Gaussian morphing (Science, Aug-23)
- Programmable nanocomposites of cellulose nanocrystals and zwitterionic hydrogels for soft robotics (Nature, Sep-23)
- Magnetic Janus origami robot for cross-scale droplet omni-manipulation (Nature, Sep-23)
- Dexterous electrical-driven soft robots with reconfigurable chiral-lattice foot design (Nature, Aug-23)
- Omnidirectional compliance on cross-linked actuator coordination enables simultaneous multi-functions of soft modular robots (Nature, Jul-23)
- Plug & play origami modules with all-purpose deformation modes (Nature, Jul-23)
- Lightweight Pneumatically Elastic Backbone Structure with Modular Construction and Nonlinear Interaction for Soft Actuators (SoRo Journal, Aug-23)
- Thermo-Pneumatic Artificial Muscle: Air-Based Thermo-Pneumatic Artificial Muscles for Pumpless Pneumatic Actuation (SoRo Journal, Aug-23)
- Soft Robotic Finger with Energy-Coupled Quadrastability (SoRo Journal, Aug-23)
- Self-Locking Pneumatic Actuators Formed from Origami Shape-Morphing Sheets (SoRo Journal, Aug-23)
- Overtwisting and Coiling Highly Enhance Strain Generation of Twisted String Actuators (SoRo Journal, Aug-23)
- Tunable Folding Assembly Strategy for Soft Pneumatic Actuators (SoRo Journal, Jul-23)
- Synergistical Mechanical Design and Function Integration for Insect-Scale On-Demand Configurable Multifunctional Soft Magnetic Robots (SoRo Journal, Jul-23)
- Magnetic Putty as a Reconfigurable, Recyclable, and Accessible Soft Robotic Material (Adv Mater, Sep 23)
- Nanocellulose-based soft actuators and their applications (J Polymer Sci, Aug 23)
- Stimuli-responsive photonic actuators for integrated biomimetic and intelligent systems (Responsive Mater, Jul 23)
- Reprogrammable Magnetic Soft Robots Based on Low Melting Alloys (Adv Intell Sys, Jul 23)
- Soft Robotic-Adapted Multimodal Sensors Derived from Entirely Intrinsic Self-Healing and Stretchable Cross-Linked Networks (Adv Func Mater, Jul 23)
- Bioinspired design of stimuli-responsive artificial muscles with multiple actuation modes (Smart Mater Struct, Jul 23)
- Utilizing the Peltier effect for actuation of thermo-active soft robots (Smart Mater Struct, Jul 23)
- Shape memory polymers enable versatile magneto-active structure with 4D printability, variable stiffness, shape-morphing and effective grasping (Smart Mater Struct, Jul 23)
- Autonomous Testing of the Repeatable Healability of Pneumatic Self-Healing Soft Actuators (Robotics Report, Sep 23)
- Self-Closing and Self-Healing Multi-Material Suction Cups for Energy-Efficient Vacuum Grippers (Adv Intel Sys, Aug 23)
- Characterization of Temperature and Humidity Dependence in Soft Elastomer Behavior (SoRo, Sep 23)
- Fluidically programmed wearable haptic textiles (Device, Sept 23)
Sensing, Flexible Electronic & Skins
- Tracking Displacement of a Worm-Like Robot With Multiple Sensor Configurations (IEEE Sensors, Jul-23)
- An RNN-LSTM Enhanced Compact and Affordable Micro Force Sensing System for Interventional Continuum Robots With Interchangeable End-Effector Instruments (IEEE TIM, Jul-23)
- Integrated Pneumatic Sensing and Actuation for Soft Haptic Devices (IEEE RA-L, Sep-23)
- Shape Self-Sensing With Mutual Inductance Sensor Array (IEEE Sensors Journal, Sep-23)
- The Parylene C as a Flexible Substrate and Passivation Layer: A Promising Candidate for a Piezoelectric, Piezoresistive, and Capacitive Pressure Sensor in Low-Pressure Range (IEEE Sensors Journal, Aug-23)
- Active Optical Sensor Microrobot Equipped With Multi-DoF Gripper Arm Based on Kinetic Electronics (IEEE Sensors Letters, Aug-23)
- Soft Three-Axis Capacitive Force Sensor for Robotic E-Skin on Curved Surfaces (IEEE Sensors Letters, Aug-23)
- High-stretchability and low-hysteresis strain sensors using origami-inspired 3D mesostructures (Science, Aug-23)
- A multifunctional soft robotic shape display with high-speed actuation, sensing, and control (Nature, Jul-23)
- Water-Insensitive Self-Healing Materials: From Network Structure Design to Advanced Soft Electronics (Adv Func Mater, Sept 23)
- An Intelligent Robotic System Capable of Sensing and Describing Objects Based on Bimodal, Self-Powered Flexible Sensors (Adv Func Mater, Aug 23)
Fabrication Techniques & Hardware Toolkits
- Design and Applications of Soft Actuators Based on Digital Light Processing (DLP) 3D Printing (IEEE Access, Aug-23)
- A soft, self-sensing tensile valve for perceptive soft robots (Nature, Jul-23)
Locomotion, Swimming & Flying
- Tunable Stiffness Caudal Peduncle Leads to Higher Swimming Speed Without Extra Energy (IEEE RA-L, Aug-23)
- A Soft, Lightweight Flipping Robot With Versatile Motion Capabilities for Wall-Climbing Applications (IEEE T-RO, Aug-23)
- Wireless Millimeter-Size Soft Climbing Robots With Omnidirectional Steerability on Tissue Surfaces (IEEE RA-L, Aug-23)
- Multimodal Locomotion in a Soft Robot Through Hierarchical Actuation (SoRo Journal, Jul-23)
- Simple and Fast Locomotion of Vibrating Asymmetric Soft Robots (SoRo Journal, Jul-23)
- Untethered Magnetic Soft Robot with Ultra-Flexible Wirelessly Rechargeable Micro-Supercapacitor as an Onboard Power Source (Adv Sci, Aug 23)
- A Multidirectional Locomotion Light-Driven Soft Crawling Robot (Adv Func Mater, Jul 23)
- Miniature soft jumping robots made by additive manufacturing (Smart Mater Struct, Sep 23)
Manipulation & Grasping
- Vitrimeric shape memory polymer-based fingertips for adaptive grasping (Front Robot AI, Jul 23)
- RevLock: A Reversible Self-Locking Mechanism Driven by Linear Actuators for Foldable Robots and Systems (IEEE RA-L, Sep-23)
- Optimal Design of a Highly Self-Adaptive Gripper with Multi-Phalange Compliant Fingers for Grasping Irregularly Shaped Objects (IEEE RA-L, Sep-23)
- Angle-programmed tendril-like trajectories enable a multifunctional gripper with ultradelicacy, ultrastrength, and ultraprecision (Nature, Aug-23)
- Grasping through dynamic weaving with entangled closed loops (Nature, Aug-23)
- Compliant Grasping Control for a Tactile Self-Sensing Soft Gripper (SoRo Journal, Sep-23)
- A Variable Stiffness Soft Gripper Based on Rotational Layer Jamming (SoRo Journal, Aug-23)
- Robust Grasping of a Variable Stiffness Soft Gripper in High-Speed Motion Based on Reinforcement Learning (SoRo Journal, Jul-23)
- A Tensegrity Joint for Low-Inertia, Compact, and Compliant Soft Manipulators (Adv Intel Sys, Jul 23)
Biomimicry & Bioinspiration
- Soft-robotic green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) developed to replace animal experimentation provides new insight into their propulsive strategies (Nature, Jul-23)
- Jelly-Z: swimming performance and analysis of twisted and coiled polymer (TCP) actuated jellyfish soft robot (Nature, Jul-23)
- A Gecko-Inspired Robot with a Flexible Spine Driven by Shape Memory Alloy Springs (SoRo Journal, Aug-23)
- Bioinspired Soft Spine Enables Small-Scale Robotic Rat to Conquer Challenging Environments (SoRo Journal, Jul-23)
- Nature’s Blueprint in Bioinspired Materials for Robotics (Adv Func Mater, Aug 23)
Soft Robot Applications
- Electrically Zipping Bending Actuators for Prosthetic Fingers (IEEE RA-L, Sep-23)
- SoftER: A Spiral Soft Robotic Ejector for Sorting Applications (IEEE RA-L, Sep-23)
- A Novel Soft Glove Utilizing Honeycomb Pneumatic Actuators (HPAs) for Assisting Activities of Daily Living (IEEE T-NSRE, Aug-23)
- Design and Evaluation of a Bidirectional Soft Glove for Hand Rehabilitation-Assistance Tasks (IEEE T-MRB, Jul-23)
- A Handheld Hydraulic Soft Robotic Device With Bidirectional Bending End-Effector for Minimally Invasive Surgery (IEEE T-MRB, Jul-23)
- Soft robot–mediated autonomous adaptation to fibrotic capsule formation for improved drug delivery (Science, Aug-23)
- Magnetically assisted soft milli-tools for occluded lumen morphology detection (Science, Aug-23)
- Dielectric Elastomer Actuator-Based Valveless Impedance-Driven Pumping for Meso- and Macroscale Applications (SoRo Journal, Sep-23)
Theory: Learning, Modeling, & Control
- The Kinematics of Constant Curvature Continuum Robots Through Three Segments (IEEE RA-L, Sep-23)
- A Modeling and Data-Driven Control Framework for Rigid-Soft Hybrid Robot With Visual Servoing (IEEE RA-L, Sep-23)
- Learning-Based Object Recognition via a Eutectogel Electronic Skin Enabled Soft Robotic Gripper (IEEE RA-L, Sep-23)
- Towards Automatic Design of Soft Pneumatic Actuators: Inner Structure Design Using CNN Model and Bezier Curve-Based Genetic Algorithm (IEEE RA-L, Aug-23)
- A Provably Stable Iterative Learning Controller for Continuum Soft Robots (IEEE RA-L, Aug-23)
- Towards Optimal Design of Dielectric Elastomer Actuators Using a Graph Neural Network Encoder (IEEE RA-L, Aug-23)
- Force Feedback-Based Gamification: Performance Validation of Squat Exergame Using Pneumatic Gel Muscles and Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment (IEEE RA-L, Aug-23)
- Learning-Based Tracking Control of Soft Robots (IEEE RA-L, Aug-23)
- Hardware-in-the-Loop Soft Robotic Testing Framework Using an Actor-Critic Deep Reinforcement Learning Algorithm (IEEE RA-L, Aug-23)
- An Open Source Design Optimization Toolbox Evaluated on a Soft Finger (IEEE RA-L, Aug-23)
- Model Reduction in Soft Robotics Using Locally Volume-Preserving Primitives (IEEE RA-L, Jul-23)
- Optimal Control for Articulated Soft Robots (IEEE T-RO, Jul-23)
- Reinforcement Learning of CPG-Regulated Locomotion Controller for a Soft Snake Robot (IEEE T-RO, Jul-23)
- Physics-Based Finite Element Simulation of the Dynamics of Soft Robots (IEEE Access, Jul-23)
- Control of soft robots with inertial dynamics (Science, Aug-23)
- Axis-space framework for cable-driven soft continuum robot control via reinforcement learning (Nature, Sep-23)
- Inverse Origami Design Model for Soft Robotic Development (SoRo Journal, Aug-23)
- A Deep Learning Framework for Soft Robots with Synthetic Data (SoRo Journal, Aug-23)
- Latent Representation-Based Learning Controller for Pneumatic and Hydraulic Dual Actuation of Pressure-Driven Soft Actuators (SoRo Journal, Aug-23)
- Magnetic Continuum Robot with Intraoperative Magnetic Moment Programming (SoRo Journal, Jul-23)
- Closed-Loop Soft Robot Control Frameworks with Coordinated Policies Based on Reinforcement Learning and Proprioceptive Self-Sensing (Adv Func Mater, Aug 23)
- 2D Shape Estimation of a Pneumatic-Driven Soft Finger with a Large Bending Angle Based on Learning from Two Sensing Modalities (Adv Intel Sys, Jul 23)
- SofToss: Learning to Throw Objects With a Soft Robot (IEEE RAM, Sep 23)
Embodied Intelligence & Morphological Computation
- A modular strategy for distributed, embodied control of electronics-free soft robots (Science, Jul-23)
- Embedded shape morphing for morphologically adaptive robots (Nature, Sep-23)
Featured Conference Articles
- Additive manufacturing of functional rubber based structures for soft robot grippers (ECCOMAS Dyn 23)
- Modeling and advanced control for designing a soft material robot (ECCOMAS Dyn 23)
- BioMORF: A Soft Robotic Skin to Increase Biomorphism and Enable Nonverbal Communication (Video) (ROMAN 23)
- Imitation and reinforcement learning to control soft robots: a perspective (EI conf 23)
Featured News Articles
- This insect-sized robot can carry 22 times its own weight (Nature, Sep-23)
- Stamp-Like Device Treats Heart Disease, Then Dissolves (ASME, Sep 23)
- Soft Sensors Support Real-Time, Autonomous Process Monitoring (Gen Eng News, Sep 23)
- Plant Burrs Inspire Strong Sutures for Soft Tendons (ASME, Aug 23)
- Dutch Program Pumps €10M into Soft Robotic Heart Development (MDDI, Jul 23)
- 3D Haptic Display Melds Touch With Tech (IEEE Spectrum, Aug 23)
- Asteroid Landings Call for Robots With a Soft Touch (IEEE Spectrum, Sep 23)
- Soft Robot Walks by Repeatedly Blowing Itself Up (IEEE Spectrum, Sep 23)