May 2020

Highlighted News 

* June issue of Soft Robotics is already online

* Recordings of ICRA 202o Workshop on Beyond Soft Robotics: Pioneer Perspectives and Interdisciplinary Collaboration is available here

* Postdoctoral fellowship in Machine Learning for Soft Robotics is available in the EPFL Lab. of Intelligent Systems. We are interested in developing methods for the co-design of control, morphology, and materials of soft robots. Priority will be given to applicants with published research in machine learning with physical robots. Applicants should send an email to Dario.Floreano@epfl.ch with a CV, project portfolio, names and contacts of three references, and a full publication list. The position is available immediately and will remain open until a suitable candidate is found. Only selected applicants will be contacted within 2 weeks for an interview.

* A postdoctoral research fellow position is available at Monash University, Malaysia Campus, for a period of 1-3 years. The applicant should hold a PhD from a reputable university and research experience in any or some of the following areas: control and state estimation, musculoskeletal systems modelling, soft wearable robots. Applicants can enquire with, or send their CV, full publication list and names and contacts of three references to surya.nurzaman@monash.edu. The position is available immediately and will remain open until a suitable candidate is found.

New Videos

* Light-controlled hydrogel microrobots (Apr 2020)

* GE’s bio-inspired giant earthworm-like tunneling robot (May 2020)

* Inspired by cheetahs, tesearchers build fastest soft robots yet (May 2020)

* Variable-stiffness tensegrity spine (May 2020)

* A soft sensorized foot module to understand anisotropic terrains during soft robot locomotion (May 2020)

* Pneumatically triggered color change in soft robots (May 2020)

* Hopper repeat jump (May 2020)

* 3D-printed pneumatic soft snake robot for constrained environments (June 2020)

*  Untethered multimode fluidic actuation: A new approach to soft and compliant robotics (June 2020)

* Walking like a millipede (June 2020)

Published Journal

* Related view and review:

• Electronic skins and machine learning for intelligent soft robots (Sci Rob., Apr 2020)

* Soft arm, manipulation, grasping:

• A geometric variable-strain approach for static modeling of soft manipulators with tendon and fluidic actuation (IEEE RA-L, Apr 2020)
• A proprioceptive soft tentacle gripper based on crosswise stretchable sensors (IEEE ASME Trans. Mechatron., May 2020)
• Design and characterization of a hybrid soft gripper with active palm pose control (Int. J. Robot. Res., June 2020)

* Soft locomotion, compliant locomotion:

• A novel pneumatic soft snake robot using traveling-wave locomotion in constrained environments (IEEE RA-L, Apr 2020)
• Photoresponsive hydrogel microcrawlers exploit friction hysteresis to crawl by reciprocal actuation (Soft Robotics, Apr 2020)
• Optimal actuation of flagellar magnetic microswimmers (Phys. Rev. E, Apr 2020)
• Pulse-driven robot: Motion via solitary waves (Sci. Adv., May 2020)
• Inflatable soft jumper inspired by shell snapping (Sci. Rob., May 2020)
• Magnetic cilia carpets with programmable metachronal waves (Nat Commun., May 2020)
• Dynamic simulation of articulated soft robots (Nat. Commun., May 2020)
• Inflatable soft jumper inspired by shell snapping (Sci. Robot, May 2020)
• Magnetic cilia carpets with programmable metachronal waves (Nat. Commun., June 2020)

* Soft sensing, artificial skin, electronic skin:

• Soft sensors for a sensing-actuation system with high bladder voiding efficiency (Sci Adv., Apr 2020)
• Polymeric foams for flexible and highly sensitive low-pressure capacitive sensors (npj Flex. Elec., Apr 2020)
• Biofuel-powered soft electronic skin with multiplexed and wireless sensing for human-machine interfaces (Sci. Rob., Apr 2020)
• An input observer-based stiffness estimation approach for flexible robot joints (IEEE RA-L, April 2020)

* Soft actuator, flexible actuator, compliant actuator:

• Actuation of untethered pneumatic artificial muscles and soft robots using magnetically induced liquid-to-gas phase transitions (Sci. Rob., Apr 2020)
• Varying mechanical compliance benefits energy efficiency of a knee joint actuator (Mechatronics, Apr 2020)
• Leveraging elastic instabilities for amplified performance: Spine-inspired high-speed and high-force soft robots (Sci. Adv., May 2020)
• Electro-pneumatic dielectric elastomer actuator incorporating tunable bending stiffness (Phys. Rev. Research, May 2020)
• Low-voltage-driven large-amplitude soft actuators based on phase transition (Soft Robotics, May 2020)
• The two-degree-of-freedom cable pulley (2DCP) transmission system: An under-actuated and motion decoupled transmission for robotic applications (Mech. Mach. Theory, June 2018)
• Design and computational modeling of fabric soft pneumatic actuators for wearable assistive devices (Sci. Rep., Jun 2020)

* Soft robot application:

• Walking faster and farther with a soft robotic exosuit: Implications for post-stroke gait assistance and rehabilitation (IEEE Eng. Med. Biol., Apr 2020)
• A hinge-free, non-restrictive, lightweight tethered exosuit for knee extension assistance during walking (IEEE Trans. Med. Robot., Apr 2020)
• Improving grasp function after spinal cord injury with a soft robotic glove (IEEE Trans. Neural. Syst. Rehabil. Eng., Apr 2020)

* Soft robot fabrication, embodied intelligence, morphological computation, morphological change:

• Design of 3D printed programmable horseshoe lattice structures based on a phase-evolution model (ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, Apr 2020)
• Reconfigurable and latchable shape‐morphing dielectric elastomers based on local stiffness modulation (Adv. Funct. Mater., May 2020)
• Learning to grow: Control of material self-assembly using evolutionary reinforcement learning (Phys. Rev. E, May 2020)
• Statistical reprogramming of macroscopic self-assembly with dynamic boundaries (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A, May 2020)
• Self-healing and high interfacial strength in multi-material soft pneumatic robots via reversible diels–alder bonds (Actuator, June 2020)
• Variable-stiffness tensegrity spine (Smart. Mater. Struct., June 2020)

* Soft matter electronics, stretchable electronics:

• Uniform conductivity in stretchable silicones via multiphase inclusions (Soft Matter, Apr 2020)
• Soft, stretchable, and pneumatically triggered thermochromic optical filters with embedded phosphorescence (ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, May 2020)
• Resilient yet entirely degradable gelatin-based biogels for soft robots and electronics (Nat. Mat. Jun 2020)
• Flexible fiber interconnects for soft mechatronics (IEEE RA-L, June 2020)

Conference Articles

• More than three hundreds titles, with possible double counting, are categorized under the following keywords in IEEE ICRA 2020: Flexible Robots; Modeling, Control, and Learning for Soft Robots; Soft Robot Applications; Soft Robot Materials and Design; Soft Sensors and Actuators

Popular Articles

• Flying insects and their robot imitators (Physics, Apr 2020)
• Seven big advances in soft robotic grippers (ASME, Apr 2020)
• Researchers create “Flexoskeletons” for insect-inspired robots that are cheap to make (SlashGear, Apr 2020)
• Inflatable E-Bike fits in a backpack (IEEE Spectrum, May 2020)
• The quest for a bionic breast (IEEE Spectrum, May 2020)
• Researchers develop real-time physics engine for soft robotics (Tech Xplore, May 2020)
• New material could be used to make a liquid metal robot (PhysicsWorld, May 2020)