Highlighted News
* RoboSoft Grand Challenge
Extended deadline for participation: October 31, 2015.
The first outdoor Challenge for Soft Robots in terrestrial locomotion, underwater exploration and dextrous manipulation will be held in Livorno (Italy) next April 29-30, 2016. Information for participation and rules is here.
* RoboSoft’s Outreach Events for Industry
– October 8, 2015 (Bristol, UK): The RoboSoft Industrial Networking and, Engagement Day on Soft Technologies
– October 22, 2015 (Lisbon, Portugal): ICT 2015 Networking Session “Soft Machines – The Next Technological Revolution!”
* Novel biomimetic models: materials, soft robots and artificial intelligence (The Cephalopod International Advisory Council (CIAC2015) at Hakodate, Japan)
Dates: November 8-9 (9:00-17:00)
Location: Hakodate Research Center for Fisheries and Oceans
The goal of this workshop is to give an overview of recently advanced biomimetic models, design, and any theories or arts inspired by cephalopod molluscs or ceph-like objects. For more information, please see it here or contact the organizers:
Letizia Zullo (letizia.zullo@iit.it)
Kohei Nakajima (k_nakajima@acs.i.kyoto-u.ac.jp)
Shuichi Shigeno (sushigeno@jamstec.go.jp)
* The current issue of Soft Robotics is already online
New Videos
* Sensorimotor learning for compliance control of a legged robot
Published Journal Articles
* Related review:
- A review of algorithms for compliant control of stiff and fixed-compliance robots (IEEE Trans. Mechatron., August 2015)
* Soft arm, manipulation, grasping:
- Stable, open-loop precision manipulation with underactuated hands (Int. J. Robot. Res., Sept. 2015)
- Picking up a soft 3D object by “feeling” the grip (Int. J. Robot. Res., Sept. 2015)
- A bioinspired soft robotic gripper for adaptable and effective grasping (Soft Robotics, Sept. 2015)
* Soft locomotion, compliant locomotion:
- Slithering towards autonomy: a self-contained soft robotic snake platform with integrated curvature sensing (Bioinspir. Biomim., Sept. 2015)
- A biomimetic underwater vehicle actuated by waves with ionic polymer–metal composite soft sensor (Bioinspir. Biomim., Sept. 2015)
- Modelling cephalopod-inspired pulsed-jet locomotion for underwater soft robots (Bioinspir. Biomim., Sept. 2015)
- On the energetics of quadrupedal running: predicting the metabolic cost of transport via a flexible-torso model (Bioinspir. Biomim., Sept. 2015)
- Adaptive and energy efficient walking in a hexapod robot under neuromechanical control and sensorimotor learning (IEEE Trans. Cybern. Sept. 2015)
* Soft sensing, artificial skin, electronic skin:
- Tactile soft-sparse mean fluid-flow imaging with a robotic whisker array (Bioinspir. Biomim., August 2015)
- Texture recognition and localization in amorphous robotic skin (Bioinspir. Biomim., Sept. 2015)
* Soft robot fabrication, growing robot:
- Rapid manufacture of novel variable impedance robots (J. Mech. Robot., Aug. 2015)
- Poroelastic foams for simple fabrication of complex soft robots (Adv. Mater., Sept. 2015)
* Soft actuator, flexible actuator, compliant actuator:
- Buckling of elastomeric beams enables actuation of soft machines (Adv. Mater., Sept. 2015)
- Amplifying the response of soft actuators by harnessing snap-through instabilities (PNAS, Sept. 2015)
* Soft robot application:
- Modular soft mechatronic manipulator for minimally invasive surgery (MIS): overall architecture and development of a fully integrated soft module (Meccanica, Sept. 2015)
- Design and development of a soft robotic gripper for manipulation in minimally invasive surgery: a proof of concept (Meccanica, Sept. 2015)
* Morphological computation, morphological change, self-organization:
- Self-assembly of polydimethylsiloxane structures from 2D to 3D for bio-hybrid actuation (Bioinspir. Biomim., Aug. 2015)
- Features in geometric receiver shapes modelling bat-like directivity patterns (Bioinspir. Biomim., Sept. 2015)
- Particle-image velocimetry investigation of the fluid-structure interaction mechanisms of a natural owl wing (Bioinspir. Biomim., Sept. 2015)
Conference and Workshop Papers
- IROS 2015 Regular Session: Soft Bodied Robots I
- IROS 2015 Regular Session: Soft Bodied Robots II
- Robust real time material classification algorithm using soft three axis tactile sensor: Evaluation of the algorithm (IROS 2015)
- Learning the stiffness of a continuous soft manipulator from multiple demonstrations (Proc. of ICIRA, Aug. 2015)
- ICAR 2015 Workshop “Bioinspired Soft Robotics: How Animals and Plants Help Build Soft Robots” July 31, 2015, Istanbul, Turkey
- IROS 2015 Workshop “New Frontiers and Applications for Soft Robotics” October 2, 2015, Hamburg, Germany
Popular Articles
- Inflatable graspers let robots “handle with care” (Gizmag.com, Sept. 2015)
- Morphological computation: The hidden superpower of soft bodied robots (Robohub, Sept 2015)
- Robot moves when squished (Nature – Research Highlights, Oct. 2015)
- Foam heart could pump inside you just like the real thing (New Scientist, Oct. 2015)
- Scientists develop fast-pumping artificial foam heart (Newsweek, Oct. 2015)