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Soft Robots

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Soft Robots That Grip With The Right Amount Of Force

Tool use has long been a hallmark of human intelligence, as well as a practical problem to solve for a vast array of robotic applications. But machines are still wonky at exerting just the right amount of force to control tools that aren’t rigidly attached to their hands. To manipulate said tools more robustly, researchers from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), in collaboration with the Toyota Research Institute (TRI), have designed a system that can grasp tools and apply the appropriate amount of force for a given task, like squeegeeing up liquid or writing out a word…
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A Flexible Way To Grab Items With Feeling

The notion of a large metallic robot that speaks in monotone and moves in lumbering, deliberate steps is somewhat hard to shake. But practitioners in the field of soft robotics have an entirely different image in mind — autonomous devices composed of compliant parts that are gentle to the touch, more closely resembling human fingers than R2-D2 or Robby the Robot. That model is now being pursued by Professor Edward Adelson and his Perceptual Science Group at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL). In a recent project, Adelson and Sandra Liu — a mechanical engineering PhD student at CSAIL…
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Researchers’ Algorithm Designs Soft Robots That Sense

There are some tasks that traditional robots — the rigid and metallic kind — simply aren’t cut out for. Soft-bodied robots, on the other hand, may be able to interact with people more safely or slip into tight spaces with ease. But for robots to reliably complete their programmed duties, they need to know the whereabouts of all their body parts. That’s a tall task for a soft robot that can deform in a virtually infinite number of ways. MIT researchers have developed an algorithm to help engineers design soft robots that collect more useful information about their surroundings. The…
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Giving Soft Robots Senses

One of the hottest topics in robotics is the field of soft robots, which utilizes squishy and flexible materials rather than traditional rigid materials. But soft robots have been limited due to their lack of good sensing. A good robotic gripper needs to feel what it is touching (tactile sensing), and it needs to sense the positions of its fingers (proprioception). Such sensing has been missing from most soft robots. In a new pair of papers, researchers from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) came up with new tools to let robots better perceive what they’re interacting with:…
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Stanford Engineers Create Shape-Changing, Free-roaming Soft Robot

Advances in soft robotics could someday allow robots to work alongside humans, helping them lift heavy objects or carrying them out of danger. As a step toward that future, Stanford University researchers have developed a new kind of soft robot that, by borrowing features from traditional robotics, is safe while still retaining the ability to move and change shape. “A significant limitation of most soft robots is that they have to be attached to a bulky air compressor or plugged into a wall, which prevents them from moving,” said Nathan Usevitch, a graduate student in mechanical engineering at Stanford. “So,…
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“Sensorized” Skin Helps Soft Robots Find Their Bearings

For the first time, MIT researchers have enabled a soft robotic arm to understand its configuration in 3D space, by leveraging only motion and position data from its own “sensorized” skin. Soft robots constructed from highly compliant materials, similar to those found in living organisms, are being championed as safer, and more adaptable, resilient, and bioinspired alternatives to traditional rigid robots. But giving autonomous control to these deformable robots is a monumental task because they can move in a virtually infinite number of directions at any given moment. That makes it difficult to train planning and control models that drive…
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The Future Of Robotics Is Soft And Squishy

Whenever we think of robots, we think of hunks of metal. Robots definitely changed the way we do things in fields such as manufacturing and even healthcare. However, recent developments in robotics show that soft, rubbery robots will let us take the next big leap. Why go soft? While metallic robots are reliable in doing repetitive tasks and streamlining industrial processes, there are some things that they just can’t do. Soft robots offer another wide domain of applications to fill in the gaps that their metal counterparts couldn’t. Some interesting applications of soft robots include: A soft robot sleeve that will…
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