Soft robots are a promising technology for exploration tasks and have shown great potential for unlocking the secrets of biological creatures and creating adaptable, versatile, and human-friendly robots. On the other hand, rigid robots offer many advantages in terms of precision and ease of control. The novel hybrid robot design considered in this project will combine these two technologies to provide the advantages of both. The project is producing new modular robots able to adapt to new environments, move across varied terrains, and operate in a wide variety of environmental conditions. The advancements may improve capability for search and rescue, inspection, surveillance, and reconnaissance. The new robot capabilities may also benefit future extra-terrestrial missions.
The research aims to significantly advance the state-of-the-art in the theory and practice of soft robots by creating novel and hybrid (incorporating both stiff and soft elements) physical hardware designs to offset limitations of each individual technology. The research tasks are aimed at advancing the seamless integration and operation of non-collocated human-robot teams and are aligned in two thrusts:
PI: Principal Investigator; Co-PI: Co-principal Investigator; GRA: Graduate Research Assistant; UGR: Undergraduate Researcher
Molaei, P., Pitts, N. A., Palardy, G., Su, J., Mahlin, M. K., Neilan, J. H., and Gilbert, H. B., 2022, “Cable Decoupling and Cable-Based Stiffening of Continuum Robots,” IEEE Access, 10, pp. 104852-104862.
Molaei, P., Pitts, N. A., and Gilbert, H. B., 2023 (Accepted), “Independent Tendons Increase Stiffness of Continuum Robots Without Actuator Coupling,” IEEE/ASME Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics.
Arachchige, D. K., Varshney, T., Huzaifa, M. U., Kanj, I., Nanayakkara, T., Chen, Y., Gilbert, H. B., and Godage, I. S, 2023 (Accepted), "Study on Soft Robotic Pinniped Locomotion," IEEE/ASME Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics.
Arachchige, D. K., Perera, D., Mallikarachchi, S., Kanj, I., Chen, Y., Gilbert, H. B. , and Godage, I., 2023 (Accepted), "Dynamic Modeling and Validation of Soft Robotic Snake Locomotion", International Conference on Control, Automation and Robotics (ICCAR).
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This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Nos. 2133019 and 2132994. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
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