Thursday, March 12th, 2020 in ETRL 101 at 11:00am. Presented by Dr. Ming Luo, Postdoctoral Scholar, Mechanical Engineering Department, Stanford University
With their pliant bodies able to absorb and dissipate impact forces, soft robots are ideal for the unpredictable environments that arise when people are present. However, the absence of soft robots in daily living, industrial, and disaster situations illustrates the gap between established robot regimes (such as fabrication, perception, planning, and control) and emerging soft robot technologies. These established regimes are often unable to be directly adapted due to a lack of understanding of the soft material itself, hindering the development of soft robots.
My robotics work has been aimed at closing this gap, and here I will provide four examples of this work: “Pressure-Operated Soft Robotic Snake” – a soft, snake-like robot that can navigate complex environments; ”3D Origami Robotic Snake” – a low-cost deformable, lightweight, and modular robotic snake that is designed for space exploration; “Soft, Precise Manipulator” – a new soft manipulator that has flexible steering, the ability to grow and retract from the tip, a small footprint, and the ability to precisely manipulate objects; and “Soft Wearable Haptic Device” – a method for investigating human forearm perception through soft robotic technology to enhance haptic interface.
