Shape-changing actuators have been widely explored in the field of human-computer interaction (HCI), enabling various applications of shape-changing interfaces across from haptic feedback devices to robotics. However it is still challenging for existing ...

Proprioception is the “sixth sense” that detects limb postures with motor neurons. It requires a natural integration between the musculoskeletal systems and sensory receptors, which is challenging among modern robots that aim for lightweight, adaptive, ...

It is prevalent in contemporary AI and robotics to separately postulate a brain modeled by neural networks and employ it to learn intelligent and adaptive behavior. While this method has worked very well for many types of tasks, it isn’t the only ...

This study proposes a modularized soft robotic arm with integrated sensing of human touches for physical human–robot interactions. The proposed robotic arm is constructed by connecting multiple soft manipulator modules, each of which consists of three ...

Shape-changing skin is an exciting modality due to its accessible and engaging nature. Its softness and flexibility make it adaptable to different interactive devices that children with and without visual impairments can share. Although their potential ...

Evolving virtual creatures is a field with a rich history and recently it has been getting more attention, especially in the soft robotics domain. The compliance of soft materials endows soft robots with complex behavior, but it also makes their ...

Soft-growing robots are innovative devices that feature plant-inspired growth to navigate environments. Thanks to their embodied intelligence of adapting to their surroundings and the latest innovations in actuation and manufacturing, it is ...

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• Mathematical formulation of soft-growing robotic manipulators’ design.
• The Rank Partitioning algorithm for multi-objective optimization problems.
• A method for obstacle avoidance integrated in evolutionary algorithms.

Despite the advances in soft robots, their modelling is still one of the research challenges due to the complexity and non-linearity of their soft nature. A novel design of reconfigurable soft robots was recently introduced to bring more maturity ...

• A modelling strategy of the individual robotic modules has been developed.
• The method is extended to the entire assembled modular robot to predict its behaviour.
• The models have been validated using individual and multiple building ...

This paper is concerned with the growth-driven shape-programming problem, which involves determining a growth tensor that can produce a deformation on a hyperelastic body reaching a given target shape. We consider the two cases of globally ...

This study explores the influence of material selection scenarios on the evolutionary design of soft robots. Soft robots have vast potential applications that rigid robots cannot accomplish due to their lightweight and flexible nature. Despite ...

Soft surgical robots represent a groundbreaking innovation in the field of medical technology. These robots utilize soft, deformable materials to navigate and interact with delicate structures inside the human body, such as organs and blood ...

The use of soft robotics to perform tasks and interact with the environment requires good system identification. Data-driven methods offer a promising alternative where traditional analytical model-based techniques have proven insufficient. ...

Soft robotics has gained significant interest due to its resemblance to soft organic bodies, enabling direct human interaction. Soft actuators are a crucial component of these soft robots as they enable their motion. This work introduces a ...

We rethink the traditional reinforcement learning approach, which is based on optimizing over feedback policies, and propose a new framework that optimizes over feedforward inputs instead. This not only mitigates the risk of destabilizing the ...$\mathrm{}$$\mathrm{}$

Semi-autonomous telerobotic systems allow both humans and robots to exploit their strengths while enabling personalized execution of a remote task. For soft robots with kinematic structures dissimilar to those of human operators, it is unknown how ...

Soft robotic is revolutionizing conventional robotics due to its numerous advantages such as safer interaction and compliant behavior. They are becoming increasingly popular in the medical field due to their safe human-robot interactions. Soft ...

One of the new computational frameworks is physical reservoir computing. Focusing on this method, we have previously developed a soft-matter artificial mouth ”Gel Biter”, which is composed of multiple polymeric materials based on the structure of ...

The tendon locking mechanism (TLM) in the avian foot allows birds to perch on a tree or grasp prey for long periods of time with low energy input. In this study, we present a soft robotic pneumatic bending actuator system inspired by the TLM, ...

Manipulation of objects of variable size, shape and surface properties remains a challenging problem in robotics. In this paper, we present the design of a soft, pneumatically variable contact stiffness grasper and the training of a sparse, ...

Octopus vulgaris has become an important model for motor control studies in soft robotics, due to its highly developed neural system and complexity in motion. For the past ten years, research on octopus arm motor system has provided advancements ...