Pneumatic soft robots take a step toward autonomy

Rajappan, Anoop; Jumet, Barclay; Preston, Daniel J.

doi:10.1126/scirobotics.abg6994

Cited by 31 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 11 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Other soft fluidic controllers have been pursued recently and provide helpful starting points upon which soft roboticists can build. [ 36,589–593 ]…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Other soft fluidic controllers have been pursued recently and provide helpful starting points upon which soft roboticists can build. [36,[589][590][591][592][593] Power schemes should also be developed to facilitate the untethering of soft robots. Chemical media offer a fruitful methodology to do so through electrochemistry and gas evolution reactions (e.g., combustion) as a transduction of chemical energy to electrical or fluidic media.…”

Section: Function Mediamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moving forward, the difficulties arising from complex control of relatively simple systems are further hindered by the lack of availability and integration of soft robotic components required to emulate all of the capabilities of traditional robots. [ 36 ] Here, we define a robotic component as any of the following four elements: 1) an actuator, 2) a sensor, 3) a controller, and 4) a power source. The limited soft versions of these robotic components illustrate that fully soft robots, while potentially useful in some applications, are not necessarily a current solution to all pressing problems faced by traditional robots.…”

Section: Introduction To Soft Roboticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

A Data‐Driven Review of Soft Robotics

Jumet

Bell

Sánchez

et al. 2021

Advanced Intelligent Systems

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The past decade of soft robotics has delivered impactful and promising contributions to society and has seen exponentially increasing interest from scientists and engineers. This interest has resulted in growth of the number of researchers participating in the field and the quantity of their resulting contributions, stressing the community's ability to comprehend and build upon the literature. In this work, a data‐driven review is presented that addresses the recent surge of research by providing a quantitative snapshot of the field. Relevant data are catalogued with three levels of analysis. First, publication‐level analysis explores high‐level trends in the field and bibliometric relationships across the more detailed analyses. Second, device‐level analysis examines the tethering of robots and the incorporation of component types (actuators, sensors, controllers, power sources) into each robot. Finally, component‐level analysis investigates the compliances, material compositions, and “function media” (energetic methods by which components operate) of each soft robotic component in the analyzed literature. The reported data indicate a significant reliance on elastomeric materials, electrical and fluidic media, and physical tethering; meanwhile, controllers and power sources remain underdeveloped relative to actuators and sensors. These gaps in the surveyed literature are elaborated upon, and promising future directions for the field of soft robotics are identified.

show abstract

“…Other soft fluidic controllers have been pursued recently and provide helpful starting points upon which soft roboticists can build. [ 36,589–593 ]…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Function Mediamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introduction To Soft Roboticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

A Data‐Driven Review of Soft Robotics

Jumet

Bell

Sánchez

et al. 2021

Advanced Intelligent Systems

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Pressurized working fluids displaced via electrically powered pumps are typical energy sources in fluidic actuation . Any sensors and controllers in fluidic soft robots are generally electronic ones, though fluidic computing and sensing components are emerging . One example of a fluidically integrated soft robot designed as a robotic material is the Octobot , a first embodiment of a hardware-free, untethered soft robot .…”

Section: Robotic Materialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite their popularity, fluidic integration strategies face many challenges: fluidic actuators are relatively weak, and tethers to off-board hardware are common in these systems . While advances in chemical fuels and fluidic controllers and sensors are in their infancy, it is unclear how sophisticated robotic materials or soft robots based on these components would actually be. In light of fluidic design challenges, optoelectronic and electronic integration strategies are gaining popularity.…”

Section: Robotic Materialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Designing Soft Robots as Robotic Materials

Truby

2021

Acc. Mater. Res.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Necrobotics: Biotic Materials as Ready‐to‐Use Actuators

et al. 2022

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Designs perfected through evolution have informed bioinspired animal‐like robots that mimic the locomotion of cheetahs and the compliance of jellyfish; biohybrid robots go a step further by incorporating living materials directly into engineered systems. Bioinspiration and biohybridization have led to new, exciting research, but humans have relied on biotic materials—non‐living materials derived from living organisms—since their early ancestors wore animal hides as clothing and used bones for tools. In this work, an inanimate spider is repurposed as a ready‐to‐use actuator requiring only a single facile fabrication step, initiating the area of “necrobotics” in which biotic materials are used as robotic components. The unique walking mechanism of spiders—relying on hydraulic pressure rather than antagonistic muscle pairs to extend their legs—results in a necrobotic gripper that naturally resides in its closed state and can be opened by applying pressure. The necrobotic gripper is capable of grasping objects with irregular geometries and up to 130% of its own mass. Furthermore, the gripper can serve as a handheld device and innately camouflages in outdoor environments. Necrobotics can be further extended to incorporate biotic materials derived from other creatures with similar hydraulic mechanisms for locomotion and articulation.

show abstract

Pneumatic soft robots take a step toward autonomy

Abstract: A four-legged soft robot walks, rotates, and reacts to environmental obstacles by incorporating a soft pneumatic control circuit.

Cited by 31 publications

References 11 publications

A Data‐Driven Review of Soft Robotics

A Data‐Driven Review of Soft Robotics

Designing Soft Robots as Robotic Materials

Necrobotics: Biotic Materials as Ready‐to‐Use Actuators

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About