Harvard researchers have created a soft robot inspired by animals like starfish and worms. Read more: spectrum.ieee.org
Robot Robotics Cybernetics Soft Robots Soft Robotics Science Engineering Technology Chemistry Electronics Computer Physics Bio-Inspired
Go to cenm.ag to read more about the work featured in this video. Led by chemist George M. Whitesides, researchers at Harvard have developed an all-polymer robot that can undulate, crawl, and navigate obstacles.
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Video of a multigait soft robot undulating under a glass obstacle. See our PNAS paper - "Multi-Gait Soft Robot", Shepherd, RF, Ilievski.F., Choi.W., Morin.SA, Stokes.AA, Mazzeo.AD, Chen.X., Wang.M., and Whitesides.GM, PNAS, 2011
Soft Robotics; elastomer; flexible; George Whitesides; Harvard
This video demonstrates the the soft arm as an assistive robot wiping a person's face. This work was done at Carnegie Mellon in the Robotics Institute by Siddharth Sanan and Mike Ornstein.
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SOFT Robotics, Sweden. First runner-up in Rescue B SuperTeams. Vad gick tävlingen ut på? I Rescue B hade man i uppdrag att i en slumpvis utformad labyrint identifiera ett antal "offer", värmetavlorna som roboten markerar med hjälp av att blinka. Ju fler hittade offer, desto mer poäng. Här är en körning då vi nästan klarar hela undervåningen. Notera hur gyroskopet gör så att roboten kan justera så att den står rätt placerad även om den råkar köra in i en vägg eller åker över exempelvis tandpetare.
SOFT Robotics Istanbul Turkey Rescue Rescue B robocup Junior 2011 robotitcs robot electronics
This is a simulation mixing elastic deformable materials with a rigid articulated skeleton. This 'creature' was evolved for locomotion. Basically, it is like Karl Sims' work but with elastic skin.
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This video was included in video the Proceedings of the IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, Oct. 2007, San Diego, CA. See sites.google.com for related papers. Continuum robots are biologically-inspired by the invertebrate organisms such as octopus arms and elephant trunks. These robots with a backbone-less structure offer a superior performance in unstructured and cluttered environments such as collapsed buildings, unknown geographical terrain, holes and tunnels. This video features OctArm, a continuum robot that demonstrates its capabilities in whole arm manipulation, biologically-inspired maneuvering, and grasping. The video also depicts a 3D graphical model of OctArm in that can be rendered in real-time in MATLAB's Real-Time Workshop.
This is our version of the Universal Jamming Gripper: spectrum.ieee.org It was adapted from the DIY version here: carlitoscontraptions.com Another project from "Robotics: Discover the Science and Technology of the Future" by Kathy Ceceri, coming from Nomad Press in August 2012!
iRobot's soft, shape-shifting robot blob can roll around and change shape. Video from IEEE IROS 2009. Learn more: spectrum.ieee.org
Jamming Soft Chembot Blob Robots Shape-Shifting Robotics DARPA Robot Roomba irobot Technology Electronics
Video part of the report "Soft-Tissue Injury in Robotics," by Sami Haddadin, Alin Albu-Schaffer, and Gerd Hirzinger at the Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics, DLR - German Aerospace Center, Wessling, Germany.
Soft-Tissue Injury in Robotics DLR German Aerospace Center DLR Crash Report robot robots robotics automation cybernetics crash test dummies injury accident medical Lightweight Robot III LWRIII
The Quality of Life Technology Center demonstrated a soft, inflatable robot arm at the 2011 International Consumer Electronics Show. Soft robots overcome critical safety barriers for human-robot interaction. A soft robot can assist with daily tasks such as bathing and grooming, feeding and dressing much more safely than a hard robot because the inflatable body reduces the risks of injury on unexpected or accidental impact. QoLT's Soft Robot researchers include Siddharth Sanan, Christopher Atkeson, and Michael Ornstein.
robots soft robots inflatable robots assistive technology qolt Chris Atkeson Sidd Sanan Mike Ornstein Quality of Life Technology qoltbots
DigInfo TV - diginfo.tv 13 Touchence Shokac Cube Type B
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Fuji Soft Inc., the sponsor of the All Japan Robot Tournament, has unveiled its first commercial humanoid robot. The robot does not yet have a name or price, but will be aimed at universities. www.plasticpals.com http
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DigInfo TV - diginfo.tv 7 Tokyo Institute of Technology Teddy Bear Robot With Soft Arms and Legs
diginfo diginfo News diginfo TV Tokyo Institute of Technology CEDEC 2011 ROBOTICS Robot Teddy Bear University CEDEC
A soft-bodied amoeboid robot is able to generate locomotion and go through obstacles dynamically changing its morphology.
Dr. Robert Shepherd describes the fabrication technique of the soft robot.
soft robotics; elastomer; flexible; George M. Whitesides; Harvard University
This was an end of semester project for a Realtime Digital Media and Robotics class. We used a 6-degree of freedom robotic arm controlled using 2.6 Linux and POSIX threading. The Robot's main objective was to raster through the playing field looking for red, then green blocks then stack the blocks without any user control. We used computer vision algorithms to close the control loop for the system.
Linux Realtime Soft Realtime Robotics Engineering Computer Vision
This video present a free software based machine made by FESTO and LOLITECH for LAAS. LAAS is a French Scientific Research Lab involved in many scientific areas, mostly related computer and robotics. For some computer vision experiments, this lab needed a positioning machine able to work within one cubic meter space with 6 degrees of freedom, and with 20ms time accuracy. Motion control software had to be fully open so that researchers could have full control over positioning. Realization involved six CANopen servo drives, and one industrial PC acting as a CANopen CNC, running real-time Linux, CanFestival and Beremiz. As an input device for manual control mode, we used a wiimote. It was really fun to program this machine, and play with Festo hardware. www.lolitech.fr http www.canfestival.org http www.laas.fr
positioning machine wiimote beremiz canopen canfestival motion control laas festo lolitech vision
This robot draws portraits, elaborating photos and images. The software on the PC is developed under MATLAB®, following the ideas of Claude Baumann and his students at www.restena.lu (Erik's XY plotter). The hardware is LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT® and a soft tip pen. Made by Daniele Benedettelli in 2008. More details at robotics.benedettelli.com
Vortex, www.vxsim.com, and work from McGill University. Semi-empirical models have a number of limitations and shortcomings when they are used in multibody dynamics simulation environments. A novel approach, based on plasticity theory, was developed for wheel-soil interaction. This approach will be shown to resolve some of the shortcomings of semi-empirical models, while being compatible with the multi-body dynamic simulation environment in Vortex. In the proposed approach, a modified Drucker-Prager constitutive relation with cap hardening is used to capture soil plastic behavior. However, the formulation is general enough to include other constitutive relations developed for soil.
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This robotic worm, built by Dr. Sangbae Kim as a postdoc at the Harvard Microrobotics Lab*, can survive multiple hits with a mallet and keep moving along. The worm is driven by "shape-memory alloy" springs. When electrical current is applied, the springs heat up and contract. When the current is removed, they cool down and return to their original length. This results in motion similar (but not identical) to that of natural muscle, so the material is also referred to as "muscle wire". For more technical details, see the publication "Peristaltic locomotion with antagonistic actuators in soft robotics" by S.-O. Seok, C. Onal, RJ Wood, D. Rus and S. Kim. The Harvard Microrobotics Lab is part of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS, seas.harvard.edu) at Harvard University, and a core member of the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering (wyss.harvard.edu). *Dr. Kim now runs the Biomimetic Robotics Lab at MIT: web.mit.edu
We demonstrate a "blindfolded" robotic scenario with the 7-DOF Kuka lightweight robot and the 7-DOF Schunk Dexterous Hand. We utilize the impedance control and torque sensing from the robot and the tactile sensing from the hand to pick and place different objects. The user can safely interact with the robot arm due to the soft robotics approach used in the robots control software.
Matthias Schöpfer Robert Haschke Helge Ritter Citec Bielefeld Universität Bielefeld Cit-ec Neuroinformatics Group
WARNING: Do not try this at your home...or your lab! The inflatable arm hitting me on my chin, face, and forehead. While this may look scary, I assure all that this did not hurt at all. I walked away from this safe and sound! for more info: www.cs.cmu.edu
Robot Inflatable Impact Impacts Punch Head Face Chin Neck Accident Soft Robotics Institute Carnegie Mellon University Robots Squishy CMU Flexible Deployable feeding spoon human safe physical interaction tendon driven force control compliant food feed amazing intelligent fun personal
The next generation of electronics, computers, and robots will be all-compliant and hyperelastic. This keypad demonstrates a first step towards soft active materials that can be used for sensing deformation and contact pressure. Here, normal pressure allows the message "VE RI TAS" to be typed using an all-soft, stretchable, flexible and wearable device that is only 700 microns in thickness. The 12-key design mimics the functionality of a mobile phone keypad. The Harvard Microrobotics Lab is part of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS, seas.harvard.edu) at Harvard University, and a core member of the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering (wyss.harvard.edu).
soft robotics soft sensing compliant sensor keypad pressure sensor keyboard
A soft continuum type manipulator pushing a box. for more info visit: www.cs.cmu.edu
Robot Soft Continnum Flexible CMU Carnegie Mellon Siddharth Sanan Robotics Institute Robots Differential Geometry Force Control Compliant Kinematics Dynamics RI Christopher Atkeson Chris Safe Physical Human Interaction phri Tendons Wire Actuated
This video demonstrates a bio-inspired soft active orthotic being developed here as a first step towards programmable flexible orthotics. More information about the project can be found in our IROS 2011 paper (Park et al) on the sir website. [Note: This technology is currently in the research and development phase, and is not available commercially. Any suggested or implied claims have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).]
Gemini 3 is the new Bosch Packaging Technology delta robot control software which helps users visualize robot behavior. Learn more at www.boschpackaging.com
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We have developed a robotic arm in our lab with an inflatable structure - no rigid metallic parts! The objective being to perform tasks which involve close proximity to humans. The video shows the inflatable arm doing just that: feeding me some M&M's! For more info visit: www.cs.cmu.edu
Robot Inflatable Soft Robotics Institute Carnegie Mellon University Robots Squishy CMU Flexible Deployable feeding spoon human safe physical interaction tendon driven force control compliant food M&M m&m's feed amazing intelligent fun personal
