Soft Robotics
Most robots today are designed and built as dishwashers: a frame made of metal and plastic, a few sensors, motors, and a CPU. This is OK for many applications, but it can miss out the compliance and adaptability that soft materials could provide. We are interested in the study, design, and control of soft robotic technologies that amplify the sensory-motor capabilities and human interaction of robots without increasing their complexity and weight. For example, we work on smart soft grippers that manipulate complex objects without complex software, artificial feathers for agile drones, insect-inspired flexible compound eyes, variable stiffness materials, edible robots, foldable drones, modular tensegrity robots, and textile-based exoskeletons.
Related Publications
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2024
Edible Soft Actuators based on Konjac Glucomannan for Underwater Operation
Advanced Intelligent Systems. 2024-03-08. Vol. 6, num. 5, p. 2300473. DOI : 10.1002/aisy.202300473.
Fast-Response Variable-Stiffness Magnetic Catheters for Minimally Invasive Surgery
Advanced Science. 2024-01-15. Vol. 11, num. 12, p. 1-14. DOI : 10.1002/advs.202470069.
Towards edible robots and robotic food
Nature Reviews Materials. 2024. p. online. DOI : 10.1038/s41578-024-00688-9.Filiform Variable Stiffness Technologies for Medical Robotics
Lausanne, EPFL, 2024.2023
A Soft Gripper with Granular Jamming and Electroadhesive Properties
Advanced Intelligent Systems. 2023-03-16. Vol. 5, num. 6, p. 2200409. DOI : 10.1002/aisy.202200409.2022
A Variable Stiffness Magnetic Catheter Made of a Conductive Phase-Change Polymer for Minimally Invasive Surgery
Advanced Functional Materials. 2022-02-06. p. 1-11, 2107662. DOI : 10.1002/adfm.202107662.2021
Variable-Stiffness Tensegrity Modular Robots
Lausanne, EPFL, 2021.
Seeking Quality Diversity in Evolutionary Co-design of Morphology and Control of Soft Tensegrity Modular Robots
2021. The Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO 2021), Lille, France (virtual conference), July 10-14, 2021. DOI : 10.1145/3449639.3459311.2020
Lighter and Stronger: Cofabricated Electrodes and Variable Stiffness Elements in Dielectric Actuators
Advanced Intelligent Systems. 2020-07-23. Vol. 2, num. 10, p. 1-8, 2000069. DOI : 10.1002/aisy.202000069.
Bio-Inspired Tensegrity Fish Robot
2020-05-29. 2020 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), virtual conference (originally Paris, France), 1-5 June 2020 (originally 31 May – 4 Jun). p. 2887-2892. DOI : 10.1109/ICRA40945.2020.9196675.
Variable-stiffness tensegrity spine
Smart Materials and Structures. 2020-04-09. Vol. 29, num. 7, p. 075013. DOI : 10.1088/1361-665X/ab87e0.
Phase Changing Materials-Based Variable-Stiffness Tensegrity Structures
Soft Robotics. 2020. Vol. 7, num. 3, p. 362-369. DOI : 10.1089/soro.2019.0091.2019
A Magnetic Continuum Device with Variable Stiffness for Minimally Invasive Surgery
Advanced Intelligent Systems. 2019-09-11. Vol. 2, num. 6, p. 1900086. DOI : 10.1002/aisy.201900086.
Stretchable pumps for soft machines
Nature. 2019-08-22. Vol. 572, p. 516–519. DOI : 10.1038/s41586-019-1479-6.Wearable Technologies for Embodied Human-Robot Interaction
Lausanne, EPFL, 2019.
Soft haptic device to render the sensation of flying like a drone
IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters. 2019-07-01. Vol. 4, num. 3, p. 2524-2531. DOI : 10.1109/LRA.2019.2907432.
Inquiry-Based Learning with RoboGen: An Open-Source Software and Hardware Platform for Robotics and Artificial Intelligence
IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies. 2019. Vol. 12, num. 3, p. 356-369. DOI : 10.1109/TLT.2018.2833111.2018
All‐Fabric Wearable Electroadhesive Clutch
Advanced Materials Technologies. 2018-10-23. Vol. 4, num. 2, p. 1800313. DOI : 10.1002/admt.201800313.
Soft Biomimetic Fish Robot Made of Dielectric Elastomer Actuators
Soft Robotics. 2018-06-29. Vol. 5, num. 4, p. 466-474. DOI : 10.1089/soro.2017.0062.
A Soft Robot for Random Exploration of Terrestrial Environments
2018-06-15. International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Brisbane, Australia, 21-25 May 2018. p. 7492-7497. DOI : 10.1109/ICRA.2018.8460667.
Variable stiffness strip with strain sensing for wearable robotics
2018-07-09. 2018 IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft), Livorno, April 24-28, 2018. p. 485-490. DOI : 10.1109/ROBOSOFT.2018.8405373.
Bioinspired dual-stiffness origami
Science Robotics. 2018. Vol. 3, num. 20, p. eaau0275. DOI : 10.1126/scirobotics.aau0275.
Soft Robotic Grippers
Advanced Materials. 2018. Vol. 30, num. 29, p. 1707035. DOI : 10.1002/adma.201707035.
Ultra-stretchable strain sensors using carbon black-filled elastomer composites and comparison of capacitive versus resistive sensors
Advanced Materials Technologies. 2018. Vol. 3, p. 1700284. DOI : 10.1002/admt.201700284.2017
A Variable Stiffness Catheter Controlled with an External Magnetic Field
2017. IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), Vancouver, BC, Canada, September 24–28, 2017. DOI : 10.1109/IROS.2017.8202155.
Soft Pneumatic Gelatin Actuator for Edible Robotics
2017. IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, Vancouver, Canada, September 24–28. p. 6221-6226. DOI : 10.1109/IROS.2017.8206525.Foldable Drones: from Biology to Technology
2017. SPIE Bioinspiration, Biomimetics, and Bioreplication, Portland, Oregon, March 2017. p. 1016203-1-1016203-6. DOI : 10.1117/12.2259931.Disentangling constraints using viability evolution principles in integrative modeling of macromolecular assemblies
Scientific Reports. 2017. Vol. 7, p. 235. DOI : 10.1038/s41598-017-00266-w.Insect-Inspired Mechanical Resilience for Multicopters
IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters. 2017. Vol. 2, p. 1248-1255. DOI : 10.1109/LRA.2017.2658946.2016
Biomimetic Underwater Robots Based on Dielectric Elastomer Actuators
2016. IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, Daejeon, Korea, October 9-14. p. 4957-4962. DOI : 10.1109/IROS.2016.7759728.Variable Stiffness Fiber with Self-Healing Capability
Advanced Materials. 2016. Vol. 28, num. 46, p. 10105. DOI : 10.1002/adma.201602580.Adaptive Morphology: A Design Principle for Multimodal and Multifunctional Robots
IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine. 2016. Vol. 23, num. 3, p. 42-54. DOI : 10.1109/MRA.2016.2580593.Darwinian Dynamics of Embodied Chaotic Exploration
2016. GECCO ’16, Denver, Colorado, USA, 20-24 07 2016. p. 1053-1056. DOI : 10.1145/2908961.2931673.Functional Soft Robotic Actuators Based on Dielectric Elastomers
Lausanne, EPFL, 2016.Versatile soft grippers with intrinsic electroadhesion based on multifunctional polymer actuators
Advanced Materials. 2016. Vol. 28, num. 2, p. 231-238. DOI : 10.1002/adma.201504264.Memetic Viability Evolution for Constrained Optimization
IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation. 2016. Vol. 20, num. 1, p. 125-144. DOI : 10.1109/TEVC.2015.2428292.2015
Fluctuation-driven neural dynamics reproduce Drosophila locomotor patterns
Plos Computational Biology. 2015. Vol. 11, num. 11, p. e1004577. DOI : 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1004577.An artificial elementary eye with optic flow detection and compositional properties
Journal of the Royal Society Interface. 2015. Vol. 12, p. 20150414. DOI : 10.1098/rsif.2015.0414.Variable Stiffness Actuator for Soft Robotics Using Dielectric Elastomer and Low-Melting-Point Alloy
2015. International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, Hamburg, Germany, September 28 – October 02, 2015. p. 1097-1102. DOI : 10.1109/IROS.2015.7353507.Rapid Evolution of Robot Gaits
2015. GECCO ’15, Madrid, Spain, July 11-15, 2015. p. 743-744. DOI : 10.1145/2739482.2764894.A small-scale hyperacute compound eye featuring active eye tremor: application to visual stabilization, target tracking, and short-range odometry
Bioinspiration & Biomimetics. 2015. Vol. 10, num. 2, p. 026002. DOI : 10.1088/1748-3190/10/2/026002.DEA for soft robotics: 1-gram actuator picks up a 60-gram egg
2015. Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices (EAPAD), San Diego, March 2015. p. 94301S. DOI : 10.1117/12.2084043.Viability evolutionary algorithms and applications to neuroscience and biology
Lausanne, EPFL, 2015.A Foldable Antagonistic Actuator
IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics. 2015. Vol. 20, num. 5, p. 1997-2008. DOI : 10.1109/TMECH.2014.2359337.Rollable Multisegment Dielectric Elastomer Minimum Energy Structures for a Deployable Microsatellite Gripper
IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics. 2015. Vol. 20, num. 1, p. 438. DOI : 10.1109/TMECH.2014.2329367.2014
Hardware Architecture and Cutting-Edge Assembly Process of a Tiny Curved Compound Eye
Sensors. 2014. Vol. 14, num. 11, p. 21702-21721. DOI : 10.3390/s141121702.Curved artificial compound-eyes for autonomous navigation
2014. Micro-Optics, Brussels, Belgium, APR 14-16, 2014. DOI : 10.1117/12.2052710.Soft Cells for Modular Robots
Lausanne, EPFL, 2014.RoboGen: Robot Generation through Artificial Evolution
2014. Artificial Life 14: International Conference on the Synthesis and Simulation of Living Systems, New York, NY, USA, July 30-August 2, 2014. p. 136-137. DOI : 10.7551/978-0-262-32621-6-ch022.Miniature artificial compound eyes for optic-flow-based robotic navigation
2014. Workshop on Information Optics WIO2014, Neuchatel, Switzerland, July 7-11, 2014. p. 1-3. DOI : 10.1109/WIO.2014.6933290.Soft Cells for Programmable Self-Assembly of Robotic Modules
Soft Robotics. 2014. Vol. 1, num. 4, p. 239-245. DOI : 10.1089/soro.2014.0005.Viability Principles for Constrained Optimization Using a (1+1)-CMA-ES
2014. 13th International Conference on Parallel Problem Solving From Nature, Ljubljana, Slovenia, September 13-17, 2014. p. 272-281. DOI : 10.1007/978-3-319-10762-2_27.Stretchable Electroadhesion for Soft Robots
2014. IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, Chicago, Illinois, USA, September 14-18, 2014. p. 3933-3938. DOI : 10.1109/IROS.2014.6943115.Programmable Self-assembly with Chained Soft Cells: An Algorithm to Fold into 2-D Shapes
2014. Simulation of Adaptive Behavior 2014, Castellón, Spain, July 22-26, 2014. p. 220-229. DOI : 10.1007/978-3-319-08864-8_21.Artificial Evolution by Viability Rather Than Competition
PLOS One. 2014. Vol. 9, num. 1, p. e86831. DOI : 10.1371/journal.pone.0086831.Selection methods regulate evolution of cooperation in digital evolution
Journal of the Royal Society Interface. 2014. Vol. 11, num. 90, p. 20130743. DOI : 10.1098/rsif.2013.0743.2013
Soft Cell Simulator: A tool to study Soft Multi-Cellular Robots
2013. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics, Shenzhen, China, December 12-14, 2013. p. 1300-1305. DOI : 10.1109/ROBIO.2013.6739644.Variable stiffness material based on rigid low-melting-point-alloy-microstructures embedded in soft poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS)
RSC Advances. 2013. Vol. 3, num. 46, p. 24671-24679. DOI : 10.1039/c3ra44412k.Miniature curved artificial compound eyes
PNAS. 2013. Vol. 110, num. 23, p. 9332-9337. DOI : 10.1073/pnas.1219068110.Effect of mechanical parameters on dielectric elastomer minimum energy structures
2013. Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices (EAPAD), San Diego, USA, March 10, 2013. p. 86872V. DOI : 10.1117/12.2009368.Evolution of division of labor in artificial societies
Lausanne, EPFL, 2013.Hyper-flexible 1-D shape sensor
2013. The 17th International Conference on Solid-State Sensors, Actuators and Microsystems, Barcelona, Spain, June 16-20, 2013. p. 1899-1902. DOI : 10.1109/Transducers.2013.6627163.A Perching Mechanism for Flying Robots Using a Fibre-Based Adhesive
2013. ICRA 13, Karlsruhe, May 6-7, 2013. p. 4433-4438. DOI : 10.1109/ICRA.2013.6631206.2012
Quantifying information transfer through a head attached vibrotactile display: principles for design and control
IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering. 2012. Vol. 59, num. 7, p. 2011-2018. DOI : 10.1109/TBME.2012.2196433.Contactless deflection sensing of concave and convex shapes assisted by soft mirrors
2012. IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2012, Vilamoura, Algarve, Portugal, October 7-12, 2012. p. 4810-4815. DOI : 10.1109/IROS.2012.6385505.Historical contingency affects signaling strategies and competitive abilities in evolving populations of simulated robots
PNAS. 2012. Vol. 109, num. 3, p. 864-868. DOI : 10.1073/pnas.1104267109.An Active Connection Mechanism for Soft Modular Robots
Advanced Robotics. 2012. Vol. 26, num. 7, p. 785-798. DOI : 10.1163/156855312X626325.Vision Tape – a flexible compound vision sensor for motion detection and proximity estimation
IEEE Sensors Journal. 2012. Vol. 12, num. 5, p. 1131-1139. DOI : 10.1109/JSEN.2011.2166760.2011
Method for fabricating an artificial compound eye
AT538406; EP2306230; WO2011039062; EP2306230.
2011.