Lecture 10 - Soft robotics Flashcards
Soft robotics
What is soft robotics?
Aggregations of soft blocks (voxels)
Soft robotics
What is a voxel?
A 3D pixel, a “soft block”, a building block in soft robotics
Soft robotics
What can you tell a voxel to do?
Change its volume
Soft robotics
How is voxel volume changed? (2)
1) Control signal from brain
2) External forces
Soft robotics
What are voxels similar to?
Muscle tissue
Soft robotics
Why apply soft robotics?
Better at certain tasks than rigid robots.
Soft robotics
What does it mean when we say soft robotics is modular?
- Soft robotics is reusable.
- Easier realization and assembling
Soft robotics
What inspires voxel-based soft robotics?
Living beings
Soft robotics
How is “soft robotics” smart?
Through the combination of the simple behaviors of each module or voxel in aggregate.
Soft robotics
What are some ways to assemble soft robotics? (FPML)
- Silicone foam rubber + pressure modulation
- Silicone + pneumatics
- Silicone + magnets
- Living matter
Soft robotics
What is a sinusoidal controller?
Each voxel’s volume varies with a sinusoidal function.
Soft robotics
What is the drawback of sinusoidal control?
No environment sensing/feedback
Soft robotics
How are ANNs used for soft robotics?
Either one ANN per robot or per voxel.
Soft robotics
What a drawback of using ANNs VSR robots (not voxels)?
It’s not modular/easy to reuse.
Soft robotics
How does one ANN per voxel work?
The ANN is connected to the voxel and its neighbors.
