Introduction to Soft Robotics

APV751

Instructor: Prof. Sitikantha Roy

Dept. of Applied Mechanics
IIT Delhi
Important information
• Instructor: Prof. Sitikantha Roy
• Email: sroy@am.iitd.ac.in
• Office: Block 4, 243
• TAs: Rajnish Kumar, Saswath Ghosh, Umesh Gautam
• Email: Rajnish.Kumar@am.iitd.ac.in
• Web: Teams channel
• Mailing list: 2202-apv751@courses.iitd.ac.in
Introduction
• Conventional robots
• Industrial robots

Unimate Amazon's warehouse robots Collaborative factory robots

https://youtu.be/cLVCGEmkJs0

• Manipulator arm designed to perform repetitive tasks

Reference: https://robots.ieee.org/learn/types-of-robots/
Introduction
• Conventional robots
• Medical robots

da Vinci surgical robot da Vinci surgical robot RoBear

Reference:
https://robots.ieee.org/learn/types-of-robots/
https://medicalfuturist.com/8-exciting-medical-robot-facts/
Introduction
• Conventional robots
• Exoskeletons

Ekso exoskeleton Guardian XO Cyberdyne HAL

Reference: https://robots.ieee.org/learn/types-of-robots/
Introduction
• Conventional robots
• Precise and accurate
• Load/capacity
• Easy design

• Hard material with invariable properties

• EI: Feedback control strategies and sensor
• Discrete topology with finite DOF
• HMI: unsafe
• limited adaptability in unknown environment
• Conventional electronic and power source
• High weight and cost
Reference: https://www.analyticsinsight.net/soft-robotics-vs-hard-robotics-different/#:~:text=Where%20on%20one%20hand%20soft,hard%20materials%20with%20invariable%20properties.
 Introduction
• Soft robots

Soft exosuit Soft gripper Universal gripper

Soft robotic glove

https://youtu.be/ZVYz7g-qLjs Origami robot Octobot
Introduction
• Soft vs Rigid robots
Introduction
• Biomedical soft robots from a materials perspective
• Levels of biomimicry and biocompatibility

Cianchetti, Matteo, et al. "Biomedical applications of soft robotics." Nature Reviews Materials 3.6 (2018): 143-153.
Introduction
• Compliance matching
• Material rigidity: Elastic modulus

https://www.tudelft.nl/en/ide/research/technology/soft-robotics
Introduction
• Definition of Soft Robots:
• Bio-inspired structure and nature, can go large deformation
• Constructed with soft and deformable materials
• Silicone
• Plastic (Polymers)
• Fabric
• Rubber (Elastomers)
• Compliant mechanical parts like springs
Introduction
• Soft robots: An overview
Soft robots

Structure and Sensing

form factor system

Soft Control
Actuator strategies Polygerinos, Panagiotis, et al. "Soft robotic glove for hand rehabilitation and task specific
training." 2015 IEEE international conference on robotics and automation (ICRA). IEEE, 2015.
Introduction
• Structure and form factor
• Design
• Bio-inspiration design
• 3D printing
• Origami Soft gripper ( “starfish gripper”)
Whitesides, George M. "Soft robotics." Angewandte
Spine-inspired bistable soft actuators
Tang, Yichao, et al. "Leveraging elastic instabilities for amplified performance: Spine-

•
Chemie International Edition 57.16 (2018): 4258-4273. inspired high-speed and high-force soft robots." Science advances 6.19 (2020): eaaz6912.
Microfluidic

Origami Microfluidic
3D printing Shigemune, Hiroki, et al. "Origami robot: a self-folding paper robot with an electrothermal actuator
created by printing." IEEE/ASME Transactions On Mechatronics 21.6 (2016): 2746-2754.
https://www.elveflow.com/microfluidic-applications/setup-
microfluidic-flow-control/microfluidic-soft-robots/
Introduction
• Structure and form factor
• Smart Materials
• Self-sensing
• Self-actuation
• Computation
• Power storage
• Communication
• Embedded in the soft material
• Examples:
• Piezoelectric, magnetostrictive, and ferroelectric materials
• optical fibers
• electrorheological and magnetorheological fluids
• shape memory alloys, shape memory polymers
• electro-active polymers
• multifunctional nano-composites

Sun, Jian, et al. "Morphing aircraft based on smart materials and structures: A state-of-the-art review." Journal of Intelligent material systems and structures 27.17 (2016): 2289-2312.
Introduction
• Smart materials
• Properties

Sun, Jian, et al. "Morphing aircraft based on smart materials and structures: A state-of-the-art review." Journal of Intelligent material
systems and structures 27.17 (2016): 2289-2312.
Introduction
• Potential applications
• Human motor assistance and co-robotics
• Pneumatically powered humanoids, orthoses, and prosthetics
• Field of robots for search missions and data collections
• Drug delivery, minimally invasive surgery, and medical implants
Introduction
• Soft robotics ( video links)
Harvard Bio Design Lab
1. Mobility Enhancing Soft Exosuit at Harvard
https://youtu.be/aeDm5yFYt10

2. Soft robotic glove

https://youtu.be/Ef6Ebc8RtLQ
3. Octobot
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDohWwEXQ68
Introduction
• Soft robotics parallel work going on in our BSR lab

Soft exosuit Textile Pneumatic actuator TCA

Introduction
• Challenges
• Autonomy
• Adaptability
• Self-repair
• Durability
• energy efficiency