Soft robotics is a new branch of robotics that aims at creating robots that are compliant. The robot's compliance is usually obtained by using materials that are intrinsically soft, or through particular assembly techniques of rigid materials.
Simply put, we can use soft polymers such akin to natural rubber to design robots, or more rigid materials such as high strength fibers but knit them in a way that make a piece of fabric capable of deformation.
Soft robotics aims at creating safer, more adaptable and cheaper robots.
Because they are designed differently, soft robots do not aim at solving the same issues as traditional robots.
Traditional robots usually operate in factories and perform highly repetitive tasks. For example, in a factory lifting and assembling a car frame.
Soft robotics rather aim at bringing robotics closer to our everyday life and to solve problems that previously could not be addressed by robotics.
Our environment is filled with soft devices. The clothes & shoes you wear, the mattress you sleep on, the chair you sit on or the bag you carry.
All these things are soft precisely because our bodies are relatively soft as well. Sleeping on a hard floor is uncomfortable. Wearing a medieval plated armor is also probably both unpractical and uncomfortable.
A good example of where soft robotics is relevant is when someone is wearing an exoskeleton. Indeed, wearing an exoskeleton is akin to wearing a robot. However, if this exoskeleton was solely made of metal, it would also be heavy, uncomfortable and probably quite dangerous.
It follows then that exoskeletons are an application where soft robotics is relevant.
Other relevant applications encompass healthcare and personal assistance, where robots are in close contact with humans, and dexterous manipulation, where robots may have to grab various objects without breaking them or letting them fall.
There are, however, numerous challenges before soft robotics is ubiquitous.
One of them is creating soft actuators. We know how to manufacture actuators and motors out of hard materials. However, these technologies are largely not applicable to soft materials.
This proposal's main goals were i) to design a new soft actuator boasting improved performances, and ii) to use this actuator in a soft wearable exoskeleton used to transmit tactile information.
The proposal was divided into 4 different objectives:
-Designing High Power Density, High Bandwidth Actuators
-Designing Soft Actuators
-Designing Compact & Efficient Actuators
-Manufacturing a Soft Wearable Haptic Exoskeleton
