Project description
Advancing the future of soft robotics
In the evolving field of soft robotics, there is a critical need for experts who can manipulate material properties using magnetic fields. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the MAESTRI project will address this demand through a comprehensive doctoral network dedicated to training the next generation of specialists in magnetic soft robotics. Specifically, it will bring together a consortium of academic and industrial partners from diverse disciplines such as biology, materials science, and robotics. Together, they will work to develop mobile robots and gripping devices that use elastomers and liquids filled with magnetic particles. By investigating the relationships among synthesis, structure, and properties of magnetic soft matter, MAESTRI will pave the way for innovative prototypes.
Objective
This doctoral network (DN) responds to the existing demand for training of a new generation of experts in the emerging sub-field of soft robotics relying on the control of material properties by a magnetic field – magnetic soft robotics. Materials involved are elastomers and complementary liquids, filled with micro- and nanometer-sized magnetic particles. Because the technical problems and tasks involved are complex and require knowledge from different fields of science and technology, the consortium is composed of 7 academic and 2 industrial beneficiaries originating from biology, materials science, physics and robotic engineering. Further 3 associated partners are involved in research and transferable-skills training. The research program will be directed towards demonstration of a number of mobile robots and robot gripping devices with the necessary electronic and control systems, where the essential functional parameters (e.g. the friction coefficient of the robot shoe or the stiffness of the finger joint, etc.) are controlled by permanent or electro-magnets. On the way to the functional prototypes, the synthesis-structure-properties relationships of magnetic soft matter are to be investigated both experimentally and theoretically, because, hitherto, the required dependencies are not available and the underlying physical phenomena are not completely understood. The mechanical part of the soft mobile robots with integrated magnetic soft matter, the necessary electrical and magnetic control circuits, and the adaptive control algorithms for real-time magnetic field tuning and robot behavior generation are to be developed. The carefully designed training program will provide the necessary minimum of interdisciplinary specialist knowledge to all doctoral candidates and prepare them for meeting the challenges in their subsequent careers be that in academia, industry or as entrepreneurs, e.g. by obligatory exposure to industrial environment during secondments.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
- social scienceseconomics and businessbusiness and managemententrepreneurship
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringrobotics
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Programme(s)
- HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Main Programme
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-DN - HORIZON TMA MSCA Doctoral NetworksCoordinator
93053 Regensburg
Germany