Project description
Advancing soft robot technology
RIPLEY will advance continuum soft robots' intelligence, enabling them to exploit large-area contacts and unlock applications from industrial inspection to healthcare. These robots will navigate complex structures, like an octopus manoeuvring through a reef, embracing surfaces to perform tasks once impossible. The ERC-funded RIPLEY project introduces a mathematical framework integrating control-oriented modelling, perception, estimation and closed-loop control. It addresses key challenges in regulating shape, pressure distribution and contact areas under contact-rich conditions. By leveraging contact-aware shape parametrisations and interaction models, RIPLEY delivers provably reliable solutions grounded in control theory, transforming robot-environment interaction and opening new frontiers in soft robotics.
Objective
RIPLEY will pioneer the next generation of soft robots, empowering them for the first time to establish, maintain, and exploit multiple large-area contacts. Imagine assessing and fixing damages deep into a huge turbine without disassembling it. Today, this task is impossible. Five years from now, RIPLEY's intelligent soft robots will be capable of squeezing themselves into a narrow opening and reaching deep into the mechanical structure - like an octopus elegantly finding its way through a complex riff, embracing the rocks with its whole body to reach for a pray.
These pragmatic outcomes will require a paradigm shift in the theory of soft robotic intelligence. Indeed, while on the one hand, soft robots are becoming increasingly capable of moving in free space, at the same, they fall short whenever simple environment-robot interactions arise. Critically, this limitation is the symptom of flows in the foundations of existing theories, and research in the field finds itself in a cul-de-sac from which it cannot get out by accumulating incremental steps.
RIPLEY will solve this impasse by rebuilding soft robotic intelligence from the ground up. A new class of dynamical systems stays at the core of this disruptive innovation, driven by two key enablers: control-oriented descriptions of large-area interactions and contact-aware shape parametrizations. With this mathematical framework, I will define entirely new perception and control challenges - estimation and regulation of shape, pressure, and contact areas - to which I will provide provably reliable closed-form solutions grounded in control theory.
With my fundamental contributions, I have already reshaped the understanding and application of soft robots' motor intelligence. With my experience, I will steer RIPLEY to transform soft machines again by bringing interaction-centric robots to life, unlocking applications from inspection to agriculture to healthcare.
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. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2024-STG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
2628 CN Delft
Netherlands
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.