Controlling Soft Robots for Advanced Adaptivity and Versatility in Confined Spaces

Descrizione del progetto

Robot morbidi capaci di navigare in modo preciso e sicuro in spazi ristretti

I robot dotati di corpi morbidi e flessibili stanno trasformando il nostro approccio ai compiti più impegnativi da effettuare in spazi ristretti. Con il sostegno del programma di azioni Marie Skłodowska-Curie, il progetto Soft-Scout intende sviluppare un robot in grado di muoversi autonomamente ed eseguire operazioni precise in ambienti ristretti, dotato di un’elasticità che gli consentirà di muoversi in sicurezza in aree complesse, come motori di aerei e infrastrutture colpite da calamità. I ricercatori svilupperanno sistemi di controllo avanzati e framework di apprendimento per garantire precisione, affidabilità e adattabilità in condizioni reali. Testando queste innovazioni su un robot a forma di tentacolo, Soft-Scout si prefigge di ridurre lo sforzo umano e di aumentare la sicurezza in ambienti difficili.

Obiettivo

Access to confined spaces is highly crucial, whether for repairing hard-to-reach aircraft engine parts, performing minimally invasive surgeries, or inspecting infrastructure after severe weather events. The Soft-Scout (Controlling Soft Robots for Advanced Adaptivity and Versatility in Confined Spaces) project addresses these challenges by enabling a soft-bodied robot to autonomously navigate and accurately conduct tasks within confined areas, which leads to reduced human effort in these demanding environments and improved quality of inspection and maintenance. To address the complexity of a soft robotic system, the overarching objective of Soft-Scout is the development and deployment of the control and learning frameworks for a soft robot that provide guarantees for the robot’s precision and reliability, while equipping it with the autonomy and robustness to navigate unknown confined areas. Maja Trumic will carry out the Soft-Scout project under the supervision of Dr. Cosimo Della Santina at the Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands. The project is aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the European objectives (European Strategic Agenda and Horizon Europe Mission). Compared to state-of-the-art solutions, the elasticity of a soft robot’s body allows safe navigation through confined areas, while the proposed framework enables robust and dexterous operation with guaranteed precision and reliability margins. The Soft-Scout’s vision will be accomplished through three specific objectives: 1) an advanced shape control framework will enable a soft robot to perform various tasks; 2) the twofold learning strategy for autonomous navigation and robustness in confined space will endow a soft robot with the capability to deal with uncertainties in the real-world settings; and 3) the overall control and learning framework will be experimentally validated on a tentacle-shaped soft robot, collecting and integrating user feedback as well.