Objective The main obstacle to a wide-spread adoption of advanced manipulation systems in industry is their complexity, fragility, lack of strength, and difficulty of use. This project describes a path of disruptive innovation for the development of simple, compliant, yet strong, robust, and easy-to-program manipulation systems. The idea is: Soft Manipulation (SoMa).SoMa explores a new avenue of robotic manipulation with the environment, as opposed to manipulation of or in the environment. In our approach, the physical constraints imposed by objects in the environment and the manipulandum itself are not regarded as obstacles, but rather as opportunities to guide functional hand pre-shaping, adaptive grasping, and affordance-guided manipulation of objects. The exploitation of these opportunities, which we refer to as environmental constraints (EC), enables robust grasping and manipulation in dynamic, open, and highly variable environments.The key ingredient for the exploitation of EC is softness of hands, i.e. their embodied ability to comply and adapt to features of the environment. The traditional paradigm for robotic manipulation is in complete disarray in front of this shift of focus: state-of-the-art grasp planners are targeted towards rigid hands and objects, and attempt to find algorithmic solutions to inherently complex, often ill-posed problems. Further complicating matters, the requirement of planning for soft, uncertain interactions between hand and environment is entirely beyond the state of the art. However, this is how humans most often use their hands, and how we plan to change robotic manipulation. Fields of science agricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesagriculturehorticulturefruit growingengineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringroboticsautonomous robotsengineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringsensorsagricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesagriculturehorticulturevegetable growingnatural sciencescomputer and information sciencesartificial intelligenceheuristic programming Keywords grasping & manipulation embodied intelligence soft robotics hand design actuation control exploiting environmental constraints human grasping transfer human skills to robot Programme(s) H2020-EU.2.1.1. - INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies - Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Main Programme H2020-EU.2.1.1.5. - Advanced interfaces and robots: Robotics and smart spaces Topic(s) ICT-23-2014 - Robotics Call for proposal H2020-ICT-2014 See other projects for this call Sub call H2020-ICT-2014-1 Funding Scheme RIA - Research and Innovation action Coordinator TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAT BERLIN Net EU contribution € 1 690 482,50 Address Strasse des 17 juni 135 10623 Berlin Germany See on map Region Berlin Berlin Berlin Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Other funding € 0,00 Participants (6) Sort alphabetically Sort by Net EU contribution Expand all Collapse all UNIVERSITA DI PISA Italy Net EU contribution € 1 574 062,50 Address Lungarno pacinotti 43/44 56126 Pisa See on map Region Centro (IT) Toscana Pisa Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Other funding € 0,00 FONDAZIONE ISTITUTO ITALIANO DI TECNOLOGIA Italy Net EU contribution € 1 168 000,00 Address Via morego 30 16163 Genova See on map Region Nord-Ovest Liguria Genova Activity type Research Organisations Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Other funding € 0,00 DEUTSCHES ZENTRUM FUR LUFT - UND RAUMFAHRT EV Germany Net EU contribution € 820 740,00 Address Linder hohe 51147 Koln See on map Region Nordrhein-Westfalen Köln Köln, Kreisfreie Stadt Activity type Research Organisations Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Other funding € 0,00 INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AUSTRIA Austria Net EU contribution € 229 618,75 Address Am campus 1 3400 Klosterneuburg See on map Region Ostösterreich Niederösterreich Wiener Umland/Nordteil Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Other funding € 0,00 THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY (SWITZERLAND) GMBH Switzerland Net EU contribution € 25 500,00 Address Hoeschgasse 45 8008 Zurich See on map Region Schweiz/Suisse/Svizzera Zürich Zürich Activity type Private for-profit entities (excluding Higher or Secondary Education Establishments) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Other funding € 774 812,50 OCADO INNOVATION LIMITED United Kingdom Net EU contribution € 812 875,00 Address Buildings one & two trident place mosquito way AL10 9UL Hatfield See on map Region East of England Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Hertfordshire Activity type Private for-profit entities (excluding Higher or Secondary Education Establishments) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Other funding € 0,00