https://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/downloads/academic/The_Future_of_Employment.pdf

The future of employment: How susceptible are jobs to computerisation?

Conventionally, engineers have employed rigid materials to fabricate precise, predictable robotic systems, which are easily modelled as rigid members connected at discrete joints. Natural systems, however, often match or exceed the performance of robotic systems with deformable bodies. Cephalopods, for example, achieve amazing feats of manipulation and locomotion without a skeleton; even vertebrates such as humans achieve dynamic gaits by storing elastic energy in their compliant bones and soft tissues. Inspired by nature, engineers have begun to explore the design and control of soft-bodied robots composed of compliant materials. This Review discusses recent developments in the emerging field of soft robotics.

/pdf/design-fabrication-and-control-of-soft-robots-51z07seyl1.pdf

Design, fabrication and control of soft robots

A review of shape memory alloy research, applications and opportunities

Bilateral teleoperation: An historical survey

An untethered, entirely soft robot is designed to operate autonomously by combining microfluidic logic and hydrogen peroxide as an on-board fuel supply. Soft robotics have so far necessarily included some 'hard' or metallic elements, in particular in the form of batteries or wiring, to connect them to an external power source. Additionally, external wiring tethering them to a power source places limits on the autonomy of such robots. Now Jennifer Lewis and colleagues have combined a 3D-printed soft polymeric robot with microfluidic logic and hydrogen peroxide as an onboard fuel to produce an eight-armed robot — an 'octobot' — that actuates its arms, without the incorporation of any hard structures. The hydrogen peroxide decomposes in the presence of a platinum catalyst to produce oxygen and a volumetric expansion that fills bladders embedded within the arms of the octobot. The design of the fuel reservoirs, microfluidic channels and vents to release the gas means that two sets of arms actuate cyclically. Soft robots possess many attributes that are difficult, if not impossible, to achieve with conventional robots composed of rigid materials1,2. Yet, despite recent advances, soft robots must still be tethered to hard robotic control systems and power sources3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10. New strategies for creating completely soft robots, including soft analogues of these crucial components, are needed to realize their full potential. Here we report the untethered operation of a robot composed solely of soft materials. The robot is controlled with microfluidic logic11 that autonomously regulates fluid flow and, hence, catalytic decomposition of an on-board monopropellant fuel supply. Gas generated from the fuel decomposition inflates fluidic networks downstream of the reaction sites, resulting in actuation12. The body and microfluidic logic of the robot are fabricated using moulding and soft lithography, respectively, and the pneumatic actuator networks, on-board fuel reservoirs and catalytic reaction chambers needed for movement are patterned within the body via a multi-material, embedded 3D printing technique13,14. The fluidic and elastomeric architectures required for function span several orders of magnitude from the microscale to the macroscale. Our integrated design and rapid fabrication approach enables the programmable assembly of multiple materials within this architecture, laying the foundation for completely soft, autonomous robots.

/pdf/an-integrated-design-and-fabrication-strategy-for-entirely-4p2oed8f3w.pdf

An integrated design and fabrication strategy for entirely soft, autonomous robots

Gripping and holding of objects are key tasks for robotic manipulators. The development of universal grippers able to pick up unfamiliar objects of widely varying shape and surface properties remains, however, challenging. Most current designs are based on the multifingered hand, but this approach introduces hardware and software complexities. These include large numbers of controllable joints, the need for force sensing if objects are to be handled securely without crushing them, and the computational overhead to decide how much stress each finger should apply and where. Here we demonstrate a completely different approach to a universal gripper. Individual fingers are replaced by a single mass of granular material that, when pressed onto a target object, flows around it and conforms to its shape. Upon application of a vacuum the granular material contracts and hardens quickly to pinch and hold the object without requiring sensory feedback. We find that volume changes of less than 0.5% suffice to grip objects reliably and hold them with forces exceeding many times their weight. We show that the operating principle is the ability of granular materials to transition between an unjammed, deformable state and a jammed state with solid-like rigidity. We delineate three separate mechanisms, friction, suction, and interlocking, that contribute to the gripping force. Using a simple model we relate each of them to the mechanical strength of the jammed state. This advance opens up new possibilities for the design of simple, yet highly adaptive systems that excel at fast gripping of complex objects.

/pdf/universal-robotic-gripper-based-on-the-jamming-of-granular-1lfy77b5w6.pdf

Universal robotic gripper based on the jamming of granular material

This paper discusses the biomimetic design and assembly of a 3g self-contained crawling robot fabricated through the integrated use of various microrobot technologies. The hexapod structure is designed to move in an alternating tripod gait driven by two piezoelectric actuators connected by sliding plates to two sets of three legs. We present results of both the kinematic and static analyses of the driving mechanism that essentially consists of three slider cranks in series. This analysis confirmed the force differential needed to propel the device. We then review various other microrobot technologies that have been developed including actuator design and fabrication, power and control electronics design, programming via a finite state machine, and the development of bioinspired fiber arrays. These technologies were then successfully integrated into the device. The robot is now functioning and we have already fabricated three iterations of the proposed device. We hope with further design iterations to produce a fully operational model in the near future

/pdf/towards-a-3g-crawling-robot-through-the-integration-of-7k4iec8rkn.pdf

Towards a 3g crawling robot through the integration of microrobot technologies

Mobile microrobots with characteristic dimensions on the order of 1 cm are difficult to design using either microelectromechanical systems technology or precision machining. This is due to the challenges associated with constructing the high strength links and high-speed, low-loss joints with micron scale features required for such systems. Here, we present an entirely new framework for creating microrobots, which makes novel use of composite materials. This framework includes a new fabrication process termed smart composite microstructures (SCM) for integrating rigid links and large angle flexure joints through a laser micromachining and lamination process. We also present solutions to actuation and integrated wiring issues at this scale using SCM. Along with simple design rules that are customized for this process, our new complete microrobotic framework is a cheaper, quicker, and altogether superior method for creating microrobots that we hope will become the paradigm for robots at this scale.

Microrobot Design Using Fiber Reinforced Composites

The design and analysis of piezoelectric actuators is rarely optimized for low mass applications. However, emerging technologies such as micro air vehicles, and microrobotics in general, demand high force, high displacement, low mass actuators. Utilization of generic piezoceramics and high performance composite materials coupled with intelligent use of geometry and novel driving techniques yields low cost, rapidly prototyped, ultra-high energy density bending actuators for use in such applications. The design is based upon a laminate plate theory model for a stacked multimorph cantilever actuator, encompassing all possible layups, layer anisotropies, internal and external excitations, and intrinsic and extrinsic geometries. Using these principles, we have fabricated 12 mg PZT bimorph actuators with greater than 2 J kg −1 energy density. This gives a performance increase of an order of magnitude or greater compared to existing commercially available piezoelectric bending actuators.

Optimal energy density piezoelectric bending actuators

This work presents the design, fabrication, and testing of a novel hexapedal walking millirobot using only two actuators. Fabricated from S2-glass reinforced composites and flexible polymer hinges using the smart composite microstructures (SCM) process, the robot is capable of speeds up to 1 body length/sec or approximately 3 cm/s. All power and control electronics are onboard and remote commands are enabled by an IrDA link. Actuation is provided by shape memory alloy wire. At 2.4 g including control electronics and battery, RoACH is the smallest and lightest autonomous legged robot produced to date.

E. Steltz

Papers

Universal robotic gripper based on the jamming of granular material

Towards a 3g crawling robot through the integration of microrobot technologies

Microrobot Design Using Fiber Reinforced Composites

Optimal energy density piezoelectric bending actuators

RoACH: An autonomous 2.4g crawling hexapod robot