7 accepted papers
In this letter, we introduce a novel open source toolbox for design optimization in Soft Robotics. We consider that design optimization is an important trend in Soft Robotics that is changing the way in which designs will be shared and adopted. We evaluate this toolbox on the example of a cable-driv
The Finite Element Method (FEM) is a powerful modeling tool for predicting the behavior of soft robots. However, its use for control can be difficult for non-specialists of numerical computation: it requires an optimization of the computation to make it real-time. In this paper, we propose a learnin…
This letter aims at contributing to the sim2real challenge in soft robotics. We present a method for automatic finite element model calibration based on real data using quadratic programming optimisation. The method is generic and evaluated in this study to fit mechanical parameters from anisotropic
In rigid robotics, self-collision are usually avoided since it leads to a failure in the robot control and can also cause damage. In soft robotics, the situation is very different, and self-collisions may even be a desirable property, for example to gain artificial stiffness or to provide a natural
In this letter, we address the challenge of sensor fusion in Soft Robotics for estimating forces and deformations. In the context of intrinsic sensing, we propose the use of soft capacitive sensing to find a contact's location, and the use of pneumatic sensing to estimate the force intensity and the
In this letter, we propose to use new 3D-printed mesostructured materials to build soft robots and we present a modeling pipeline for design assistance and control. These meta-materials can be programmed before printing to target specific mechanical properties, in particular heterogeneous stiffness
In this letter, we introduce a new pneumatic mechanosensor dedicated to Soft Robotics and propose a generic method to reconstruct the magnitude of a contact-force acting on it. Changes in cavity volumes inside a soft silicon pad are measured by air-flow sensors. The resulting mechanosensor is charac