28 accepted papers
Variable stiffness structures are essential in soft wearable robotics, where both flexibility and load-bearing capacity are required within a single design. However, achieving stiffness profiles with user-defined degrees of freedom (DoFs) remains a major challenge. This paper presents a systematic,
The development of soft pneumatic actuators has expanded their applications due to flexibility and adaptability in wearable systems. Among these, flat inflatable artificial muscles (FIAMs) show a significant potential for wearable robots designed to assist body movements. While existing devices focu
Soft sensors, known for physical compliance and robustness against repeated large deformations, have made significant contributions to the field of human-robot interaction. Many of soft sensors incorporate multiple sensing mechanisms combined for multi-modal sensing, and are capable of decoupling di
This letter presents an automated sewing system designed for smart garment manufacturing, incorporating machine vision capabilities into a custom-built sewing machine. The vision system captures an image of the fabric pattern placed between two acrylic plates with a small opening, utilizing a deep l
Soft actuators with a function of variable stiffness are beneficial to the improvement of the adaptability of robots, expanding the application areas and environments. We propose a tendon-driven soft bending actuator that can change its stiffness using fiber jamming. The actuator is made of an elast
We present a novel design for a multi-fingered robotic gripper, featuring underactuation and fiber-optically sensorized tendons for force sensing, inspired by the Golgi tendon organs found in biological muscles. Our robotic gripper comprises three rigid fingers, each with three joints: the metacarpo
Soft magnetic sensors for tactile and pressure sensing based on the intensity change of the magnetic field has been drawing attentions recently due to the simplicity in manufacturing using commercial Hall effect sensors with high linearity and sensitivity. However, these sensors usually show relativ
Stretchable electronics are becoming popular due to their high adaptability to various environments and durability against external forces. We propose a method of designing and fabricating stretchable electronics using a multi-material conductive elastomer structure embedded with silver (Ag) powders
Variable stiffness mechanisms establish a bridge between rigid, precise robots and soft, compliant robots. In certain applications it is necessary to exert high forces while having compliance, such as in wearable robots, high payload soft grippers, and manipulators. Negative pressure based jamming a
Mechanically compliant systems have become one of the major concerns in robotics recently. Along with advanced control techniques, various designs of compliant actuators have been steadily proposed for taking advantages of shock absorption, low reflected inertia, and capability of energy storage. On
We propose a soft robotic gripper that can handle various types of fabrics with delicacy for applications in the field of garment manufacturing. The design was inspired by the adhesion mechanism of a parasitic fish called `lamprey'. The proposed gripper not only is able to pick up and hold a single
In this paper, we present a new class of Markov decision processes (MDPs), called Tsallis MDPs, with Tsallis entropy maximization, which generalizes existing maximum entropy reinforcement learning (RL). A Tsallis MDP provides a unified framework for the original RL problem and RL with various types…
Soft mobile robots have shown great potential in unstructured and confined environments by taking advantage of their excellent adaptability and high dexterity. However, there are several issues to be addressed, such as actuating speeds and controllability, in soft robots. In this letter, a new vibra
Soft robotics has proven the capability of robots interacting with their environments including humans by taking advantage of the property of high compliance in recent years. Soft pneumatic actuators are one of the most commonly used actuation systems in soft robotics. However, control of a highly c
Recent research on mobile robots has focused on increasing their adaptability to unpredictable and unstructured environments using soft materials and structures, and pneumatic actuators have been widely used in soft mobile robots. In spite of their advantages, existing pneumatic actuators have limit
We propose a soft robotic ankle-foot-orthosis for poststroke patients, which is inexpensive, lightweight, easy to wear, and capable of gait assistance for rehabilitation not only in the clinic but also in daily life. The device includes a 3D-printed flexible brace and an ankle support that allows na
Many of the tasks that require a high level of autonomy in complex and dangerous situations are still done by human operators with a high risk of accidents. Although various remotely controlled robot systems have been proposed, the remote operation has limitations in performance and efficiency compa
Nowadays, the use of deep learning for the calibration of soft wearable sensors has addressed the typical drawbacks of the microfluidic soft sensors, such as hysteresis and nonlinearity. However, previous studies have not yet resolved some of the design constraints such as the sensors are needed to
As the use of soft robotics and soft actuators becomes more popular, there is also an increased need for soft sensors that can perform robustly under various extreme conditions. While some applications find ultrathin flexible sensors sufficient, like electronic skin and wearable devices, there is st
The advances in soft robotics have increased the need of soft sensors in various applications involved with physical interactions between humans and robots. In this letter, we propose a soft multiaxis force sensor made of multimaterial elastomer layers and embedded microfluidic channels that are sen
Soft artificial skin sensors that can detect contact forces as well as their locations are attractive in various soft robotics applications. However, soft sensors made of polymer materials have inherent limitations of hysteresis and nonlinearity in response, which makes it highly difficult to implem…
Recent advancements of technologies in human-robot interaction (HRI) significantly expanded the applications of robots from specialized areas to our daily lives. However, safety is not always guaranteed in traditional robots since they are mostly made of rigid materials and structures, which cause s
Soft sensors made of highly deformable materials are one of the enabling technologies to various soft robotic systems, such as soft mobile robots, soft wearable robots, and soft grippers. However, major drawbacks of soft sensors compared with traditional sensors are their nonlinearity and hysteresis
Presented are techniques for designing, modeling, and control of reliable pneumatic artificial muscle actuators with integrated low profile sensors for position feedback. The sensor is fabricated through a three-dimensional manufacturing process based on a modified lathe approach for controlling vis…
Soft Pneumatic Actuators (SPAs) have recently become popular for use as fingers in robotic hands because of their inherent compliance, low cost, and ease of construction. We seek to overcome two key limitations which limit SPAs' abilities to grasp and manipulate objects: 1) Current SPAs lack positio
We present the design, fabrication, and characterization of a fiber optically sensorized robotic hand for multi purpose manipulation tasks. The robotic hand has three fingers that enable both pinch and power grips. The main bone structure was made of a rigid plastic material and covered by soft skin…
Recent advances in soft sensors using microfluidic liquid conductors enabled sensing of large deformation of soft structures. However, the use of liquids as conductive media carries a risk of leakage in many cases. Furthermore, it could be harmful when exposed to the human body in certain applicatio…
This paper describes the design and manufacturing of soft artificial skin with an array of embedded soft strain sensors for detecting various hand gestures by measuring joint motions of five fingers. The proposed skin was made of a hyperelastic elastomer material with embedded microchannels filled w…