Simulation, Sensing and Control of Soft Robots

Researchers have devoted to developing a variety of soft robotic systems in the laboratory to take advantage of compliance introduced by soft materials. While being able to mimic natural systems and building compatible robots working together with humans, the challenge of lacking computational tools in design also dampens the development of soft robotics in industrial applications. Specifically, the design and control practices taken in soft robotics at present are mainly based on intuition and trial-and-error empirical tests. In this talk, I am going to introduce our recent work to overcome these challenges by simulating, sensing and controlling the motion of soft robots. The effectiveness of our approach has been verified on pneumatic-driven soft robots for path following, interactive positioning and target-based deformation control.

CPII is pleased to invite Professor Charlie C. L. Wang, the Chair Professor of Smart Manufacturing at the University of Manchester (UoM), to introduce his recent work to overcome these challenges by simulating, sensing and controlling the motion of soft robots in-person at Hong Kong Science Park. The effectiveness of his approach has been verified on pneumatic-driven soft robots for path following, interactive positioning and target-based deformation control.

The whole talk can be reviewed shortly. Please stay tuned.