ROBOSOFT WORKSHOP 2022: Healable Soft Robots
WORKSHOP DATE: 4 APRIL 2022
We accepted presentations on contributing abstracts of no longer than 10 minutes (+ 5 min Q&A) to be given at the workshop. Presentations can be done both physically or online.
SUBMIT YOUR CONTRIBUTING ABSTRACT via this LINK
PRESENTATIONS’ DEADLINE: 20 MARCH 2021
This event will be HYBRID. People attending ROBOSOFT 2022 at Edinburg can follow the workshop onsite at the McEwan Hall. Please note that attendees onsite need to be registered for ROBOSOFT 2022.
The workshop can also be followed online via a ZOOM link.
Workshop abstract
The intrinsic compliance of soft robots provides safety, a natural adaptation to its environment, allows to absorb shocks, and protects them against mechanical impacts. However, the soft materials used for their construction are susceptible to various types of damage, particularly in dynamic unpredictable environments in which the lifetime of these robotic systems will be limited. This vulnerability of soft robots is recently addressed by both materials and robotics scientists who use diverse, novel approaches to make soft robots resilient to damage. Latest developments in self-healing materials have enhanced both healing capacity and mechanical strength. This allowed to incorporate resilience on the material level in soft robots, constructed out of self-healing materials and able to heal from various macroscopic and microscopic damage. Resilience has been embedded on the robotic level as well, through redundant systems, self-repair mechanisms, and damage-compensatory behavior after self-diagnosis. Based on the emerging researches on soft sensors and even self-healing soft sensors, health monitoring systems can be incorporated in the soft robotic system. This workshop aims to build bridges between the novel fields of self-healing mechanisms, soft/damage sensors, and soft robotics, and discuss capabilities, limitations, requirements, and drivers among the three fields.
INVITED SPEAKERS
DESCRIPTION
We have invited seven speakers who have a proven record of excellence in their research in the new field of resilient and healable soft robots.
We are inviting workshop participants to submit their abstracts to this workshop, which will be hybrid (physical – online). Selected abstracts will be presented in a 10-minute-long presentations followed by a 5 minutes Q&A session. Presentations can be done onsite or online.
WORKSHOP INSPIRATIONS AND IDEAS
All biological organisms have internal mechanisms to handle unforeseen damages incurred to their body. Such capabilities are recently being introduced in their artificial counterparts, especially in the field of soft robotics.
This workshop intents to bring together material scientists that investigate self-healing mechanisms, researchers that investigate (healable) soft sensors and soft robotic researchers in order to share and discuss novel capabilities/algorithms, inherent limitations/constraints and requirements among these three fields to spur further developments in this novel multidisciplinary research on resilient and healable soft robots.
We believe that adding resilience or a healing capacity can have a major contribution in developing soft robotic components with extended lifetimes. Extending the lifetime is both economical, as maintenance and offline times can be reduced, as well as ecological.