![]() In 15th International Symposium on Robotics Research (ISRR 2011) 1–16 (2011) Soft mobile robots with on-board chemical pressure generation. Deformation in soft-matter robotics: a categorization and quantitative characterization. ![]() Design, fabrication and control of soft robots. 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. ![]() The fluidic and elastomeric architectures required for function span several orders of magnitude from the microscale to the macroscale. 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 technique 13, 14. Gas generated from the fuel decomposition inflates fluidic networks downstream of the reaction sites, resulting in actuation 12. The robot is controlled with microfluidic logic 11 that autonomously regulates fluid flow and, hence, catalytic decomposition of an on-board monopropellant fuel supply. Here we report the untethered operation of a robot composed solely of soft materials. New strategies for creating completely soft robots, including soft analogues of these crucial components, are needed to realize their full potential. Yet, despite recent advances, soft robots must still be tethered to hard robotic control systems and power sources 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. The key implication of this work is that it “demonstrates the generality of nonlinear dynamic concepts such as the ability of the Rössler system, which is often studied in an abstract scenario,” Minati said, “but is used here as a basis to generate biologically plausible patterns.Soft robots possess many attributes that are difficult, if not impossible, to achieve with conventional robots composed of rigid materials 1, 2. “First, we use them to decode biological activity, then in the opposite direction to generate bioinspired activity,” he said. The researchers tap into the fundamental ideas of nonlinear dynamics twice. “This pattern is then used as a basis to influence the dynamics of the Rössler systems, which generate the walking pattern for the insect robot.” “Neuroelectrical activity from a person is recorded and nonlinear concepts of phase synchronization are used to extract a pattern,” said Minati. Their controller is built with an electroencephalogram to enable a brain-computer interface. This work shows that the Rössler system, beyond its many interesting and intricate properties, “can also be successfully used as a substrate to construct a bioinspired locomotion controller for an insect robot,” Minati said. ![]() For nonlinear systems, a change of output is not proportional to a change of input. In other words, irregularity can be added by making individual systems or the entire network more chaotic. Changing the gait or creating a new one can be accomplished by simply making small changes to the coupling and associated delays. The researchers started with a minimalistic network in which each instance is associated with one leg. “These networks, CPGs, are the basis of legged locomotion everywhere within nature,” he said. Phenomena related to synchronization allow the group to create very simple networks that generate complex rhythmic patterns. “The universal nature of underlying phenomena allowed us to demonstrate that locomotion can be achieved via elementary combinations of Rössler systems, which represent a cornerstone in the history of chaotic systems,” said Ludovico Minati, of Tokyo Institute of Technology and the University of Trento. In the journal Chaos, from AIP Publishing, the group describes using the Rössler system, a system of three nonlinear differential equations, as a building block for central pattern generators (CPGs) to control the gait of a robotic insect. View of the experimental robot and coupling schemes for its gaits. ![]() WASHINGTON, DecemResearchers in Japan and Italy are embracing chaos and nonlinear physics to create insectlike gaits for tiny robots - complete with a locomotion controller to provide a brain-machine interface.īiology and physics are permeated by universal phenomena fundamentally grounded in nonlinear physics, and it inspired the researchers’ work. Link to article: Generation of diverse insect-like gait patterns using networks of coupled Rössler systems ![]()
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