Collaborative Research: IDBR: TYPE A: Development of Squishy Robot Hands for a Delicate, Effective and Non-Intrusive Approach to Studying Deep Coral Reefs

授予哈佛大学和纽约城市大学一项奖项，以开发一种新的仪器，用于精细的水下深海操纵柔软或脆弱的生物体。深海珊瑚礁和一般深海环境是独特的生物多样性和遗传适应的热点，由于遥控潜水器和潜水器技术的进步，科学家们最近才能接触到这些生物多样性和遗传适应。然而，虽然越来越多的人可以进入这些环境，但这些环境的生物收集以及分子生物学和生物化学分析仍然极具挑战性。这一挑战的一个来源是目前在这些环境中使用的机器人收集臂。商业上可获得的深海操纵系统被设计成执行重型机械工作（即，这些设备通常用于建造或管道维护），并且不适合执行精细任务，例如收集脆弱的生物标本。该仪器的设计和建造细节将向公众公布。 新仪器基于软机器人，将在深海环境中实现无与伦比的采样。这种新仪器将安装在远程操作的车辆上，并将模仿操作员的手臂和手部动作，以实现快速，灵活和微妙的互动。反馈给用户，在多个尺度的软结构的集成，和头发样的反馈和致动器控制系统，将防止损坏脆弱的样品的发展是在这种新型的机械臂的关键方面。非传统的双边控制软件和水下致动器是创新的，与多个夹具的模块化设计，使该系统非常灵活的大范围的生物采样。夹持表面将包含微尺度表面纹理，以最大限度地减少对精细生物样品的损坏。该仪器在如此恶劣的深海环境中的长期稳健性也是一个重要特征。通过对这种大多未知的环境进行采样，仪器将有利于分子和细胞生物学，海洋生物学和生物化学研究社区。

An award is made to Harvard University and the City University of New York to develop a new instrument for delicate underwater deep sea manipulation of soft or fragile organisms. Deep coral reefs, and deep sea environments in general, are hotspots for unique biological diversity and genetic adaptions that have only recently become accessible to scientists due to advances in remotely operated vehicle and submersible technology. Yet, while there is increasing access to these environments, biological collection and the molecular biology and biochemical analysis of these environments is still highly challenging. One source of this challenge is the robotic collection arms currently used in these environments. Commercially-available deep sea manipulation systems are designed to perform heavy mechanical work (i.e., construction or pipeline maintenance) and are not geared to perform delicate tasks, such as the collection of fragile biological specimens. Details for the design and construction of this instrument will be made available to the public. The new instrument is based on soft robots and will enable unparalleled sampling in the deep sea environment. This new instrument will be mounted to remotely operated vehicles and will mimic the operator's arm and hand motions for quick, nimble, and delicate interactions. Feedback to the user, integration of soft structures at multiple scales, and the development of a hair-like feedback and actuator control system that will prevent damage to fragile samples are key aspects in this novel robotic arm. The non-traditional bilateral control software and underwater actuators are innovative, and the modular design with multiple grippers makes this system extremely flexible for wide range of biological sampling. The gripping surface will incorporate micro scale surface textures that minimize damage to delicate biological samples. The long term robustness of this instrument in such harsh deep sea environments is also an important feature. By sampling this mostly unknown environment the instrumentation will benefit the molecular and cellular biology, marine biology, and biochemistry research communities.