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

哈佛大学和纽约城市大学被授予开发一种新的仪器，用于对柔软或脆弱的生物进行精细的水下深海操纵。深海珊瑚礁和整个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，科学家直到最近才能获得这些热点。然而，尽管进入这些环境的机会越来越多，但生物收集以及这些环境的分子生物学和生化分析仍然具有极大的挑战性。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。商业上可用的深海操纵系统旨在执行繁重的机械工作(即建造或管道维护)，不适合执行微妙的任务，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，并将模拟操作员的手臂和手的动作，以实现快速、灵活和精细的交互。对用户的反馈、多尺度软结构的集成以及可防止易碎样品损坏的毛发状反馈和执行器控制系统的开发是这一新型机械臂的关键方面。非传统的双边控制软件和水下执行器具有创新性，带有多个夹爪的模块化设计使该系统在广泛的生物采样中具有极大的灵活性。抓取表面将包含微尺度的表面纹理，将对微妙的生物样本的损害降至最低。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点。通过对这个几乎未知的环境进行采样，该仪器将使分子和细胞生物学、海洋生物学和生物化学研究社区受益。

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.