Collaborative Research: Elements: Discrete Simulation of Flexible Structures and Soft Robots

从碳纳米管到人类大小的软机器人，柔性和可变形的结构存在于下一代有前途的工程学科中。然而，这些机械系统的仿真通常很慢，而且仿真软件的使用也很有挑战性。此外，在常见的机器人研究和教育软件中，对柔性结构的模拟支持很少，仅限于专家使用智能软机器人。另一方面，计算机图形界开发了先进的软件来模拟头发和毛发等灵活的结构。最近的研究表明，这些计算机图形学方法可以比实时更准确地模拟软机器人和柔性结构。该项目开发了一个易于使用的开源软件平台，用于这些基于物理的柔性结构的快速模拟，并将该软件纳入国家网络基础设施生态系统。DiSMech软件可用于细长结构的力学研究、柔性机器人的自主性研究以及可变形机械的突破性设计。本工作的目标是将离散微分几何(DDG)仿真环境开发为能够建模软结构和柔性结构的广泛使用的软件包。DDG方法能够对组合成任意形状的细长杆和柔性壳进行低维建模，与计算昂贵的有限元分析(FEA)技术形成了实用但物理上仍准确的对比。这项工作首先为DiSMech开发了一个核心软件包，该软件包对先前的工作进行了调整，以满足国家网络基础设施的标准：可维护、可扩展，并具有强大的用户界面。接下来，通过将DiSMech整合到现有的机器人软件套件中，为一大类软而灵活的机器人构建了一个虚拟试验台。项目组将使用结合了机器学习方法的软件框架来开发运动策略，例如软机器人。最后，DiSMech的附加组件将把机器学习与基于DDG的物理模型结合在一起，以实现更快的模拟，展示该软件在揭示潜在物理现象方面的研究潜力。通过推进基于DDG的物理模拟来捕捉广泛的软而灵活的结构，以足够的计算速度来学习机器人控制，所有这些都在易于使用的界面中，DiSMech解决了国家网络基础设施中的一个重要缺口。该项目得到了计算机和信息科学与工程总局的高级网络基础设施办公室和工程局的土木工程、机械和制造创新以及电气、通信和网络系统部门的支持。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

From carbon nanotubes to human-size soft robots, flexible and deformable structures are present throughout the next generation of promising engineering disciplines. However, simulation of these mechanical systems is often slow, and simulation software is challenging to use. In addition, there is little support for simulating flexible structures in common robotics research and education software, limiting the use of intelligent soft robots to experts only. On the other hand, the computer graphics community has developed advanced software for simulating flexible structures like hair and fur. Recent research has shown these computer graphics approaches can accurately simulate soft robots and flexible structures faster than real-time. This project develops an easy-to-use open-source software platform for these fast physics-based simulations of flexible structures, and incorporates the software into the national cyberinfrastructure ecosystem. This software, DiSMech, can be used by researchers of all ages to investigate the mechanics of slender structures, autonomy for soft robots, and breakthrough designs for deformable machines.The objective of this work is to develop a discrete differential geometry (DDG) simulation environment into a widely-available software package capable of modeling soft and flexible structures. The DDG approach enables low-dimensional modeling of slender rods and flexible shells combined into arbitrary shapes, establishing a practical but still physically accurate contrast to computationally expensive finite element analysis (FEA) techniques. This work first develops a core software package for DiSMech that adapts prior work to meet the standard for national cyberinfrastructure: maintainable, extensible, and with a robust user interface. Next, a virtual testbed for a wide class of soft and flexible robots is built by incorporating DiSMech into an existing robotics software suite. The project team will use the combined software framework with a machine learning approach to develop a locomotion strategy for example soft robots. Finally, add-ons to DiSMech will incorporate machine learning alongside the DDG-based physics models for even faster simulations, demonstrating the research potential for this software in uncovering underlying physical phenomena. By advancing DDG-based physics simulations to capture a wide range of soft and flexible structures, with a computational speed sufficient for learned robot control, all in an easy-to-use interface, DiSMech addresses an important gap in the national cyberinfrastructure.This project is supported by the Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure in the Directorate for Computer & Information Science & Engineering and the Divisions of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation and Electrical, Communications and Cyber Systems in the Directorate of Engineering.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.