NRI/Collaborative Research: Robust Design and Reliable Autonomy for Transforming Modular Hybrid Rigid-Soft Robots

NRI/合作研究：用于改造模块化混合刚软机器人的稳健设计和可靠自主性

• 批准号: 2327702
• 负责人: Isuru Godage
• 金额: $ 28.16万
• 依托单位: Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-01-15 至 2025-02-28
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2327702&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: NRI; Collaborative; Research; Robust; Design

Soft robots are a promising technology for exploration tasks and have shown great potential for unlocking the secrets of biological creatures and creating adaptable, versatile, and human-friendly robots. On the other hand, rigid robots offer many advantages in terms of precision and ease of control. The novel hybrid robot design considered in this project will combine these two technologies to provide the advantages of both. This grant supports research to produce new knowledge related to modular design and reliable human-robot collaboration using this hybrid design paradigm. The new modular robots will be able to adapt to new environments, move across varied terrains, and operate in a wide variety of environmental conditions. This project will result in improved robotic capability for exploration of difficult terrains such as those found during search and rescue, inspection, surveillance, and reconnaissance. The new robot capabilities will also benefit future extra-terrestrial missions. The project includes summer research opportunities for undergraduate students and educational outreach activities to K-12 students to support soft robotics education.The research supported by this grant will significantly advance the state-of-the-art in the theory and practice of soft robots by creating novel and hybrid (incorporating both stiff and soft elements) physical hardware designs to offset limitations of each individual technology. The research tasks are aimed at advancing the seamless integration and operation of non-collocated human-robot teams and are aligned in two thrusts. The first thrust considers modular design for extreme environments using low-degree-of freedom modules connected by reversible, completely sealed permanent magnet connectors. Modules communicate with each other via wireless protocols to enable distributed control algorithms. Dynamic modeling and simulation are used to discover a hybrid locomotion strategy based on a learning central pattern generator. The project also creates motion planning algorithms for bioinspired, topologically reconfigurable soft robots. The second thrust focuses on reliable non-collocated human robot collaboration, including high-level teleoperation, topological transformation strategies to mitigate module failures, automatic gait re-selection based on fault diagnosis techniques, and a consensus decision-making system to enable functional modules to disable nonfunctional ones.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.

软机器人是一项探索任务的有前途的技术，并且显示出巨大的潜力，可以解锁生物生物的秘密并创建适应性，多功能和人类友好的机器人。另一方面，刚性机器人在精确和易于控制方面具有许多优势。该项目中考虑的新型混合机器人设计将结合这两种技术，以提供两者的优势。这项赠款支持使用此混合设计范式提供与模块化设计和可靠的人类机器人协作有关的新知识。新的模块化机器人将能够适应新的环境，跨各种地形移动，并在各种环境条件下运行。该项目将提高机器人能力，以探索困难的地形，例如在搜救，检查，监视和侦察过程中发现的艰难地形。新的机器人功能还将受益于未来的事前任务。该项目包括本科生的夏季研究机会和向K-12学生提供支持软机器人教育的教育外展活动。该赠款支持的研究将通过创建新颖的和混合（既包含刚性和软件）的物理硬件设计，从而大大推动软机器人理论和实践的最新技术。研究任务旨在推进未接缝的人类机器人团队的无缝整合和运行，并以两个推力对齐。第一个推力使用可逆的，完全密封的永久磁铁连接器连接的低度自由模块，考虑了极端环境的模块化设计。模块通过无线协议相互通信，以启用分布式控制算法。动态建模和仿真用于发现基于学习中心模式发生器的混合运动策略。该项目还为生物启发的，拓扑配置的软机器人创建了运动计划算法。第二个推力重点是可靠的非集中人体机器人协作，包括高级远程操作，拓扑转换策略，以减轻模块故障，基于故障诊断技术的自动步态重新选择，以及共识决策系统，以启用功能模块来启用功能模块，以启用非功能性的奖励。智力优点和更广泛的影响审查标准。

项目成果

Wheelless Soft Robotic Snake Locomotion: Study on Sidewinding and Helical Rolling Gaits

无轮软机器人蛇运动：侧绕和螺旋滚动步态研究

• DOI: 10.1109/robosoft55895.2023.10121918
• 发表时间: 2023
• 期刊: 2023 IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft
• 作者: Arachchige, Dimuthu D.;Perera, Dulanjana M.;Mallikarachchi, Sanjaya;Kanj, Iyad;Chen, Yue;Godage, Isuru S.
• 通讯作者: Godage, Isuru S.

Soft Steps: Exploring Quadrupedal Locomotion With Modular Soft Robots

• DOI: 10.1109/access.2023.3289156
• 发表时间: 2023
• 期刊: IEEE Access
• 影响因子: 3.9
• 作者: Dimuthu D. K. Arachchige;Dulanjana M. Perera;S. Mallikarachchi;Umer Huzaifa;Iyad A. Kanj;I. Godage

Decentralized Data Collection via Swarm Contracts: Study on Crowd-Sourced Google Maps

• DOI: 10.1109/iccar57134.2023.10151727
• 发表时间: 2023-04
• 期刊: 2023 9th International Conference on Control, Automation and Robotics (ICCAR)
• 作者: S. Mallikarachchi;Bonnie Ho;Iyad A. Kanj;O. Seneviratne;I. Godage

Dynamic Control of Soft Robotic Arm: An Experimental Study

• DOI: 10.1109/lra.2023.3243802
• 发表时间: 2022-09
• 期刊: IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters
• 影响因子: 5.2
• 作者: Milad Azizkhani;Anthony L. Gunderman;I. Godage;Yue Chen

Study on Soft Robotic Pinniped Locomotion

软体机器人鳍足类运动研究

• DOI: 10.1109/aim46323.2023.10196209
• 发表时间: 2023
• 期刊: 2023 IEEE/ASME International Conference on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics (AIM
• 作者: Arachchige, Dimuthu D.;Varshney, Tanmay;Huzaifa, Umer;Kanj, Iyad;Nanayakkara, Thrishantha;Chen, Yue;Gilbert, Hunter B.;Godage, Isuru S.
• 通讯作者: Godage, Isuru S.