CAREER: A Modular, Embodied Control Strategy for Autonomous Soft Robots

这个教师早期职业发展（CAREER）奖将建立一个新的战略，实现软机器人的自主行为。近年来，软机器人受到了极大的关注，其顺应性对于敏感的、非结构化的或动态的应用是理想的，例如，医疗机器人、辅助技术和易碎部件制造。然而，在软机器人中，传感、控制和驱动可能很困难，因为它们的软体与传统的刚性电子设备的接口很差。此外，传统的机电一体化系统不太适合于控制软材料的大量自由度，并且可能与各种应用不兼容，例如，体内医学应用。在这项工作中，自主行为，如轨迹的决定将体现在软机器人本身通过刺激响应控制模块分布在整个机器人。控制模块响应于局部环境的集体动作可以对机器人的身体的形状及其致动行为产生很大的变化，从而对机器人的步态、轨迹和功能产生很大的变化。该奖项还将为来自农村和城市学区的宾夕法尼亚州高中教师提供软机器人和制造方面的培训。综合研究和教学计划将包括利用多材料3D打印构建自主软机器人的实用策略，以及代表性不足和第一代研究人员的更广泛参与。这项工作的目标是建立一种基于使用控制模块来调节软机器人的形状和/或气动逻辑的具体传感和控制策略。模块的激活和停用将由刺激响应材料（如液晶弹性体和磁致活性复合材料）自主调节，这些材料通过多材料3D打印与机器人集成。可以移动、添加或删除模块来重新编程分布式控制系统并改变机器人的行为。这项工作将使用两种类型的自定义软机器人，kirigami为基础的机器人和模块化滚动机器人的数值模拟和实验。具体的控制策略将被评估为机器人响应于多个输入（例如，该项目由跨部门的机器人基础研究项目支持，该项目由工程部（ENG）和计算机与信息科学与工程部（CISE）共同管理和资助。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award will establish a new strategy for achieving autonomous behaviors in soft robots. Soft robots have been of significant interest in recent years, with their compliance being ideal for sensitive, unstructured, or dynamic applications, e.g., medical robotics, assistive technologies, and manufacturing with fragile components. However, sensing, control, and actuation can be difficult in soft robots, with their soft bodies interfacing poorly with conventional, rigid electronics. Moreover, traditional mechatronic systems are not well-suited for controlling the large number of degrees of freedom of soft materials and may be incompatible with a variety of applications, e.g., in vivo medical applications. In this work, autonomous behaviors such as decisions about trajectory will be embodied in the soft robot itself via stimuli-responsive control modules distributed throughout the robot. The collective action of the control modules in response to the local environment can produce large changes to the shape of the robot’s body and its actuation behavior, and thereby to the gait, trajectory, and function of the robot. This award will also provide training in soft robotics and manufacturing to Pennsylvania high school teachers from rural and urban school districts. The integrated research and teaching plans will include practical strategies for building autonomous soft robots with multimaterial 3D printing and broader engagement of underrepresented and first-generation researchers.The objective of this work is to establish a strategy for embodied sensing and control based on the use of control modules that regulate the shape and/or pneumatic logic of soft robots. The activation and deactivation of the modules will be autonomously regulated by stimuli-responsive materials, such as liquid crystal elastomers and magnetoactive composites, that are integrated with the robot via multimaterial 3D printing. Modules could be moved, added, or removed to reprogram the distributed control system and change the behavior of the robot. This work will use both numerical simulations and experiments with two types of custom soft robots, a kirigami-based robot and a modular rolling robot. The embodied control strategy will be assessed as the robots autonomously navigate through the environment, changing path, and function in response to multiple inputs (e.g., heat and light).This project is supported by the cross-directorate Foundational Research in Robotics program, jointly managed and funded by the Directorates for Engineering (ENG) and Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE).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.