Fluidic Control for Soft Robotic Systems in Extreme Environments

开发能够与人互动的自主移动机器人取决于我们使用最佳工具完成工作的能力。每年都会开发新的有趣的方法来解决自主性和交互问题。然而，由于高昂的工程成本，我们一直无法将所有这些新技术集成到我们的系统中。我们需要重新考虑我们设计硬件的方式，考虑到其他目标(流体系统)，以使机器人专家能够访问定制硬件的设计。重要的是，我们要确定应用数字系统和软件工程最佳实践的机会，以开发用于机器人控制体系结构的自动化软件管道。与电子系统相比，流体系统具有独特的优势，使其适合于高辐射、电磁干扰和爆炸性环境的情况。流体技术减少了软机器人和液压机器人所需的控制线的数量，而软机器人和液压机器人分别是人类交互和高功率应用(例如建筑)所必需的。该项目的目标是开发集成的软和液压机器人系统，其具有流体而不是电子控制，以在极端环境中安全运行。

Developing autonomous mobile robots capable of human interaction depends on our ability to use the best tools for the job. New interesting approaches that tackle the problems of autonomy and interaction are developed every year. However, we have been unable to integrate all these new technologies into our systems due to high engineering costs. We need to rethink the way we design hardware considering other targets (fluidic systems) to make the design of custom hardware accessible to roboticists. It is important that we identify opportunities to apply digital systems and software engineering best practices to develop an automated software pipeline for control architectures of robots.Fluidic systems offer distinct advantages over electronics that make them suitable in situation with high radiation, electromagnetic interference, and explosive atmospheres. Fluidics reduce the number of control lines required both for soft and hydraulic robots which are necessary for human interaction and high-power applications (e.g. construction) respectively.To aim of this project is to develop integrated soft and hydraulic robotic systems which have fluidic, rather than electronic control for safe operation in extreme environments.