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soft robotics
From drinking straws to robots
Harvard Gazette
16 Jun 2017
By Peter Reuell, Harvard Staff Writer
At the beginning of the decade, George Whitesides helped rewrite the rules of what a machine could be with the development of biologically inspired “soft rob...
Finding the right morphology to simplify control for soft robotics
Martin Garrad
23 May 2017
The way animals move has yet to be matched by robotic systems. This is because biological systems exploit compliant mechanisms in ways their robotic cousins do not. However, recent advances in soft ro...
Meet the labs of NCCR Robotics: Paik Lab
NCCR Robotics
15 May 2017
Meet the NCCR Robotics Paik Lab (RRL, EPFL) - headed by Professor Jamie Paik, the lab is dedicated to creating interactive robotic systems using cutting edge manufacturing techniques. The lab speciali...
Smart grasping demonstrated at Automate and ProMat trade shows
Frank Tobe
18 Apr 2017
Tactile sensing and force feedback are - and have been - problem areas for robot grasping. Humans could see, select and pick so much faster. Yet to handle the millions of different everyday items in o...
42 companies empowering robots and humans to work side-by-side
Frank Tobe
31 Mar 2017
There is growing demand for more flexibility in factories and shops. Collaborative robotics, a sub-set of service robotics in labs, manufacturing and material handling, is where the action is today...
Worm-inspired material strengthens, changes shape in response to its environment
MIT News
21 Mar 2017
A new material that naturally adapts to changing environments was inspired by the strength, stability, and mechanical performance of the jaw of a marine worm. The protein material, which was designed ...
Yves Behar designs a security robot for Cobalt Robotics
Andra Keay and Silicon Valley Robotics
02 Mar 2017
Cobalt Robotics has launched their stylish security robot. The robot was designed by Yves Behar and as a fabric covered robot, it’s putting a new spin on soft robotics! Behar’s goal was to creat...
Transparent, gel-based robots can catch and release live fish
MIT News
02 Feb 2017
Engineers at MIT have fabricated transparent, gel-based robots that move when water is pumped in and out of them. The bots can perform a number of fast, forceful tasks, including kicking a ball underw...
Soft exosuit economies: Understanding the costs of lightening the load
Wyss Institute
30 Jan 2017
Last year, Harvard’s soft exosuit team provided first proof-of-concept results showing that its wearable robot could lower energy expenditure in healthy people walking with a load on their back. Mad...
Students develop cheap 3D printing technique for soft robotics
RoboValley
09 Nov 2016
By Jurjen Slump.
Students of Delft University of Technology have developed a new add-on for a 3D printer that can cast silicones inside a 3D printed shell during the printing process. This new, and...
A variable stiffness fiber that self-heals
NCCR Robotics
27 Oct 2016
A group from Floreano Lab, EPFL and NCCR Robotics has today published their novel variable stiffness fibre with self-healing capability.
Soft “hardware” components are becoming more and more po...
Introducing the Octobot: The first autonomous, entirely soft robot
Harvard SEAS
25 Aug 2016
By: Leah Burrows
A team of Harvard University researchers with expertise in 3D printing, mechanical engineering, and microfluidics has demonstrated the first autonomous, untethered, entirely soft r...
Natural scale caterpillar soft robot is powered and controlled with light
Robohub Editors
19 Aug 2016
Researchers at the Faculty of Physics at the University of Warsaw, using the liquid crystal elastomer technology, originally developed in the LENS Institute in Florence, demonstrated a bioinspired mic...
Are skintight suits the future of robotic exoskeletons?
Steve Davis
13 Jul 2016
Children with a rare neurological disease were recently given the chance to walk for the first time thanks to a new robotic exoskeleton. These devices – which are essentially robotic suits that give...
Using soft robots for artificial muscles
the National Science Foundation (NSF)
15 Jun 2016
Forget steel and aluminum. The robots of tomorrow may be able to squish, stretch and squeeze.
[focus11]
Novel robotic devices, part of the emerging field of soft robotics, offer many advances ov...
3-D printing hydraulically-powered robots, no assembly required
CSAIL MIT
06 Apr 2016
By Adam Conner-Simons | CSAIL
One reason we don’t yet have robot personal assistants buzzing around doing our chores is because making them is hard. Assembling robots by hand is time-consuming, ...
Soft spot for soft robots? Register for the 2016 Soft Robotics Competition
Harvard SEAS
11 Jan 2016
By Adam Zewe | SEAS
If you have a soft spot for robotics, this competition is right up your alley. With separate tracks for academic researchers, college students, and high school students, the...
Bioinspired robotics #2: Materials, manufacturing & design, with Robert Wood
Wyss Institute
09 Nov 2015
In the Disruptive Podcast series, Terrence McNally speaks directly with Wyss Institute researchers, exploring what motivates them and how they envision our future as might be impacted by their disrup...
Morphological computation: The hidden superpower of soft-bodied robots
Helmut Hauser and Adriana Hamacher
10 Sep 2015
Soft robots are versatile, often much safer, more energy-efficient, robust and resilient than their more rigid counterparts. But one of the biggest challenges facing soft robotics is control - often, ...
Soft robotics for adaptive building facades
ETH Zurich
09 Jun 2015
By Arno Schlüter
Today, building envelopes tend to be static and unable to adapt to changing conditions. Now, for the first time, an adaptable façade has been used for the newly inaugurated House o...
Two new soft robotics competitions announced by Soft Robotics Toolkit
Soft Robotics Toolkit
06 May 2015
The Soft Robotics Toolkit recently announced two competitions for robotics research and design. In July 2015, two expert panels will award prizes to soft robotics projects submitted by students, resea...
The real soft robots that inspired Baymax, with Chris Atkeson
Helmut Hauser
28 Apr 2015
Baymax, the lovable, inflatable robot star of Disney’s recent hit, Big Hero 6, is far from a movie fantasy. With their soft cushiony bodies, robots like Baymax have very real prospects as future car...
A startup perspective on exhibiting at CES
Bill Culley, Empire Robotics
12 Jan 2015
Exhibiting at big events takes both time and money. [tweetquote]Is it worth it for a robotics startup to invest in big expos like CES?[/tweetquote] We asked Bill Culley of Empire Robotics - the comp...
Robot Startup Series #7: Interview with Soft Robotics’ Carl Vause
Andra Keay
18 Dec 2014
[tweetquote]Soft robotics is finally leaving the research lab and entering the real world. [/tweetquote] One of the companies leading the way is a Boston-based startup that is commercializing the inn...
Phase-changing material could allow even low-cost robots to switch between hard and soft states | MIT News
Hallie Siegel
15 Jul 2014
http://youtu.be/aozu2C9Kmlg
Read more on MIT News...
Self-contained soft-bodied robotic fish
Daniel Faggella and TechEmergence
19 Mar 2014
What looks like a fish, swims like a fish but isn’t a fish? The latest in soft-bodied robots created by team of engineers of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) at th...
ShanghAI Lectures 2013, Lecture 6 – Soft Robotics and Bioinspiration II
Fabio Bonsignorio
24 Feb 2014
Lecture 6 - Soft Robotics and Bioinspiration II
In this second lecture hosted by the Scuola Superiore S. Anna, Matteo Cianchetti builds on the previous lecture to talk about building soft actuato...
ShanghAI Lectures 2013, Lecture 5 – Soft Robotics and Bioinspiration I
Fabio Bonsignorio
17 Feb 2014
Lecture 5 - Soft Robotics and Bioinspiration I
Hosted by Prof. Cecilia Laschi from the Scuola Superiore S. Anna in Pisa, Italy, this ShanghAI episode puts together contrasting approaches to ‘emb...
ShanghAI Lectures 2012: Lecture 5 “Design principles for intelligent systems (part 2)”
Nathan Labhart
24 Mar 2013
This is the second part of the “Design Principles for Intelligent Systems” ShanghAI Lecture. After Rolf Pfeifer’s class, Barry Trimmer (Tufts University, USA) gives a guest presentation about so...
