Robots composed of highly deformable matter such as fluids, gels, and elastomers, with soft actuators such as shape memory alloys (SMAs) and soft sensors such as artificial skin with touch and temperature receptors, comprise a new generation of robots that are capable of flexible movements and delicate interactions. Such robots have extensive potential uses in healthcare applications, robotic exploration tasks, and cooperative human assistance. Soft robotic arms, in particular, have several advantages compared to their rigid counterparts, including high manipulability and maneuverability and providing safe interaction with humans.
The main objectives of this project are to design, construct, model, and control a soft robotic arm for different applications. We are developing kinematic and dynamic models and decentralized control strategies for a multi-segment soft robotic arm which is actuated by hydrogels.
Publications
[PDF] Amir Salimi Lafmejani, Azadeh Doroudchi, Hamed Farivarnejad, Ximin He, Daniel Aukes, Matthew M. Peet, Hamid Marvi, Rebecca E. Fisher, and Spring Berman. Kinematic Modeling and Trajectory Tracking Control of an Octopus-Inspired Continuum Robot. IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L), 5(2):3460-3467, April 2020.
[PDF] Azadeh Doroudchi, Roozbeh Khodambashi, Amir Salimi Lafmejani, Daniel M. Aukes, and Spring Berman. Dynamic Modeling of a Hydrogel-based Continuum Robotic Arm with Experimental Validation. 2020 IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft), New Haven, CT, pp. 695-701.
[PDF] Amir Salimi Lafmejani, Hamed Farivarnejad, Azadeh Doroudchi, and Spring Berman. A Consensus Strategy for Decentralized Kinematic Control of Multi-Segment Soft Continuum Robots. 2020 American Control Conference (ACC), Denver, Colorado.
[PDF] Azadeh Doroudchi, Sachin Shivakumar, Rebecca E. Fisher, Hamid Marvi, Daniel Aukes, Ximin He, Spring Berman, and Matthew M. Peet. Decentralized Control of Distributed Actuation in a Segmented Soft Robot Arm. 2018 IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (CDC), Miami Beach, FL.