Keynote speaker: Allison Okamura: Let's be flexible: Soft haptics and soft robotics

摘要

Summary form only given. While traditional robotic manipulators are constructed from rigid links and localized joints, a new generation of robotic devices are soft, using flexible, deformable materials. In this talk, I will describe several new systems that leverage softness to achieve novel shape control, provide a compliant interface to the human body, and access hard-to-reach locations. First, soft haptic devices change their shape and mechanical properties to allow medical simulation and new paradigms for human computer interface. They can be made wearable by people or by objects in the environment, as needed to assist human users. Second, superelastic materials and 3D-printed soft plastics enable surgical robots that can steer within the human body in order to reach targets inaccessible via the straight-line paths of traditional instruments. These surgical robots are designed on a patient- and procedure-specific basis, to minimize invasiveness and facilitate low-cost interventions in special patient populations. Third, everting pneumatic tubes are used to create robots that can grow hundreds of times in length, steer around obstacles, and squeeze through tight spaces. These plant-inspired growing robots can achieve simple remote manipulation tasks, deliver payloads such as water or sensors in search and rescue scenarios, and shape themselves into useful structures.