Exploiting short-term memory in soft body dynamics as a computational resource

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that soft body dynamics, such as those of a silicone arm, can be used as a computational resource with inherent short-term memory, enabling functions like control and memory emulation in soft robotics.

Contribution

It shows that soft body dynamics can be exploited for computation and control, revealing their potential as passive computational resources in robotics.

Findings

Soft silicone arm dynamics can emulate memory-dependent functions.

Soft body dynamics possess inherent short-term memory.

Passive body dynamics can be used for control in underactuated systems.

Abstract

Soft materials are not only highly deformable but they also possess rich and diverse body dynamics. Soft body dynamics exhibit a variety of properties, including nonlinearity, elasticity, and potentially infinitely many degrees of freedom. Here we demonstrate that such soft body dynamics can be employed to conduct certain types of computation. Using body dynamics generated from a soft silicone arm, we show that they can be exploited to emulate functions that require memory and to embed robust closed-loop control into the arm. Our results suggest that soft body dynamics have a short-term memory and can serve as a computational resource. This finding paves the way toward exploiting passive body dynamics for control of a large class of underactuated systems.