A Retrofit Sensing Strategy for Soft Fluidic Robots
Shibo Zou, Sergio Picella, Jelle de Vries, Vera Kortman, Aim\'ee, Sakes, Johannes T. B. Overvelde

TL;DR
This paper introduces a retrofittable fluidic sensing method for soft robots that measures input fluid to infer deformation, enabling sensing without design modifications, demonstrated through various tactile and control applications.
Contribution
A novel, versatile sensing strategy that retrofits existing soft fluidic devices to enable sensing without complex fabrication or design changes.
Findings
Effective tactile sensing of object properties
Successful retrofitting to various soft actuators
Robust closed-loop control for practical tasks
Abstract
Soft robots are intrinsically capable of adapting to different environments by changing their shape in response to interaction forces with the environment. However, sensing and feedback are still required for higher level decisions and autonomy. Most sensing technologies developed for soft robots involve the integration of separate sensing elements in soft actuators, which presents a considerable challenge for both the fabrication and robustness of soft robots due to the interface between hard and soft components and the complexity of the assembly. To circumvent this, here we present a versatile sensing strategy that can be retrofitted to existing soft fluidic devices without the need for design changes. We achieve this by measuring the fluidic input that is required to activate a soft actuator and relating this input to its deformed state during interaction with the environment. We…
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Taxonomy
TopicsSoft Robotics and Applications · Advanced Sensor and Energy Harvesting Materials · Modular Robots and Swarm Intelligence
