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Soft Robotics in Healthcare: Challenges in Design and Control听听
21 May 2021
On 12 May we hosted our 7th WEISS symposium, this one around the theme of soft robotics for healthcare.
Soft Robotics is a fast-emerging field and听soft robotics systems听are increasingly听being applied to real-world situations.听However, there are still various challenges that need to be addressed to make soft robots more viable, particularly听in a clinical setting.听These challenges relate to both the design of soft robots 鈥� ensuring devices that are easily manufacturable and behave in a controllable manner听-听as well as听challenges associated with control strategies for soft robots that are in complex interaction with their environment.听
In this symposium, organised by Lukas听Lindenroth听and Agostino听Stilli,听world-leading researchers in the field听presented听their work and demonstrated听how soft robotics could open new avenues into healthcare technologies. You can watch the recording of the symposium below:
The symposium opened with听Dr Moritz听B盲cher,听Head of听Computational听Design and Manufacturing听at听Disney Research.听
He discussed听and demonstrated听the听benefits of using differentiable simulation to address听optimization problems听when听designing and controlling soft听robots. (Mortiz鈥檚听talk was unable to be recorded, however听).听听 听 听
Dr Christian听Duriez,听Research director at INRIA, France, spoke about unified modelling of soft robots and soft tissues听using the SOFA framework.听Soft robots and soft tissues have similar properties听such as high compliance and formations with large displacements which means that similar numerical models can be used.听.听His colleagues听Eulalie听Coevoet听and Stefan听Escaida听Navarro听were also present at the symposium to answer听questions from the audience.听听
Dr Egidio听Falotico听(Scuola听Superiore听Sant鈥橝nna, Italy)听gave his presentation on learning-based controllers for soft continuum robots.听Continuum robots are used in several applications however present a particular challenge when it comes to control due to听their hyper-redundant structures听and difficulties听when it comes to modelling due to under-actuation听which machine learning could address. 听
Dr Sheila Russo听(Boston University, US) discussed soft robots for advances听in听interventional endoscopy听-听using听soft, multiscale robotics systems to help听tackle some of the challenges faced when performing minimally invasive procedures听(such as听needing to make an incision) and听therefore helping听to improve outcomes and recovery times for patients.听
Dr George听Mylonas听and Dr James Avery听(both Imperial College London)听gave a joint talk titled 鈥楽oft medial robots: necessity, not hype鈥�.听George gave insights听into听a听deployable,听cable driven parallel manipulator for听robotic control of endoscopic听instruments听which aims听to听mitigate听some of听the challenges posed by tendon driven continuum robots听(such as limited traction forces and poor controllability). James听demonstrated his work on electrical impedance tomography to perform sensing in soft听robots.听
The final talk was given by听Dr Tommaso听Ranzani听(Boston University, US) who听talked about developing complex multi-scale soft biomedical devices for advanced minimally invasive interventions.听He also touched on some of the听challenges involved in increasing the听complexity听of听miniature听soft robots.听
The symposium attracted听61 attendees from 17 different countries, which brings the total number of attendees of our WEISS symposia to听almost 1200! Registration is now open for our next symposium on 17 June 2021 titled '' - register now!