According to foreign media reports, researchers at Harvard University have developed a number of bionic software robots that can crawl, swim, grasp fragile items, and even help the heart beat, but none of them can sense and respond to the world around them.
However, soon this will become history.
Inspired by our physical sensory abilities, researchers at the Wyss Bioinspired Engineering Institute and the John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Science at Harvard University have developed a platform for creating software robots with embedded sensors that are perceivable Exercise, stress, touch, and even temperature.
The research results have been published in Advanced Materials.
The first author of the paper, Ryan Truby, a doctoral student who has just graduated from SEAS, said: "Our research represents a fundamental advancement in software robotics. Our manufacturing platform can easily integrate complex sensing patterns into flexible robot systems. ."
Integrating sensors into software robots has always been difficult because most sensors (such as those used in traditional electronics) are rigid. To address this challenge, researchers have developed an organic ionic liquid conductive ink that can be printed in 3D with a soft elastomer matrix that is the material of most soft robots.
Michael Wehner, a postdoctoral researcher and co-author of the SEAS and co-author of SEAS, said: "To date, most integrated sensor/actuator systems for soft robots are fairly simple. By printing ionic liquid sensors directly in these software systems, we design the equipment. And manufacturing opens up new ways that will eventually allow true closed-loop control of flexible robots."
Wehner is now an assistant professor at the University of California.
To make the device, researchers rely mainly on Jennifer Lewis at the Wyss Institute, the Sc. D. Core Faculty Lab and the Hansas Bioinspired Project at Hansj? Prof. rgWyss's lab developed 3D printing technology. This technology, called embedded 3D printing, seamlessly and quickly integrates multiple functions and materials into a single software.
Lewis believes that "this study represents the latest application of embedded 3D printing, which is the first technology introduced by our laboratory."
Truby said, "The flexibility and power of this approach are unmatched. This new ink, combined with our embedded 3D printing process, allows us to combine soft sensing and driving in an integrated software robot system."
To test these sensors, the researchers printed a soft robotic grip consisting of three soft fingers or actuators. The researchers tested the gripper's ability to sense inflation pressure, curvature, contact, and temperature. They embed multiple touch sensors so the fixture can sense light and deep touch.
Professor Robert Wood, a core member of the Wyss Institute, Professor of SEAS Engineering and Applied Science, papers and author Dr. Robert Wood said, "Soft robots are usually limited to the geometric choice of traditional molding technology, or in the commercial 3D printing, the choice of materials that hinder design choices The technology developed by Lewis Labs has the opportunity to radically change the way robots are created, breaking away from the continuous process and creating complex whole-body robots with embedded sensors and actuators."
In the future, researchers hope to harness the power of machine learning to train these devices to capture objects of different sizes, shapes, surface textures, and temperatures. Later, this robot can not only help surgeons perform surgery, but also become the farmer's best assistant, picking a variety of fresh vegetables and fruits.
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