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Updated: Jan 23, 2026

Transmission of Multiple Signals through an Optical Fiber Using Wavefront Shaping
Published on: March 20, 2017
Fiber Optic Shape Sensing for Soft Robotics
Kevin C Galloway1, Yue Chen2, Emily Templeton3
1Department of Mechanical Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee.
Abstract:
While soft material actuators can undergo large deformations to execute very complex motions, what is critically lacking in soft material robotic systems is the ability to collect high-resolution shape information for sophisticated functions such as environmental mapping, collision detection, and full state feedback control. This work explores the potential of a nearly commercial fiber optic shape sensor (FOSS) and presents the first demonstrations of a monolithic, multicore FOSS integrated into the structure of a fiber-reinforced soft actuator. In this pilot study, we report an open loop sensorized soft actuator capable of submillimeter position feedback that can detect the soft actuator's shape, environmental shapes, collision locations, and material stiffness properties.
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