Scaling Up Soft Robotics: A Meter-Scale, Modular, and Reconfigurable Soft Robotic System

Area of Science:

• Robotics
• Materials Science
• Mechanical Engineering

Background:

• Industrial robots are powerful but dangerous, limiting human-robot interaction on factory floors.
• Current soft robotics research focuses on small-scale devices, leaving a gap for human-scale applications.
• There is a need for safe, human-scale robots capable of working alongside people.

Purpose of the Study:

• To bridge the gap between small-scale soft robots and the need for human-scale safe robots.
• To introduce a novel soft robotic module and human-scale robot configurations.
• To present a modular and reconfigurable platform for meter-scale soft robots.

Main Methods:

• Development of a new soft robotic module.
• Creation of multiple human-scale robot configurations using the module.
• Presentation of a modular and reconfigurable platform for untethered, meter-scale soft robots.

Main Results:

• Successful demonstration of a modular platform for building large-scale soft robots.
• Development of human-scale soft robot configurations.
• Indication of potential for human-scale soft robots as alternatives to rigid-bodied robots.

Conclusions:

• A new wave of human-scale soft robots can be developed using the presented modular platform.
• These robots offer a safe alternative to traditional robots in human-robot collaborative environments.
• Applications include autonomous legged locomotion and grasping, enabling human-machine co-working.