Highly Extendable Soft Robots for Extraplanetary Deployment
Space exploration and navigation in treacherous 3-dimensional passageways is a challenging problem for traditional rigid robotic systems. Highly extendable soft robots, i.e., robots made out of soft materials that can extend much beyond their original length, have the capability to enhance the scientific return of future space missions. We are developing soft robot platforms that are capable of performing planetary surface exploration, extraplanetary construction, and confined space navigation. These robots will be able to withstand extreme environments across the solar system while performing important scientific tasks such as planetary sample retrieval, object manipulation, spatial mapping, and sensor delivery.
Researchers: Nelson Badillo
Collaborators:
Jamming Structures
There are two major paradigms in robotics: soft robots and traditional rigid robots. Soft robots are typically made of flexible, shock-absorbing materials and are used in systems requiring adaptivity and safety, such as wearable devices. Traditional rigid robots are typically made of stiff, energy-conserving materials and are used in systems requiring high forces, speed, and precision, such as manufacturing equipment. Our project aims to bridge the gap between soft and traditional robots by investigating mechanisms that allow robots to switch between the two paradigms on command. Recently, our work has focused on jamming, a phenomenon in which a collection of elements exhibits remarkable changes in mechanical properties when a pressure gradient is applied. Through a combination of mechanical modeling, finite-element simulation, and experimentation, we have shown that jamming structures can enable a new class of versatile robots that can neither be classified as “soft” or “rigid.”
Researchers: Buse Aktas and Yashraj Narang
