Work

Bio-inspired autonomy in soft robots

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: Soft robotic actuation concepts meet and sometimes exceed their natural counterparts. In contrast, artificially recreating natural levels of autonomy is still an unmet challenge. Here, we come to this conclusion after defining a measure of energy- and control-autonomy and classifying a representative selection of soft robots. We argue that, in order to advance the field, we should focus our attention on interactions between soft robots and their environment, because in nature autonomy is also achieved in interdependence. If we better understand how interactions with an environment are leveraged in nature, this will enable us to design bio-inspired soft robots with much greater autonomy in the future.

Source: Communications Materials

DOI: 10.1038/s43246-024-00637-7

Authors: Lucas Carolus van Laake, Johannes Tesse Bastiaan Overvelde

Institutions: Institute for Atomic and Molecular Physics, Eindhoven University of Technology

Language: English

Topic: Soft Robotics and Applications

Subfield: Biomedical Engineering

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $3,490

Funders: European Commission, Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek, Horizon 2020 Framework Programme