Soft robotics for infrastructure protection

Abstract

The paradigm change introduced by soft robotics is going to dramatically push forward the abilities of autonomous systems in the next future, enabling their applications in extremely challenging scenarios. The ability of soft robots to safely interact and adapt to the surroundings is key to operate in unstructured environments, where the autonomous agent has little or no knowledge about the world around it. A similar context occurs when critical infrastructures face threats or disruptions, for examples due to natural disasters or external attacks (physical or cyber). In this case, autonomous systems may be employed to respond to such emergencies and have to be able to deal with unforeseen physical conditions and uncertainties, where the mechanical interaction with the environment is not only inevitable but also desirable to successfully perform their tasks. In this perspective, I discuss applications of soft robots for the protection of infrastructures, including recent advances in pipelines inspection, rubble search and rescue, and soft aerial manipulation, and promising perspectives on operations in radioactive environments, underwater monitoring and space exploration.

Magnetically Actuated Trigger Transient Soft Actuators Comprising On-Demand Photo-Initiated and Thermo-Degradable Polypropylene Carbonate–Photo-Acid Generator

“…Sustainable robots aim to mimic life cycles with a focus on waste, including developing long-term environmental sustainability to dispose of robots . The demand for recyclable, reusable, or biodegradable robotic materials is increasing, and future robotic systems may involve disintegrating and reusing internal circuits and systems several times. , Hardware-security robots are used in a wide range of fields including surveillance and monitoring in environments where security is a top priority, such as personal and industrial security and critical infrastructure protection. , Hence, the demand for robots that emphasize sustainability and security is increasing due to their functional adaptability and wide applications, and expected to accelerate the development of lifetime-configurable soft actuators. Trigger transient soft actuators, which can degrade on-demand, are emerging as promising alternatives for achieving efficient lifetime configuration of soft actuators .…”

“…5,24 Hardware-security robots are used in a wide range of fields including surveillance and monitoring in environments where security is a top priority, such as personal and industrial security and critical infrastructure protection. 25,26 Hence, the demand for robots that emphasize sustainability and security is increasing due to their functional adaptability and wide applications, and expected to accelerate the development of lifetime-configurable soft actuators. Trigger transient soft actuators, which can degrade on-demand, are emerging as promising alternatives for achieving efficient lifetime configuration of soft actuators.…”

A Stretchable Jamming Gripper Grasping Flat Plates

“…In addition, soft grippers are generally more tolerant of positioning errors that are inevitable due to ground effects [36]. These features make soft grippers promising candidates for grasping in complex, unstructured environments [37]. Jamming grippers are promising for versatile drones thanks to this combination of softness and a wide range of grasping capabilities.…”

Sensorless Proprioception in Multi-DoF Dielectric Elastomer Soft Robots via System-Level Self-Sensing

“…T HE field of soft robotics has attracted significant interest from researchers worldwide [1]. Compared to conventional rigid robots, the main defining characteristic of soft robots is their mechanical compliance, which enables potential applications in fields such as human-robot interaction, inspection tasks, or rescue operations in confined spaces [2], [3]. The low mechanical stiffness of soft robots, however, poses significant challenges for the sensing and control of their shape [4].…”