Short description
This project aims the design improvement of soft actuators driven by cables or pneumatics. The idea is to start from a series of existing prototypes and refine their design in order to improve their performances and integration within a robot. As motion in this kind of robots is tightly linked to the shape and the material of structures within the robot, CAD modelling will be required to model their geometry, optimise their behavior relying on simulation tools developed by the team and adapt the material’s mechanical properties depending on the application and the way of piloting for each actuator. The validated prototypes through simulation will be manufactured using 3D printing and several processes related to soft objects casting (silicone rubber).
Key Words : Mechanical Design, 3D Modelling, Soft Robotics
Context
The DEFROST team works on issues related to deformable robots, from their design to their control.
A deformable robot is a robot composed of deformable structures, which behaves by deforming. Their design is often inspired by the mechanical properties of living organisms [Kim et al 2013]. These deformable robots have the advantage of being inexpensive to manufacture, robust and less dangerous in the context of interaction with humans. This new branch of robotics opens many prospects of applications.
Thanks to research done with the simulation platform SOFA [Faure et al 2012], we are now able to simulate, in real-time, the physical model of these robots. The team recently developed an algorithm allowing their control through an inverse simulation [Duriez 2013],[Largilliere et al. 2015].
This algorithm computes the actions (forces, pressure, displacement…) to be applied on the robot to reach its goal. The actuators have to be controled to apply these actions with a high precision.
Profile
Expected skills are:
– Last year of Engineer or Master in Mechanical design
– Mastering of Computer Aided Design Software (AutoCAD,SolidWorks…) –
– Manufacturing processes and 3D printing
– Robotics and C/C++ knowledge would be appreciated
Schedule
1. Understand the subject, the tools and the existing solution,
2.Establishment of a concrete set of specifications taking into account the proposed improvements,
3. Iterations between CAD modeling and evaluation through SOFA,
4. Development of the chosen solution, including actuators and sensors integration and manufacturing constraints,
5. Manufacture of a robot
References
[Duriez 2013] Christian Duriez, _Control of Elastic Soft Robots based on Real-Time Finite Element Method_. ICRA 2013 (https://hal.inria.fr/hal-00823766)
[Faure et al 2012] François Faure, Christian Duriez, Hervé Delingette, Jérémie Allard, Benjamin Gilles, et al.. _SOFA: A Multi-Model Framework for Interactive Physical Simulation_. Soft Tissue Biomechanical Modeling for Computer Assisted Surgery 2012 (https://hal.inria.fr/hal-00681539)
[Largillière et al. 2015] Frederick Largilliere, Valerian Verona, Eulalie Coevoet, Mario Sanz-Lopez, Jeremie Dequidt, Christian Duriez. _Real-time Control of Soft-Robots using Asynchronous Finite Element Modeling_. ICRA 2015
[Kim et al 2013] Sangbae Kim, Cecilia Laschi and Barry Trimmer, _Soft robotics: a bioinspired evolution in robotics_. Trends in biotechnology, 2013
Contacts
– Mario Sanz-Lopez: mario.sanz_lopez@inria.fr
– Christian Duriez : christian.duriez@inria.fr
