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Developed in Yale's Rebecca Kramer-Bottiglio lab, NASA-inspired robotic skins allow users to turn soft objects – stuffed animals or foam tubes, for example – into robots.
When you think of robotics, you probably think of something rigid, heavy and designed for a specific purpose. The new technology "Robotic Skins" developed by Yale researchers reverses this notion, allowing users to animate the inanimate and transform everyday objects into robots.
Developed in the laboratory of Rebecca Kramer-Bottiglio, Assistant Professor in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, robotic skins allow users to design their own robotic systems. Although the skins were designed without any specific task, Kramer-Bottiglio said that they could be used for everything from search and rescue robots to wearable technologies. The results of the team's work are published today in Science Robotics.
The skins are made from elastic sheets incorporating sensors and actuators developed in the Kramer-Bottiglio laboratory. Placed on a deformable object – a stuffed animal or a foam tube, for example – the skins animate these objects from their surface. The makeshift robots can perform different tasks depending on the properties of the soft objects and the way the skins are applied.
"We can take the skins and wrap them around an object to perform a task – locomotion, for example – then remove them and place them on a different object to perform a different task, such as grabbing and moving an object ". I said. "We can then remove these same skins from this item and put them on a shirt to make it an active wearable device."
Robots are usually built for one purpose only. Robotic wraps, however, allow users to create multifunctional robots on the fly. This means that they can be used in environments that have not even been taken into account in their design, said Kramer-Bottiglio.
In addition, the use of several skins at once allows more complex movements. For example, said Kramer-Bottiglio, you can layer the skins to get different types of movements. "Now we can get combined modes of operation – for example, simultaneous compression and flexing.
To demonstrate robotic skins in action, researchers have created a handful of prototypes. These include foam cylinders that move like a caterpillar, a portable shirt-shaped device designed to correct poor posture, and a device with a clip capable of grasping and moving objects.
Kramer-Bottiglio said he had the idea of the devices a few years ago when NASA launched a call for flexible robotic systems. The technology was designed in partnership with NASA, and its multifunctional and reusable nature would allow astronauts to perform a variety of tasks with the same reconfigurable hardware. The same skins used to make a robotic arm from a piece of foam could be removed and applied to create a Mars mobile that can roll over rough terrain. With the robotic skins on board, Yale's scientist said everything from balloons to crumpled paper balls could be turned into a robot with a goal.
"One of the main things I've considered was the importance of multifunctionality, especially for deep space exploration where the environment is unpredictable." , she said. "The question is, how do you prepare for unknown strangers?"
In the same area of research, Kramer-Bottiglio recently received a $ 2 million grant from the National Science Foundation, as part of the Emerging Frontiers in Research and Innovation program.
Then the lab will work on streamlining the devices and exploring the possibility of 3D printing the components.
Publication: Joran W. Booth, et al., "OmniSkins: Robotic Skins Transforming Inanimate Objects into Multifunctional Robots," Science Robotics Sept. 19, 2018: Vol. 3, number 22, eaat1853; DOI: 10.1126 / scirobotics.aat1853
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