Modeling soft robots: a discussion on capabilities and limitations of numerous techniques

August 7th, 2020 from 10 am - 3:30 pm EDT

Organizers: Jennifer Case (NIST), Gina Olson (Carnegie Mellon University), Yiğit Mengüç (Facebook Reality Labs)

The field of soft robotics takes advantage of non-traditional materials, which can exhibit large deformations and viscoelastic behaviors, to create unconventional robotic systems. While these materials offer many advantages, such as robustness and flexibility, they complicate modeling robotic systems. While progress is being made to model soft robots, it can be challenging for newcomers or soft roboticists with backgrounds in nontraditional areas to quickly learn the different modelling techniques required for soft robots. The purpose of this workshop is to provide a review of various modeling techniques used in soft robotics, such as kinematics and dynamics for control, material modeling, models meant to aid design, etc. This workshop will highlight the capabilities as well as the limitations of each modeling technique discussed to help attendees get a better understanding of which techniques may be appropriate for their applications.

Schedule Overview