IEEE-RAS Robosoft 2020

** Towards robust manipulation via soft materials: open challenges of soft sensing and control methods integration **

Workshop website: https://softperceptiverobots.it/

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CALL FOR CONTRIBUTION
We invite participants to submit an extended abstract by March 18, 2020.
Young researchers and students are encouraged to participate.

APPLY through the workshop website (https://softperceptiverobots.it/call-for-contributions).
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OVERVIEW
Perception can enable manipulators to effectively interact safely with humans and the environment. A variety of soft sensing technologies are available today (for proprioceptive or exteroception), but there is still a gap to effectively utilize them in manipulation tasks – i.e. providing accurate information useful for the control, or detecting contemporarily parameters like e.g. elongation and twisting, as well as tactile sensing. From a control perspective, both, model-free and model-based approaches, were used for the control of soft manipulators with improved dexterity, but demonstrated some limitation in the accuracy or in the interaction with the environment. The possibility to estimate the manipulators’ configuration, relying on an effective sensor implementation, is essential to improve their performances and remains an open challenge. This workshop aims to provide an insight into the various technologies for soft sensing, sensorized soft actuators, and methods for control of soft robotic manipulators, to foster the understanding in this field and discuss future strategies that can lead to a robust soft manipulation.

Topics of interest include:
– Proprioceptive sensors for soft robots
– Hyperelastic materials for mechanical sensing
– Biomimetic and soft tactile sensing
– Soft actuators with integrated sensing
– Reliable soft actuation strategies for closed-loop control
– Kinematic, dynamic control
– Hysteresis, Friction compensation
– Data driven methods/model free control
– Adaptation in unstructured environments

SPEAKERS:
(alphabetical order)
Kaspar Althoefer, Queen Mary University of London, UK
Fumiya Iida, University of Cambridge, UK
Robert Katzschmann, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
Marc D. Killpack, Brigham Young University, UK
Rebecca Kramer, Yale University, USA
Rochdi Merzouki, University Of Lille, France
Concepcion Alicia Monje Micharet, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain
Cosimo Della Santina, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
Benjamin Shih, UC San Diego, USA

Best wishes,
Egidio Falotico, Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Italy (egidio.falotico@santannapisa.it)
Lucia Beccai, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Italy (lucia.beccai@iit.it)
Jonathan Rossiter, University of Bristol, UK (jonathan.rossiter@bristol.ac.uk)