2022 Fiscal Year Annual Research Report
Mechanics of Morphological Compensation, and its Application to Sensing and Control of Soft Robots
| Project/Area Number |
21H01287
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| Research Institution | Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology |
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Principal Investigator |
Ho Anhvan 北陸先端科学技術大学院大学, 先端科学技術研究科, 准教授 (60757508)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
渋谷 恒司 龍谷大学, 先端理工学部, 教授 (20287973)
高村 禅 北陸先端科学技術大学院大学, 先端科学技術研究科, 教授 (20290877)
都 英次郎 北陸先端科学技術大学院大学, 先端科学技術研究科, 准教授 (70443231)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2021-04-01 – 2024-03-31
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| Keywords | Soft sensing / Morphology / Compensation / MR fluids / Topological change |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
In the second year, overall, proposed research topics were accelerated with fruitful achievement:
1) Ho group has extensively elaborated the morphological compensation strategy for a soft whisker sensor upon being trimmed partly on other task, such as tactile exploration. We demonstrate that changing the morphology of the whisker again helps to reduce mismatching between prior knowledge in the frequency/time domain of the sensory signal. This allows the sensory whisker to recover the tactile perception on texture discrimination after the whisker is partially damaged. In addition, several interactive models on SOFA platforms have been built toward construction of topological change-allowed program, such as cutting/trimming.
2) Shibuya and Ho have investigated design feasibility of several soft tactile sensing systems that can change their morphology, especially the magnetorheological (MR) fluid-based soft interfaces with efficient setup. Such systems are suitable for further investigation of morphological compensation.
3) Miyako and Ho succeeded in implementation novel actuation for Materially Engineered Flying Object (MEFO)system using corona-discharge phenomenon, which ignites movement of bio- materials in the air.
4) Takamura and Ho succeeded on fabrication of patterned structures that morphologically changeable that enhances the tribological properties of soft structures under walking process.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
1: Research has progressed more than it was originally planned.
Reason
In the second year of the project, we successfully accelerated implementation of the proposed research plan, also new research problems were also explored and elaborated in advance. In details:
1) Recovering the tactile exploration of partially damaged whisker: compared to contact location and flexion sensing, tactile exploration of the whisker is considered complicated thanks to its temporal-spatial properties over different textures. By tackling this issue, we have shown the potential of the morphological compensation in recovery of the sensing ability in this crucial tactile perception.
2) We newly proposed a novel design of a morphology changeable soft pads that facilitate locomotion in wet conditions. The morphology of each soft pad distributed in the foot is changed from a thin elastic sheet to a spherical dome that protrudes from the sole by using compressed air to adapt the foot for walking. We constructed an analytical model to estimate how soft pad dome is affected by air pressure and associated properties regarding friction and forces when in contact with a dry or wet floor. This showcases how morphological change can be applied to tribology field.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
In the final year of the project, we plan to tackle the following issues:
1) Preliminary wrap-up of the SOFA-based program (plugin) for conducting dynamic simulation of a model of soft body embedded wit h specific sensing elements under critical topology changes (cut, trim). In addition, the combination of SOFA and Unity platform will be also continued (by Ho).
2) Complete design, analysis of a mechanism that allows changing local morphology of the soft structure around the embedded sens or using magnetic fluid (by Shibuya and Ho). Another approach on EIT-based sensing method with partial damage will be also condu cted (by Ho). Miyako will continue developing a new type of actuating, called Corona-discharge phenomenon, for realization of to tally novel moving system in space of several light-weighted object. Takamura will help with fabrication of micro patterns for f acilitating sensing perception of soft structure.
3) Continue the evaluation of the simulation results and experimental results on a specific case proposed in 2). Based on the wh isker sensory system proposed in the second year, which can actively change the morphology of the integrated chamber to adapt to the critical change (being trimmed, broken), especially focusing on tactile exploration task.
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