Model-Based Control of Soft Robots: A Survey of the State of the Art and Open Challenges

From a functional standpoint, classic robots are not at all similar to biological systems. If compared with rigid robots, animals’ bodies look overly redundant, imprecise, and weak. Nevertheless, animals can still perform a vast range of activities with unmatched effectiveness. Many studies in biomechanics have pointed to the elastic and compliant nature of the musculoskeletal system as a fundamental ingredient explaining this gap. Thus, to reach performance comparable to nature, elastic elements have been introduced in rigid-bodied robots, leading to articulated soft robotics [1] (see “Summary”). In continuum soft robotics, this concept is brought to an extreme. Here, softness is not concentrated at the joint…

• EC
  European Commission

  Award: 101070918
• HE
  HORIZON EUROPE Framework Programme

  Award: 101070918