Soft robotics is a branch of robotics that uses flexible, deformable, and compliant materials and structures to mimic the properties and functions of natural organisms. Soft robots can adapt to complex and dynamic environments, reduce the risk of damage and injury, and enable novel applications in healthcare, agriculture, and exploration. For example, soft robots can assist in surgery, rehabilitation, and prosthetics, or perform delicate tasks like picking fruits or handling fragile objects.
Interesting topic, not only the fact that soft robotics is super useful kn many ways. Farming industry or let‘s say food industry needs to handle with soft grippers to not damage fruits. i can tell because I was working in farming industry in Australia when I travelled. Also not only as farming robots but on sorting or packaging industry it‘s a common thing. Soft grippers in that case or as in surgery (different applies) is the FDA conformity that the food/goods/humans or whatever will not be infected with any kind of bacteria.
Soft robotics is a field within robotics that leverages flexible, deformable, and compliant materials and structures to emulate the properties and functions observed in natural organisms. These robots possess the ability to adapt to intricate and dynamic environments, mitigating risks of damage and injury, and unlocking innovative applications in healthcare, agriculture, and exploration. In surgical procedures, rehabilitation, and prosthetics, as well as in delicate tasks such as fruit picking and handling fragile items, soft robots demonstrate immense potential, showcasing the versatility and adaptability inherent in this burgeoning field of robotics.
Adding a small contribution to Constantin Weiss perspective, soft robots make robots able to change shape, adaptable, and safely interact with humans and delicate objects. So with this in mind, it could be used in several sectors, like: Healthcare - in surgical procedures, offering less invasive surgeries and quicker patient recovery. Wearable - rehabilitation, providing assistance to patients recovering from injuries or surgeries. Prosthetics - creating more natural and responsive prosthetic limbs. Assistive devices - providing assistance to individuals with mobility impairments. Exploration - adapting to challenging and unpredictable environments where traditional rigid robots might face limitations in space and/or subsea.
Swarm robotics is a branch of robotics that studies how large groups of simple and autonomous robots can coordinate and cooperate to achieve collective goals. Swarm robots can exhibit emergent behaviors, self-organization, and scalability, and can operate in uncertain and hostile environments. For example, swarm robots can be used for environmental monitoring, disaster relief, search and rescue, or military operations.
It is clear that mobile robots will work in swarms in the future. Actually, they already do (look at all those Amazon type fleets). What is interesting to consider is that the swarms will not only be applied to mobile robots but to fixed and mobile robots at the same time. In other words, mobile and fixed robots will be working together as a swarm to reach goals.
Human-robot interaction is a branch of robotics that focuses on how humans and robots can communicate, collaborate, and coexist in various settings and scenarios. Human-robot interaction involves designing robots that are socially and emotionally intelligent, that can understand and respond to human cues and feedback, and that can support and enhance human capabilities and well-being. For example, human-robot interaction can enable robots to serve as companions, educators, entertainers, or assistants for different groups of people.
Recently, in the context of Human-Robot collaborations, there has been talk of NLP - it means Natural Language Processing. NLP allows robots to understand, interpret, and respond to human language in a more natural and human-like manner. Advancements in NLP have empowered robots to perform speech recognition, language understanding, and language generation, and offer multilingual support, enhancing human-robot interaction across diverse fields, including customer service, healthcare, and education. For example, virtual assistants like Amazon's Alexa, Apple's Siri, or Google Assistant are prime examples of NLP-powered systems that interact with humans through natural language. Currently this is one of the most hyped topics in HRI space.
Robots should complement the human ability... Humans and robots will rely on one another with communication and trust. The deeper the design for this the more intuitive the interaction will become.
Bio-inspired robotics is a branch of robotics that draws inspiration from biological systems and phenomena to design and develop robots that can perform complex and diverse tasks. Bio-inspired robotics can leverage the principles and mechanisms of evolution, learning, adaptation, and self-repair to create robots that are robust, efficient, and versatile. For example, bio-inspired robotics can create robots that can fly like birds or insects, walk like animals or humans, or swim like fish or dolphins.
Inspiration from nature to accomplish specialized tasks is basically using millions of years of trial and error learning. However, it has its limits. The differences in the goal of the design and the goal of what it's inspired by must be understood to fully take advantage of this approach.
Nature is probably the best inspiration for roboticists. This will led to some very interesting designs. This is one of the reasons that for legged robots the design that appears to be winning the commercialization race are based on dogs and chickens, not humans. As roboticists start looking at robots in environments not friendly to humans, they will more than likely look at animals that do thrive in those environments. For water robots, we are seeing very interesting designs using fish and eels as inspiration. Worms and moles are inspiring engineers to build interesting tunneling robots. It will be interesting to see how many robots are designed successfully after humans, because we are not the best designed creatures.
Cloud robotics is a branch of robotics that uses cloud computing and networking to enhance the capabilities and performance of robots. Cloud robotics can enable robots to access and share large amounts of data, resources, and services, such as computation, storage, communication, and intelligence. Cloud robotics can also facilitate the coordination and collaboration of multiple robots and humans across different locations and domains. For example, cloud robotics can allow robots to learn from each other, to improve their skills and knowledge, or to provide remote assistance and support.
Ethical robotics is a branch of robotics that examines the ethical implications and challenges of creating and using robots in various contexts and situations. Ethical robotics involves developing frameworks and guidelines that can ensure the safety, reliability, accountability, and fairness of robots and their interactions with humans and other agents. Ethical robotics also addresses the social, cultural, and legal aspects of robotics, such as the impact of robots on human dignity, rights, values, and norms. For example, ethical robotics can help to define the roles and responsibilities of robot designers, users, and regulators, or to address the potential risks and benefits of robot autonomy, intelligence, and agency.
Few of the AI tools and robots help you defend your legal cases advising you on the legal and ethical matters, though this is a good way to gather information on your case but not an ideal way to approach since legal jurisdictions are passed on case to case not only on the evidences but depending upon the individuals behaviour throughout the proceedings, his gratitude and ability to address and tackle the concerns.
Perception. Prediction. Action are the three key domains in Robotics. As we tend to advance in the future. The opportunities of robotics applications are endless. The advice would be to not try to replace human with automation but to have an approach in improving the efficiency of the human by improving ease in tasks and gradually improve the quality of life
We will see more and more mobile robots. A great part of the fixed robots we see right now in industry will become mobile robots. Flexibility is key.
Intelligent Automation - Unlocking the true potential of industrial robots.
There is a significant trend towards intelligent automation. There is a need to provide robots with context, awareness and feedback from the process and environment they are operating in. In the aerospace and automotive sectors where accuracy is crucial, a guidance system like IONA will be able to help drive robots to the more accurate positions that are required. This will allow end users to gain sub mm accuracy with their robot processes.