Note: This workshop will be held by a zoom webinar from 9am to 4pm CEST (Central Europe Summer Time) on 31st May, and be broadcasted on IEEE.tv. (This webpage for our online workshop was updated on 29th May.) 

Date and Time:

9:00-16:00 CEST(Central Europe Summer Time, UTC+2), 31st May, 2020. (Full day)

Place:

1. Zoom Webinar
2. IEEE.tv (Live streaming)

Note: Our workshop can be viewed without ICRA2020 registration. ICRA2020 registrants can visit the Slack channel of our workshop from HERE!

Abstract:

Soft robotics is a strongly interdisciplinary branch of robotics where synergies from chemistry, material science, biology and mathematics merge to develop new robotics design principles. In the last decade, large research projects on soft robotics have been undertaken worldwide with unprecedented results in the form of new actuators and sensors, new mobile platforms, new kind of grippers, and novel modelling approaches. Soft robotics has reached a sufficient degree of maturity that it is now time to address the question of what will be the next steps in soft robotics and how interdisciplinary collaborations will contribute in shaping this evolution. In this workshop, two different types of talks will be designated to provide a frame for discussion on the future of soft robotics. One type is “Pioneers’ Perspective Talks” where established pioneers in soft robotics will provide their vision on the future soft robotics from various thematic perspectives. The second type, “Interdisciplinary Collaborative Talks”, will focus on examples of successful joint research projects to demonstrate the positive impact of cross-discipline and cross-cultural fertilization in soft robotics. The insightful vision and innovative collaboration examples presented in this workshop will shed light on the future directions of soft robotics.

Invited Speakers:

“Pioneers’ Perspective Talks (Click here for more detail)”

“Interdisciplinary Collaborative Talks (Click here for more detail)”

Schedule(Almost Confirmed):

*Note: All times are CEST (Central Europe Summer Time)!

9:00-9:15 Opening & Introductory talk by the organizers

9:15-10:00 Pioneer’s perspective talk 1
Gregory S. Chirikjian (National University of Singapore, John’s Hopkins University): Mathematical Modeling of Soft Robots

10:00-10:25 Interdisciplinary collaborative talk 1
Vito Cacucciolo (EPFL, Switzerland) & Shingo Maeda (Shibaura Inst. Tech, Japan): A stretchable pump for the next generation of soft robots

10:25-10:40 Coffee break

10:40-11:25 Pioneer’s perspective talk 2
Koichi Suzumori (Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan): Future soft actuator based on E-kagen engineering.

11:25-11:50 Interdisciplinary collaborative talk 2
Francesco Giorgio-Serchi (U. Edinburgh, UK) & Hiromi Mochiyama (University of Tsukuba): A pulsed pump by snap-through actuation

11:50-12:10 Futuristic Demo Presentation (Accepted 4 Proposals)

12:10-12:55 Lunch Break

12:55-13:10 Interdisciplinary Collaborative Case-study (Accepted Proposal)

13:10-13:55 Pioneer’s perspective talk 3
Herbert Shea (EPFL, Switzerland): Future Soft Transducers

13:55-14:20 Interdisciplinary collaborative talk 3
Cosimo della Santina (MIT, USA) & Ryan Truby (MIT, USA): Tackling Brain-Body Challenges through Robotics-Materials Collaboration.

14:20-14:35 Coffee break

14:35-15:00 Interdisciplinary collaborative talk 4
Subramanian Sundaram (Boston University & Wyss Institute, Harvard University, USA) & Petr Kellnhofer (MIT, USA): Learning the Signatures of the Human Grasp using a Scalable Tactile Glove.

15:00-15:45 Pioneer’s perspective talk 4
Jonathan Rossiter (University of Bristle, UK): Future Soft Robot Applications

15:45-16:00 Wrap up and Closing by the organizers.

Organizers:

Hiromi Mochiyama (University of Tsukuba, Japan)

Shinichi Hirai (Ritsumeikan University, Japan)

Vito Cacucciolo (École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland)

Francesco Giorgio-Serchi (University of Edinburgh, UK)

Shingo Maeda (Shibaura Institute of Technology, Japan)

Supports:

IEEE RAS Technical Committee on Soft Robotics

JSPS KAKENHI Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas (2018-2022), Japan.

The Society of Instrument and Control Engineers, Japan.