Day 2: (Wed Jan 14, Week 1) Soft Robotics Overview

Notes for 2026-01-14.

New Assignments

New assignment, due noon Wed Jan 21: Exercise: Lateral Literature Search. Please submit to Exercise 2 Shared Folder. Please submit early so I can review posts before class.

Administrative

  • Reminder: we don’t have class on Monday, we are off for Martin Luther King Day.

  • Anyone using Zotero?

Agenda

  1. Discussion of Rus and Tolley 2015 survey paper [R59].

  2. Discussion of a selection of exercise 1 papers

  3. brief mid-class break

  4. Lateral search demo (related to next exercise):

    1. We’ll pick a paper for which we want to find similar, newer work.

      Polygerinos, Panagiotis, Zheng Wang, Kevin C. Galloway, Robert J. Wood, and Conor J. Walsh. “Soft Robotic Glove for Combined Assistance and At-Home Rehabilitation.” Robotics and Autonomous Systems, Wearable Robotics, 73 (November 1, 2015): 135–43. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.robot.2014.08.014. [R56]

    2. Choose a root paper from its references: this is going backward in time to find earlier work. In this case I picked a broad survey paper:

      Heo, Pilwon, Gwang Min Gu, Soo-jin Lee, Kyehan Rhee, and Jung Kim. “Current Hand Exoskeleton Technologies for Rehabilitation and Assistive Engineering.” International Journal of Precision Engineering and Manufacturing 13, no. 5 (May 1, 2012): 807–24. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12541-012-0107-2. [R15]

    3. Look the root paper up at Web of Science to examine its Citations list: this is going forward in time to find new work. This list could potentially grow each passing year. The sample above has at least 399 citations, of which at least 100 have the keyword ‘soft’.

  5. Brainstorming session (time permitting) (time did not permit). Let’s consider human applications of soft rubbery robots. This is intended to be an imaginative exercise, so no holds barred.

    1. We’ll break out into two groups.

    2. Brainstorm three or so project ideas.

    3. Make quick sketches on the whiteboard tables.

Exercise 1 Bibliography

Following are some very loose classifications.

Survey

    1. Lipson, “Challenges and Opportunities for Design, Simulation, and Fabrication of Soft Robots,” Soft Robotics, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 21–27, Mar. 2014, doi: 10.1089/soro.2013.0007.

    1. Zhu, S. Biswas, S. I. Dinulescu, N. Kastor, E. W. Hawkes, and Y. Visell, “Soft, Wearable Robotics and Haptics: Technologies, Trends, and Emerging Applications,” Proceedings of the IEEE, vol. 110, no. 2, pp. 246–272, Feb. 2022, doi: 10.1109/JPROC.2021.3140049.

    1. Kim, C. Laschi, and B. Trimmer, “Soft robotics: A bioinspired evolution in robotics,” Trends in Biotechnology, vol. 31, no. 5, pp. 287–294, May 2013, doi: 10.1016/j.tibtech.2013.03.002.

Human-Robot Interaction and Medical

    1. Olugbade, L. He, P. Maiolino, D. Heylen, and N. Bianchi-Berthouze, “Touch Technology in Affective Human–, Robot–, and Virtual–Human Interactions: A Survey,” Proceedings of the IEEE, vol. 111, no. 10, pp. 1333–1354, Oct. 2023, doi: 10.1109/JPROC.2023.3272780.

    1. Usui, R. Niiyama, and Y. Kuniyoshi, “Anthropomorphic Face Robot having Soft Mouth Mechanism with Embedded Artificial Facial Muscles,” in 2019 International Symposium on Micro-NanoMechatronics and Human Science (MHS), Dec. 2019, pp. 1–6. doi: 10.1109/MHS48134.2019.9249338.

    1. Ubaldi et al., “Puffy, a Friendly Inflatable Social Robot,” in Extended Abstracts of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, in CHI EA ’18. New York, NY, USA: Association for Computing Machinery, Apr. 2018, p. 1. doi: 10.1145/3170427.3186595.

    1. Sabinson, J. Neiberg, and K. E. Green, “With Every Breath: Testing the Effects of Soft Robotic Surfaces on Attention and Stress,” in 2024 19th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI), Mar. 2024, pp. 611–620. Accessed: Jan. 14, 2026. [Online]. Available: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10660701

    1. Isobe, Y. Suzuki, and K. Suzuki, “Soft Wearable Robot Adaptive to Individual Shoulder Differences for Respiratory Rehabilitation,” in 2025 47th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC), Jul. 2025, pp. 1–4. doi: 10.1109/EMBC58623.2025.11254276.

Design and Fabrication

    1. Zhang, Y. Zhu, C. Lou, P. Zheng, and M. Kovač, “A Design and Fabrication Approach for Pneumatic Soft Robotic Arms Using 3D Printed Origami Skeletons,” in 2019 2nd IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft), Apr. 2019, pp. 821–827. doi: 10.1109/ROBOSOFT.2019.8722719.

    1. Miske, B. Emery, and J. Lipton, “Viscous Thread Printing (VTP) for Production of Soft Robotic Fingers,” in 2025 IEEE 8th International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft), Apr. 2025, pp. 1–6. doi: 10.1109/RoboSoft63089.2025.11020838.

    1. du Pasquier, T. Chen, S. Tibbits, and K. Shea, “Design and Computational Modeling of a 3D Printed Pneumatic Toolkit for Soft Robotics,” Soft Robotics, vol. 6, no. 5, pp. 657–663, Jun. 2019, doi: 10.1089/soro.2018.0095.

Electronics and Control

      1. Rogers, T. Someya, and Y. Huang, “Materials and Mechanics for Stretchable Electronics,” Science, vol. 327, no. 5973, pp. 1603–1607, Mar. 2010, doi: 10.1126/science.1182383.

Actuation

    1. Guo, C. Xiang, T. Helps, M. Taghavi, and J. Rossiter, “Electroactive textile actuators for wearable and soft robots,” in 2018 IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft), Apr. 2018, pp. 339–343. doi: 10.1109/ROBOSOFT.2018.8404942.

    1. Yim, C. Sung, S. Miyashita, D. Rus, and S. Kim, “Animatronic soft robots by additive folding,” The International Journal of Robotics Research, vol. 37, no. 6, pp. 611–628, May 2018, doi: 10.1177/0278364918772023.

      1. Marchese, C. D. Onal, and D. Rus, “Autonomous Soft Robotic Fish Capable of Escape Maneuvers Using Fluidic Elastomer Actuators,” Soft Robotics, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 75–87, Feb. 2014, doi: 10.1089/soro.2013.0009.

    1. Balciunaite, O. Yasa, M. Filippi, M. Y. Michelis, and R. K. Katzschmann, “Bilayered Biofabrication Unlocks the Potential of Skeletal Muscle for Biohybrid Soft Robots,” in 2024 IEEE 7th International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft), Apr. 2024, pp. 525–530. doi: 10.1109/RoboSoft60065.2024.10522009.

      1. Morin, R. F. Shepherd, S. W. Kwok, A. A. Stokes, A. Nemiroski, and G. M. Whitesides, “Camouflage and Display for Soft Machines,” Science, vol. 337, no. 6096, pp. 828–832, Aug. 2012, doi: 10.1126/science.1222149.

      1. Cheng, A. Gopinath, L. Wang, K. Iagnemma, and A. E. Hosoi, “Thermally Tunable, Self-Healing Composites for Soft Robotic Applications,” Macromolecular Materials and Engineering, vol. 299, no. 11, pp. 1279–1284, 2014, doi: 10.1002/mame.201400017.

    1. Wang et al., “Soft Robotic Fish Actuated by Bionic Muscle With Embedded Sensing for Self-Adaptive Multiple Modes Swimming,” IEEE Transactions on Robotics, vol. 41, pp. 1329–1345, 2025, doi: 10.1109/TRO.2025.3532520.

    1. Ilievski, A. D. Mazzeo, R. F. Shepherd, X. Chen, and G. M. Whitesides, “Soft Robotics for Chemists,” Angewandte Chemie International Edition, vol. 50, no. 8, pp. 1890–1895, 2011, doi: 10.1002/anie.201006464.

Manipulation

    1. Liu, Z. Jing, X. Dun, G. D’Eleuterio, W. Chen, and H. Leung, “Design, Modeling and Motion Control of a Multi-Segment SMA Driven Soft Robotic Manipulator,” in 2021 IEEE/ASME International Conference on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics (AIM), Jul. 2021, pp. 1331–1336. doi: 10.1109/AIM46487.2021.9517386.

    1. Chen, D. Wang, J. Zou, L. Sun, J. Sun, and G. Jin, “A Multi-Module Soft Robotic Arm with Soft End Effector for Minimally Invasive Surgery,” in 2019 2nd World Conference on Mechanical Engineering and Intelligent Manufacturing (WCMEIM), Nov. 2019, pp. 461–465. doi: 10.1109/WCMEIM48965.2019.00097.

    1. Deimel and O. Brock, “A novel type of compliant and underactuated robotic hand for dexterous grasping,” The International Journal of Robotics Research, vol. 35, no. 1–3, pp. 161–185, Jan. 2016, doi: 10.1177/0278364915592961.

    1. Li et al., “A Vacuum-driven Origami ‘Magic-ball’ Soft Gripper,” in 2019 International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), May 2019, pp. 7401–7408. doi: 10.1109/ICRA.2019.8794068.

      1. Marchese, K. Komorowski, C. D. Onal, and D. Rus, “Design and control of a soft and continuously deformable 2D robotic manipulation system,” in 2014 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), May 2014, pp. 2189–2196. doi: 10.1109/ICRA.2014.6907161.

Locomotion

  • H.-T. Lin, G. G. Leisk, and B. Trimmer, “GoQBot: A caterpillar-inspired soft-bodied rolling robot,” Bioinspiration & Biomimetics, vol. 6, no. 2, p. 026007, Apr. 2011, doi: 10.1088/1748-3182/6/2/026007.

    1. Kazakidi, V. Vavourakis, N. Pateromichelakis, J. A. Ekaterinaris, and D. P. Tsakiris, “Hydrodynamic analysis of octopus-like robotic arms,” in 2012 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, May 2012, pp. 5295–5300. doi: 10.1109/ICRA.2012.6225037.

    1. Saunders, B. A. Trimmer, and J. Rife, “Modeling locomotion of a soft-bodied arthropod using inverse dynamics,” Bioinspiration & Biomimetics, vol. 6, no. 1, p. 016001, Dec. 2010, doi: 10.1088/1748-3182/6/1/016001.

    1. Salazar, L. Cai, B. Cook, and D. Rus, “Multi-Robot Visual Control of Autonomous Soft Robotic Fish,” in 2022 IEEE/OES Autonomous Underwater Vehicles Symposium (AUV), Sep. 2022, pp. 1–6. doi: 10.1109/AUV53081.2022.9965882.

Sensing

      1. Muth et al., “Embedded 3D Printing of Strain Sensors within Highly Stretchable Elastomers,” Advanced Materials, vol. 26, no. 36, pp. 6307–6312, 2014, doi: 10.1002/adma.201400334.

      1. Thuruthel and F. Iida, “Multi-modal Sensor Fusion for Learning Rich Models for Interacting Soft Robots,” in 2023 IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft), Apr. 2023, pp. 1–6. doi: 10.1109/RoboSoft55895.2023.10121992.

Exercise 1 - Unfamiliar Phrases

  • “moduli” (in the context of materials)

  • “impedance matching to the structure of the body”

  • “continuum” (in the context of soft robotics)

  • “electroactivate polymers” e.g. “dielectric EAPs, ferroelectric polymers, electrostrictive graft polymers, liquid crystal polymers, ionic EAPs, electrorheological fluids”

  • “eutectic”

  • Continuum deformation

  • Hyper redundant

  • Particle jamming

  • Lithography

  • Elastomer

  • Agonist-antagonist arrangement

  • Electrostrictive

  • Electrorheological

  • Piezoelectric

  • Proprioceptive

  • Graphene

  • Bernoulli–Euler beam mechanics

  • Inverse-kinematics

  • Cardiomyocytes

  • “actuation” (Rus and Tolley, 2015, p. 467)

  • “silicone rubbers” (Rus and Tolley, 2015, p. 467)

  • “manoeuvres” (Rus and Tolley, 2015, p. 467)

  • “Young’s modulus” (Rus and Tolley, 2015, p. 467)

  • “impedance” (Rus and Tolley, 2015, p. 467)

  • “morphological computation” (Rus and Tolley, 2015, p. 467)

  • “continuum” (Rus and Tolley, 2015, p. 468)

  • “topology” (Rus and Tolley, 2015, p. 468)

  • “Pneumatic artificial muscles (PAMs)” (Rus and Tolley, 2015, p. 468)

  • “McKibben actuators,” (Rus and Tolley, 2015, p. 468)

  • “Fluidic elastomer actuators (FEAs)” (Rus and Tolley, 2015, p. 468)

  • “exteroceptive sensing” (Rus and Tolley, 2015, p. 469)

  • “Combustible fuels” (Rus and Tolley, 2015, p. 469)

  • “graphene” (Rus and Tolley, 2015, p. 469)

  • “organic polymers” (Rus and Tolley, 2015, p. 469)

  • “embedded conductive fabric” (Rus and Tolley, 2015, p. 469)

  • “shape deposition manufacturing (SDM)” (Rus and Tolley, 2015, p. 470)

  • “soft lithography” (Rus and Tolley, 2015, p. 470)

  • “Bernoulli–Euler beam mechanics” (Rus and Tolley, 2015, p. 471)

  • “medicine regimens” (Rus and Tolley, 2015, p. 473)

  • Pascal (Pa)

  • Impedance

  • Pneumatic actuation

  • Pneumatic artificial muscles (PAMs)

  • Fluidic elastomer actuators (FEAs)

  • Pneumatic networks

  • Elastomer

  • piecewise constant curvature

  • Inverse kinematics problem

  • Fluidic drive cylinder

  • Finite Element Analysis

  • Underactuated

  • continuum behavior

  • Pneumatic artificial muscles(PAMs)

  • Fluidic elastomer actuators(FEAs)

  • evolutionary algorithm

  • design automation “algorithm.”

  • inverse kinematic

  • Bernoulli-Euler beam mechanics

  • impedance

  • morphological

  • elastomer tubes

  • lithography

  • ferroelectric polymers

  • electrostrictive graft polymers

  • electrorheological fluids

  • encoders

  • piezoelectric polymers

  • proprioceptive sensors

  • continuum

  • bernoulli-euler beam mechanics

  • transducers

  • gelatin actuators

  • Isothermal Phase Change, Particle Jamming