{"id":1155,"date":"2023-02-03T09:47:12","date_gmt":"2023-02-03T09:47:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/robotics24.net\/blog\/?p=1155"},"modified":"2023-07-31T09:26:10","modified_gmt":"2023-07-31T09:26:10","slug":"soft-robotics-examples-research-and-applications","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robotics24.net\/blog\/soft-robotics-examples-research-and-applications\/","title":{"rendered":"Soft Robotics: Examples, Research and Applications"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Soft-bot<\/a> is a robot that is made of compliant, or flexible materials, such as silicone, rubber, or gels to bend, twist, and deform in a way that is similar to living organisms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When was soft robotics born?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The first machines with elastic attributes date back to the 1950s<\/strong>, when Joseph Laws McKibben, an American physicist, invented the pneumatic artificial muscle<\/strong> (PAM).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Air muscle contracting and extending<\/p>\n\n\n\n

credits: rocketmagnet<\/a> <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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PAMs were initially invented to help polio patients<\/strong> suffering from paralysis, as they were lighter and easier to manipulate than the actuators of the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the specific concept of ‘soft robotics’ emerged rather recently, in the late 1990s. Even then, it did not <\/strong>receive much attention <\/strong>from the scientific community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The words ‘soft robotics’ were first widely <\/strong>recognised and used around the year 2010.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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So 2010 <\/strong>can be considered as the ‘first <\/strong>year of soft robotics’.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

For example, in 2017 the European Union announced the ‘Phototune’ project, the aim of which is to use the advantages of soft robotics to create an artificial iris<\/strong> that can fully adapt to the human eye and react to external light stimuli by opening or closing as needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biomimetic robots<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Biomimicry (or Biomimesis) is the discipline that studies the use of solutions inspired by those found in nature to solve technological and engineering problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In robotics, this approach aims to create machines that mimic the form, behaviour and capabilities of biological systems, with the aim of increasing their efficiency, flexibility and adaptability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bio-inspired robot by animals<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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