Stanford AA289/ENGR319 - Robotics and Autonomous Systems Seminar - Stanford Seminar - Robots that aren't afraid of contact, an embodied approach

January 12, 2024 Hannah Stuart, UC Berkeley The world is rich with complex and varied mechanics, which often leads to robots that tend to avoid contact due to uncertainty. However, this richness also opens opportunities for new robotic mechanisms that creatively harness the local environment. In this talk, I'll focus on two recent case studies that use ambient fluids for resilient and compliant grippers with tactile sensing. These inventions apply to logistics pick-and-place automation, as well as more generalized applications. Time allowing, I will also provide another case study in granular media (i.e. sand) interaction for planetary robotics. Inspired by nature, the goal of this research is to access new and resilient robotic behaviors without an over-reliance on digital computing alone, but rather by harnessing morphological computation alongside active control. About the speaker: https://me.berkeley.edu/people/hannah-stuart/