Model and Control of R-Soft Inverted Pendulum

Soft robots enable safe and robust operations in unstructured environments. However, the nonlinearities of their continuum structure complicate the accomplishment of classic robotic tasks, such as pick and place. In this work, we propose the R-Soft Inverted Pendulum, a Soft Inverted Pendulum (SIP) actuated only by a revolute joint at the base...

Challenges and Outlook in Robotic Manipulation of Deformable Objects

Deformable object manipulation (DOM) is an emerging research problem in robotics. The ability to manipulate deformable objects endows robots with higher autonomy and promises new applications in the industrial, services, and health-care sectors. However, compared to rigid object manipulation, the manipulation of deformable objects is...

Efficient and Goal-Directed Oscillations in Articulated Soft Robots: the Point-to-Point Case

Introducing elasticity in the mechanical design can endow robots with the ability of performing efficient and effective periodic motions. Yet, devising controllers that can take advantage of such elasticity is still an open challenge. This letter tackles an instance of this general problem, by proposing a control architecture for executing...