Skip to main content
Book cover

Rapid Roboting pp 115–136Cite as

Soft Robotics

  • 211 Accesses

Part of the Intelligent Systems, Control and Automation: Science and Engineering book series (ISCA,volume 82)

Abstract

This chapter is organized into two main parts: the first one focuses on different applications of the casting technique for developing different soft robots; the second one is an overview of the manufacturing procedures employed in soft robotics. We don’t have the ambition to cover the entire state of the art, but we aim to provide readers with guidelines to steer their research. Soft robots can be grouped into classes, according to their capabilities, as follows: locomotion, manipulation, and robots mimicking body parts (simulators). For each of these classes, we have identified key examples as means for describing the employed manufacturing procedure: (i) Locomotion—FASTT based on fiber-reinforced actuators; (ii) Manipulation—Octopus, STIFF-FLOP, Gripper that exploits different actuation strategies: cables, fluidic actuation combined with granular jamming and cable-driven under-actuation mechanism, respectively; (iii) Body parts simulator—Simulator of vocal folds that rely on the intrinsic mechanical properties of soft materials. The common denominator among these three classes is the design and prototyping of molds that replicate the shape of the robot. Molds could be made by common machinery (or also by traditional 3D printers) and were used as means for shaping the soft body.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-40003-7_6
  • Chapter length: 22 pages
  • Instant PDF download
  • Readable on all devices
  • Own it forever
  • Exclusive offer for individuals only
  • Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout
eBook
USD   99.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • ISBN: 978-3-319-40003-7
  • Instant PDF download
  • Readable on all devices
  • Own it forever
  • Exclusive offer for individuals only
  • Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout
Hardcover Book
USD   129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
Learn about institutional subscriptions
Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 13
Fig. 14

Notes

  1. 1.

    https://softroboticstoolkit.com/.

  2. 2.

    www.stratasys.com.

  3. 3.

    http://www.3dsystems.com/materials/professional.

References

  1. Rus D, Tolley MT (2015) Nature 521(7553):467

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  2. Cohen E, Vikas V, Trimmer B, McCarthy S (2015) In: International design engineering technical conferences and computers and information in engineering conference, vol 57137. American Society of Mechanical Engineers, vol 57137, p V05BT08A015

    Google Scholar 

  3. Arienti A, Calisti M, Giorgio-Serchi F, Laschi C (2013) In: 2013 OCEANS-San Diego. IEEE, pp 1–7

    Google Scholar 

  4. Merz R, Prinz F, Ramaswami K, Terk M, Weiss L (1994) In: 1994 international solid freeform fabrication symposium

    Google Scholar 

  5. Ansari Y, Shoushtari AL, Cacucciolo V, Cianchetti M, Laschi C (2015) In: Conference on biomimetic and biohybrid systems. Springer, pp 13–25

    Google Scholar 

  6. Calisti M, Arienti A, Giannaccini ME, Follador M, Giorelli M, Cianchetti M, Mazzolai B, Laschi C, Dario P (2010) In: 2010 3rd IEEE RAS & EMBS international conference on biomedical robotics and biomechatronics. IEEE, pp 461–466

    Google Scholar 

  7. Ranzani T, Gerboni G, Cianchetti M, Menciassi A (2015) Bioinspirat Biomimet 10(3):035008

    Google Scholar 

  8. Forterre Y, Pouliquen O (2008) Ann Rev Fluid Mech 40:1

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  9. Mills P, Snabre P (2009) Eur Phys J E 30(3):309

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  10. Goren L, Aharonov E, Sparks D, Toussaint R (2011) Pure Appl Geophys 168(12):2289

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  11. Zhang J, Majmudar T, Sperl M, Behringer R (2010) Soft Matter 6(13):2982

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  12. Jiang A, Ranzani T, Gerboni G, Lekstutyte L, Althoefer K, Dasgupta P, Nanayakkara T (2014) Soft Rob 1(3):192

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  13. Ranzani T, Cianchetti M, Gerboni G, De Falco I, Menciassi A (2016) IEEE Trans Rob 32(1):187

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  14. De Falco I, Gerboni G, Cianchetti, A. Menciassi, J Vis Exp: JoVE (105) (2015)

    Google Scholar 

  15. Manti M,  Hassan T,  Passetti G, d’Elia N, Cianchetti M, Laschi C (2015) In: Conference on biomimetic and biohybrid systems. Springer, pp 64–74

    Google Scholar 

  16. Simpson B, Rosen C (2008) Operative techniques in laryngology, pp 3–8

    Google Scholar 

  17. Corucci F, Calisti M, Hauser H, Laschi C (2015) In: Proceedings of the 2015 annual conference on genetic and evolutionary computation, pp 145–152

    Google Scholar 

  18. Cianchetti M, Calisti M, Margheri L, Kuba M, Laschi C (2015) Bioinspir Biomim 10(3)

    Google Scholar 

  19. Calisti M, Corucci F, Arienti A, Laschi C (2015) Bioinspir Biomim 10(4):046012

    Google Scholar 

  20. Cheney N, MacCurdy R, Clune J, Lipson H (2014) ACM SIGEVOlution 7(1):11

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  21. Bickel B, Bächer M, Otaduy MA, Lee HR, Pfister H, Gross M, Matusik W (2010) ACM Trans Gr (TOG) 29(4):1

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  22. Bartlett NW, Tolley MT, Overvelde JT, Weaver JC, Mosadegh B, Bertoldi K, Whitesides GM, Wood RJ (2015) Science 349(6244):161

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  23. Sitthi-Amorn P, Ramos JE, Wangy Y, Kwan J, Lan J, Wang W, Matusik W (2015) ACM Trans Gr (Tog) 34(4):1

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. BioRobotics Institute, Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Pisa, Italy

    Matteo Cianchetti & Mariangela Manti

  2. Lincoln Institute for Agri-Food Technology, University of Lincoln, Lincoln, UK

    Marcello Calisti

  3. National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    Cecilia Laschi

Authors
  1. Matteo Cianchetti
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Mariangela Manti
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Marcello Calisti
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Cecilia Laschi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Cecilia Laschi .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electronic Engineering, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, Valparaíso, Chile

    Dr. Fernando Auat

  2. Department of Engineering Design, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, Valparaíso, Chile

    Dr. Pablo Prieto

  3. Research Center E. Piaggio Faculty of Engineering, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy

    Prof. Dr. Gualtiero Fantoni

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

Copyright information

© 2022 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Cianchetti, M., Manti, M., Calisti, M., Laschi, C. (2022). Soft Robotics. In: Auat, F., Prieto, P., Fantoni, G. (eds) Rapid Roboting. Intelligent Systems, Control and Automation: Science and Engineering, vol 82. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40003-7_6

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40003-7_6

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-40001-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-40003-7

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)