About RoboSoft CA

Soft robotics, intended as the use of soft materials in robotics, is a young research field, going to overcome the basic assumptions of conventional rigid robotics and its solid theories and techniques, developed over the last 50 years. Using soft materials to apply forces on the environment, as expected in a soft robot able to locomote, grasp, and perform other tasks, poses new problems at the level of the different components as well as at the whole system level. The technologies for actuating the soft materials have not yet been demonstrated to exist in a general form, although specific effective examples exists. The same is true for sensors embedded in the soft materials and for soft robotic energy suppliers.

A Coordination Action for Soft Robotics is extremely necessary and timely in the current and future landscape of robotics and biorobotics and can capitalize on the competitiveness of European research in this new field. A common forum will help soft robotics researchers to combine their efforts, to maximize the opportunities and to materialize the huge potential impact.

RoboSoft will create this missing framework for the soft robotics scientists, regardless of their background disciplines, and will enable the accumulation and sharing of the crucial knowledge needed for scientific progress in this field. RoboSoft will not only create and consolidate the soft robotics community, but will also create assets that go beyond the end of the three-year CA.

RoboSoft Major Objectives

• Create and consolidate a scientific community in the field of soft robotic
• Create the common places for gathering and for exchange of ideas and experiences for researchers in soft robotics and in the many scientific and technological sectors related to it
• Promote the visibility of soft robotics beyond its community and towards stakeholders and special interest research communities
• Provide means for better exploiting the potential of soft robots and technologies in future ICT

Coordination Action Initiatives

• Periodic plenary meetings involving the scientific community and stakeholder
• Interdisciplinary events for cross-fertilization with other scientific communities (i.e. biology, medicine, neuroscience, material science and chemistry, mathematics and model theory, etc.)
• Summer Schools for PhD students and young researchers
• Dedicated workshops and exhibitions for stakeholders
• Joint publication in scientific journals and working papers
• Definition of scientific and technical standards
• Book series for soft robotic

RoboSoft Community

Major excellent research laboratories and institutions at European and international level working in the field of soft robotics will be involved to take part to the scientific initiatives of the Coordination Action as members of the RoboSoft Community.

RoboSoft will promote the visibility of soft robotics beyond its community and towards stakeholders and special interest research communities, to provide means for better exploiting the potential of soft robots and technologies in future ICT.

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RoboSoft Working Groups

To foster networking and collaborations, RoboSoft will support the activities of the Soft Robotics Community as a whole, and will setup a number of specific Working Groups (WGs) to focus on critical or emerging topics, or robotics technologies such as:

• Smart Materials and Soft Actuators
• Control Architectures and Paradigms for Soft Robots
• Soft Sensors
• Energy harvesting
• Stretchable Electronics
• Biological insights

RoboSoft Consortium

Consortium

Contact

For more information, please have a look at our brochure:
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