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Abstract: Soft everting vine-inspired robots have emerged over the last several years as a novel robot platform capable of a unique form of mobility through unstructured environments. These robots use internal fluid pressure to turn their body inside-out through a process called eversion, which allows them to extend from the tip like natural vines. In 2018, we successfully deployed a vine robot at an archeological site to explore narrow, rocky tunnels that could not be accessed by humans and would be challenging for other robots to access. Since then, we have been working to advance vine robot capabilities towards 3D navigation, manipulation, and sensing, all of which require creative research approaches. In this talk, I will discuss key lessons from the design, modeling, control, and field deployment of vine robots, focusing on universal insights that can help push forward the state of the art of robotics as a whole.
Bio: Margaret Coad joined the faculty at the University of Notre Dame in the fall of 2021, and she is currently an Assistant Professor of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering. She leads the Innovative Robotics and Interactive Systems (IRIS) Lab, which explores the design, modeling, and control of innovative robotic systems to improve human health, safety, and productivity; she also teaches courses in robotics and soft robotics. Prior to joining Notre Dame, she completed her Ph.D. degree in 2021 and M.S. degree in 2017 in Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University under the direction of Professor Allison Okamura, and her B.S. degree in 2015 in Mechanical Engineering at MIT. She won the Robotics and Automation Magazine Best Paper Award for 2020 for her work on vine robots, and she has been a finalist for several Best Paper Awards at international robotics conferences. Outside of academics, she plays ultimate frisbee and sings in choir.
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