Energy-based approach to analyze and develop soft robotic systems

Abstract

The field of Soft Robotics is broad in terms of actuation technologies from pneumatic/fluidic, or thermal, or electrical, or chemical to mechanical domains, and from the microscopic to the macroscopic scale. Applying these actuation technologies in real world application comes with the challenge of developing energy-efficient systems. Energy is the lingua franca of engineering, and an energy-based approach has the potential to define a single approach that highlights the key features of a system. This workshop aims to educate researchers working on soft robotic systems on energy-based approaches specifically applied to the systems they are developing by using concepts such as the port-Hamiltonian approach and bond-graph theory. Several examples of these approaches will be provided through case studies presented by the speakers of this workshop.