Translational soft robots in successful real-world applications

About the Workshop

This workshop aims at bringing the soft robotics community together to discuss promising application areas of soft robotics for successful translational research. We first invite the world-leading researchers in soft robotics to share their state-of-the-art research in which soft robots served as a key enabler. We also listen to industry participants about their use cases of soft robotic devices and their voice of customers for further research and development. We encourage all the participants to share their experience and knowledge on collaborative research projects with other academic partners in different fields or industry partners, so that the soft robotics community can identify where would be the next lowest hanging fruit for the successful translation of soft robotics. In the meantime, we also outline key challenges in soft robotics that prevent the field from vastly expanding its practical applications in the real world. Throughout the workshop program, we will also discuss viable solutions to address those challenges. We believe that the proposed workshop will not only serve as a valuable opportunity for the soft robotics community and industries to recognize the most promising focus areas for soft robotics to advance beyond the research outcomes in a laboratory, but also to educate young roboticists for the next decade.   

Topics of Interest include:

- Promising real-world applications for soft robotics

- Ongoing challenges in soft robotics for real-world applications

- State-of-the-art soft robotic research for real-world applications

- Views on the future of translational soft robotics