Soft Robotics
soft robotics
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The Institute of Robotics and Cognitive Systems at the University of Lübeck has a vacancy for an Assistant Professorship (Juniorprofessur) Tenure Track W2 for Robotics for an initial period of three years with an option to extend for a further three years. The future holder of the position should represent the field of robotics in research and teaching. Furthermore, the holder of the professorship shall establish their own working group at the Institute of Robotics and Cognitive Systems. The future holder of the position should have a very good doctorate and demonstrable scientific experience in one or more of the following research areas: Modelling, simulation, and control of robots, Robot kinematics and dynamics, Robot sensor technology, e.g., force and moment sensor technology, Robotic systems, e.g., telerobotic systems, humanoid robots, etc., Soft robotics and continuum robotics, AI and machine learning methods in robotics, Human-robot collaboration and safe autonomous robot systems, AR/VR in robotics, Applications of AI and robotics in medicine. The range of tasks also includes the acquisition of third-party funds and the assumption of project management. The applicant is expected to be scientifically involved in the research focus areas of the institute and the profile areas of the university, especially in the context of projects acquired by the institute itself (public funding, industrial cooperations, etc.). The position holder is expected to be willing to cooperate with the “Lübeck Innovation Hub for Robotic Surgery” (LIROS), the 'Center for Doctoral Studies Lübeck' and the 'Open Lab for Robotics and Imaging in Industry and Medicine' (OLRIM). In teaching, participation in the degree programme 'Robotics and Autonomous Systems' (German-language Bachelor’s, English-language Master’s) as well as the other degree programmes of the university’s STEM sections is expected.
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The Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems and the Universities of Stuttgart and Tübingen collaborate to offer an interdisciplinary Ph.D. program, the International Max Planck Research School for Intelligent Systems (IMPRS-IS). This doctoral program will accept its ninth generation of Ph.D. students in spring of 2025. We anticipate hiring over 60 doctoral researchers this recruitment round. We seek students who want to earn a doctorate while contributing to world-leading research in areas such as biomedical technology, computational cognitive science, computer vision, control systems and optimization, data science, haptics and human-computer interaction, machine learning, micro- and nano-robotics, neuroscience, perceptual inference, robotics and human-robot interaction, soft robotics, and other related fields. Admitted Ph.D. students can join our program in spring (or later) of 2025. You will be mentored by our internationally renowned faculty. You will conduct your research in either Stuttgart or Tübingen, Germany. IMPRS-IS offers a wide variety of scientific seminars, workshops, and social activities. All aspects of our program are in English. Your doctoral degree will be conferred when you successfully complete your Ph.D. project. Our dedicated staff members will assist you throughout your time as a doctoral student.
Prof Cedric Girerd
Medical instruments such as endoscopes, catheters, and industrial inspection tools are long and thin instruments which typically deploy by translation of their body relative to their environment. This mode of locomotion poses some sets of limitations. Indeed, friction with the environment can cause these tools to damage their environment. This is the case for medical applications such as colonoscopy, for instance, where the pushing action involved in advancing a colonoscope can induce large mechanical stresses on the delicate tissues and cause bleeding. In addition, such instruments may fail to deploy in industrial contexts such as the inspection of a pipe network, due to added friction in successive turns. To solve this challenge, inflatable, bio-inspired robots called “vine” robots have been proposed in the literature. Vine robots are inflatable, bio-inspired robots which grow at the tip to deploy. To have such characteristics, vine robots are composed by a thin tube everted in itself at the tip. When pressurized, the material stored inside, called the vine robot tail, translates and reaches the tip where it everts. The material everted at the tip then forms the vine robot body, which remains stationary with respect to the environment. These robots have been advantageously proposed for medical applications such as the deployment in the vasculature, in the mammary duct, in the intestine, and for industrial and larger scale applications such as growth in granular environments, inspection of archaeological sites, and for search and rescue operations. Most applications require a passageway for tools, i.e. a working channel, in order to provide direct access to the robot tip from the base. This enables tools to be inserted and swapped, in order to perform some tasks. Tasks can include the use of cameras and light sources for site visualization, laser, grippers and cutting tools in surgical applications, or the transmission of water or goods for search and rescue applications. Recently, several research have tackled the inclusion of such working channels in vine growing robots, including recent work of the PI, which enables working channels in miniaturized vine robots, thanks to material scrunching. However, while previous work focused on the deployment of these robots, it was shown in the literature that their retraction remains a significant unsolved challenge. This issue prevents their practical use, as well as their adoption by the industry, and thus presents a major challenge for the adoption of these robots. In particular, while vine robots with working channels seem the most useful from an application perspective, only the retraction of vine robots without working channels has been explored to date. Therefore, the goal of this thesis will be to propose general multi-scale solutions for the retraction of vine growing robots with working channels. Applications in the medical and industrial fields will be proposed to show the benefits of the investigated solutions, in challenging contexts.
Prof. Cedric Girerd
Medical instruments such as endoscopes, catheters, and industrial inspection tools are long and thin instruments which typically deploy by translation of their body relative to their environment. This mode of locomotion poses some sets of limitations. Indeed, friction with the environment can cause these tools to damage their environment. This is the case for medical applications such as colonoscopy, for instance, where the pushing action involved in advancing a colonoscope can induce large mechanical stresses on the delicate tissues and cause bleeding. In addition, such instruments may fail to deploy in industrial contexts such as the inspection of a pipe network, due to added friction in successive turns. To solve this challenge, inflatable, bio-inspired robots called “vine” robots have been proposed in the literature. Vine robots are inflatable, bio-inspired robots which grow at the tip to deploy. To have such characteristics, vine robots are composed by a thin tube everted in itself at the tip. When pressurized, the material stored inside, called the vine robot tail, translates and reaches the tip where it everts. The material everted at the tip then forms the vine robot body, which remains stationary with respect to the environment. These robots have been advantageously proposed for medical applications such as the deployment in the vasculature, in the mammary duct, in the intestine, and for industrial and larger scale applications such as growth in granular environments, inspection of archaeological sites, and for search and rescue operations. Most applications require a passageway for tools, i.e. a working channel, in order to provide direct access to the robot tip from the base. This enables tools to be inserted and swapped, in order to perform some tasks. Tasks can include the use of cameras and light sources for site visualization, laser, grippers and cutting tools in surgical applications, or the transmission of water or goods for search and rescue applications. Recently, several research have tackled the inclusion of such working channels in vine growing robots, including recent work of the PI, which enables working channels in miniaturized vine robots, thanks to material scrunching. However, while previous work focused on the deployment of these robots, it was shown in the literature that their retraction remains a significant unsolved challenge. This issue prevents their practical use, as well as their adoption by the industry, and thus presents a major challenge for the adoption of these robots. In particular, while vine robots with working channels seem the most useful from an application perspective, only the retraction of vine robots without working channels has been explored to date. Therefore, the goal of this thesis will be to propose general multi-scale solutions for the retraction of vine growing robots with working channels. Applications in the medical and industrial fields will be proposed to show the benefits of the investigated solutions, in challenging contexts.
How can we learn from nature to build better polymer composites?
Nature is replete with extraordinary materials that can grow, move, respond, and adapt. In this talk I will describe our ongoing efforts to develop advanced polymeric materials, inspired by nature. First, I will describe my group’s efforts to develop ultrastiff, ultratough materials inspired by the byssal materials of marine mussels. These adhesive contacts allow mussels to secure themselves to rocks, wood, metals and other surfaces in the harsh conditions of the intertidal zone. By developing a foundational understanding of the structure-mechanics relationships and processing of the natural system, we can design high-performance materials that are extremely strong without compromising extensibility, as well as macroporous materials with tunable toughness and strength. In the second half of the talk, I will describe new efforts to exploit light as a means of remote control and power. By leveraging the phototransduction pathways of highly-absorbing, negatively photochromic molecules, we can drive the motion of amorphous polymeric materials as well as liquid flows. These innovations enable applications in packaging, connective tissue repair, soft robotics, and optofluidics.