Hours:
16 hours (4 credits)

Room:

Aula Riunioni del Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell’Informazione, Via G. Caruso 16, Pisa - Ground Floor

To register to the course, click here

Short Abstract:

Humans and other animals outperform traditional robots in terms of reliability and efficiency, largely due to their unique physical characteristics. They have elastic tendons, ligaments, and muscles, which allow robust interaction with the environment and dynamic task execution. In contrast, classic robots are often stiff and heavy. Accordingly, researchers in robotics have shifted from focusing on rigidity to incorporating lightweight and compliant structures. Drawing from natural examples, robots now include elastic and soft components, leading to the development of flexible joint and link robots and articulated and continuum soft robots. These latter types are composed entirely of deformable elements, making them akin to invertebrate animals. This proliferation of new robotic designs creates the challenge of developing effective control strategies for managing a nonlinear mechanical system with numerous degrees of freedom (DOFs) and a high degree of underactuation. This course will introduce this control challenge, especially focusing on continuum soft robots, review established findings, highlight recent advancements, and explore open issues in the field.

Course Contents in brief:

1. Introduction (2h)
2. Refreshers on model-based control and control of rigid robots (2h)
3. Modeling of continuum soft robots (4h)
4. Shape control (4h)
5. Task space control (2h)
6. Other control challenges in CSRs’ control (2h)

Schedule:

1. 03/06/2024: 14:00 – 18:00
2. 04/06/2024: 14:30 – 17:30
3. 05/06/2024: 14:30 – 17:30
4. 06/06/2024: 14:30 – 17:30
5. 07/06/2024: 14:30 – 17:30