Design and Control of Self-Sensing Actuators for Soft Robotics

Dear Colleagues,

Soft robotics, with an intrinsic softness of body, allows for the design of multifunctional robotic components that enable adaptable and flexible behavior in varying and unpredictable environments. Traditional discrete component assembly approaches contrast with those of soft robotics, where soft monolithic systems commonly exploit imprecise and graded borders between functional modules. This approach not only tackles the associated fabrication challenges, such as the integration of dissimilar materials, but also paves the way to embed distributed computation to meet challenging control of multi-DOF soft materials while tracking their precise shape and position changes. Self-sensing actuators, as a new generation of multifunctional components, offer a flexible approach to the development of integrated actuators and sensors. Self-sensing actuators refer to a class of actuators in which the sensing functionalities is incorporated through i) embedding additional sensing components including smart materials and structures to extract proprioceptive and exteroceptive information, or ii) employing actuators with intrinsic sensing capabilities detected through signal modulation and further analysis at the control unit to identify the actuation movement. The objective of this joint Special Issue between the two journals Sensors and Actuators is to promote a deeper understanding of various approaches for the integration of sensors and actuators in soft robotics. We aim to shed light on the state-of-the-art solutions not only in materials and fabrications, but also in signal analysis and control of the soft sensory actuators.

Topics of interests include the following:

• Artificial muscles with embedded proprioceptive sensors and electronics
• Artificial muscles with embedded bio/chemo/mechano/electro/photo sensors for environmental perception
• Driving/measurement electronics and signal analysis for self-sensing actuators
• Novel multi-material fabrications including 3D printing of sensorized actuators
• Modeling and simulation of proprioceptive/exteroceptive artificial muscles
• Model-based closed-loop control of self-sensing actuators
• Learning control of self-sensing actuators

You may choose our Joint Special Issue in Actuators.

Prof. Jonathan Rossiter
Prof. Shinichi Hirai
Dr. Majid Taghavi
Dr. Hareesh Godaba
Guest Editors

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• soft robotics
• self-sensing actuator
• integrated transducer
• sensory actuator
• proprioceptive artificial muscle
• multifunctional transducer
• signal processing
• closed-loop control
• model-free control