MOTION - Morphological Computation of Perception and Action

Lead Research Organisation: University of Cambridge
Department Name: Engineering

Abstract

Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.

Publications

10 25 50
 
Description We have conducted the initial experiments on the use of Electrically Conductive Thermoplastic Elastomer to test the basic feasibility as the sensor for robotic palpation. The performances of material behaviours are acceptable and it should be applicable for the application we are aiming to develop. We have systematically analysed the performance of sensors which led to a few publications. Experiments with practitioners gave us a lot of feedback mostly practical which will be reflected in our future work.

In addition, we have developed a technology to precisely replicate soft-rigid hybrid structures of human skeletal model by using a Multi-material 3D Printer. This technique can be used to analyse the mechanical dynamics of human hands, which is essential to understand the dynamic interactions of human doctors and patients during palpation. This can be used afterwards for the development of robotic palpation.

The learning framework for tactile based robotic diagnosis has been developed and published in several Journal Papers, which led to multiple research funding proposals as well as the exploitation in industry applications.
Exploitation Route The developed research platforms were published in open-access publications and generated data are available for others for further research. The analysis methods developed in this project were also published and publicly available for being exploited for other data-oriented research projects involving complex tactile sensor information and interactions, and beyond. The findings have been the resources to discuss being exploited for commercial applications, as well as further research funding proposals. The outcome of this projects were used to engage general public for outreaching activities, and more generally in our website and youtube channel.
Sectors Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Electronics,Healthcare

URL http://birlab.org/
 
Description The soft sensing technologies we are developing can be potentially used for business development. Soft sensors are of general interest for healthcare devices, wearable systems, and other industrial applications. As the technologies are also economically affordable, they can be exploited as educational tool kits of certain subjects. We have achieved a few first publications based on this technologies in major robotics journals such as Robotics and Automation Letters and Soft Robotics. We have also started experimenting the developed technologies with practitioners. The outcome of this project were presented in many invited talks of the researchers of this project, and initiated the discussions of interdisciplinary collaborations, some of which have started in the last years.
First Year Of Impact 2018
Sector Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Education,Electronics,Healthcare
Impact Types Societal,Economic

 
Description Rustat Conference on The Future of Work - Jesus College, Cambridge
Geographic Reach National 
Policy Influence Type Implementation circular/rapid advice/letter to e.g. Ministry of Health
Impact This event was a round-table discussion on the topic of Future of Jobs among the interdisciplinary experts including technologists, business development, policy makers, lawyers, economists, and philosophers. The outcome was documented as a written report.
 
Description Collaborative exploration of next generations of soft robot integration
Amount £20,500 (GBP)
Funding ID 83259 
Organisation The Leverhulme Trust 
Sector Charity/Non Profit
Country United Kingdom
Start 05/2019 
End 08/2019
 
Description EPSRC Capital Investment Fund through UK RAS Network
Amount £6,500,000 (GBP)
Organisation Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start  
End 03/2017
 
Description International Workshop on Embodied Intelligence
Amount £22,159 (GBP)
Funding ID EP/T033142/1 
Organisation Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 01/2021 
End 03/2021
 
Description RoboPatient - Robot assisted learning of constrained haptic information gain
Amount £388,632 (GBP)
Funding ID EP/T00519X/1 
Organisation Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 08/2019 
End 12/2023
 
Description Self-Healing Soft Robotics
Amount € 2,950,446 (EUR)
Funding ID Grant Agreement ID: 828818 
Organisation European Commission H2020 
Sector Public
Country Belgium
Start 05/2019 
End 05/2022
 
Description Soft, Self-responsive, Smart MAterials for RoboTs
Amount € 3,978,529 (EUR)
Funding ID EC Contract No: 860108 
Organisation Marie Curie 
Sector Charity/Non Profit
Country United Kingdom
Start 03/2020 
End 02/2024
 
Title pneumatically actuated sensorized phantom 
Description pneumatically actuated sensorized phantom allow the users to examine existence of hard nodules etc while recording a data. 
Type Of Material Physiological assessment or outcome measure 
Year Produced 2018 
Provided To Others? No  
Impact practitioners did not have opportunity to systematically assess their skills of palpation. 
 
Description Collaboration with Dr Thrish Nanayakkara and Prof Etienne Burdet of Imperial College. Prof Simon de Lusignan of Surrey University. 
Organisation Imperial College London
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Organization of joint workshop and preparation of technologies presented.
Collaborator Contribution Organization of joint workshop and preparation of technologies presented.
Impact Joint workshop with practitioners at University of Surrey to test the developed technologies.
Start Year 2016
 
Description Collaboration with Dr Thrish Nanayakkara and Prof Etienne Burdet of Imperial College. Prof Simon de Lusignan of Surrey University. 
Organisation University of Surrey
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Organization of joint workshop and preparation of technologies presented.
Collaborator Contribution Organization of joint workshop and preparation of technologies presented.
Impact Joint workshop with practitioners at University of Surrey to test the developed technologies.
Start Year 2016
 
Description Collaborations with Prof Perla Maiolino at Oxford University 
Organisation University of Oxford
Department Oxford Hub
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Experimental research and collaborative publications based on the sensor technologies of the partner.
Collaborator Contribution Provide the technological expertise in tactile sensing and data analysis for the experimental research and publications.
Impact Model-Free Soft-Structure Reconstruction for Proprioception Using Tactile Arrays. L Scimeca, J Hughes, P Maiolino, F Iida. IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters 4 (3), 2479-248, 2019
Start Year 2019
 
Description Prof Kohei Nakajima visit to Cambridge January-March 2019 
Organisation University of Tokyo
Country Japan 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Research collaboration with Prof Nakajima for co-supervision of students as well as co-publication of technical papers.
Collaborator Contribution Based on the theoretical physics background of Prof Nakajima, we have established unique experimental research collaborations on the analysis of unconventional robot dynamics.
Impact Collaborations are still in progress and the outcome needs to come in the near future.
Start Year 2019
 
Description UK-RAS Network Strategic Task Group on Soft Robotics 
Organisation Imperial College London
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution We co-develop a academic-industry network of soft robotics researchers and end users.
Collaborator Contribution We co-develop a academic-industry network of soft robotics researchers and end users.
Impact We have organized two workshops with the stake holders in 2020, to discuss the current issues of the field and actions to be taken. Each workshop attracted 20-30 participants both from academia and industry.
Start Year 2020
 
Description UK-RAS Network Strategic Task Group on Soft Robotics 
Organisation University of Bristol
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution We co-develop a academic-industry network of soft robotics researchers and end users.
Collaborator Contribution We co-develop a academic-industry network of soft robotics researchers and end users.
Impact We have organized two workshops with the stake holders in 2020, to discuss the current issues of the field and actions to be taken. Each workshop attracted 20-30 participants both from academia and industry.
Start Year 2020
 
Title Electrically Conductive Thermoplastic Elastomer for robotic tactile perception 
Description Electrically conductive thermoplastic elastomer is a class of elastomer that contains conductive compound for variable resistivity. As the base material is deformable, it can be used for variable resistive strain sensors to measure deformation and forces exerted to the material. We have developed this material customisable for the purpose of robotic tactile perception. 
Type Of Technology New/Improved Technique/Technology 
Year Produced 2017 
Impact Because this technology is both flexible in applicability and economical affordability, we are able to implement to variations of robotic applications. In particular we are planning to make use of this technology for the application of robotic palpation that is the main demonstrator of MOTION project. 
 
Title Multi-material 3D printing of human hand skeleton 
Description Multi-material 3D printer Stratasys Connect3 Objet500 was used to produce soft-rigid hybrid structure to mimic human skeletal dynamics. The produced soft skeletal structures were used to test interaction with the complex environment, such as dynamic force interactions with piano. 
Type Of Technology New/Improved Technique/Technology 
Year Produced 2018 
Impact This method can be used to analyse systematically musculoskeletal dynamics of human body for both robotics and biomedical purposes. 
URL http://robotics.sciencemag.org/content/3/25/eaau3098/tab-article-info
 
Description ARM Conference 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Invited plenary talk at the ARM Conference in Cambridge UK, December 15, 2016. The talk content was biologically inspired soft robotics, that includes some of the research outcome we obtained so far.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
 
Description BT Public Webinar 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact I was invited to give a seminar for BT Public Engagement Team to introduce Soft Robotics Research.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
 
Description Experiments with practitioners 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Experiments of the developed technologies with practitioners to have feedback.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description ICRA2020 BPIL Talk 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact I gave an invited talk at Brain Inspired Perception Interaction and Learning Workshop held in the context of International Conference of Robotics and Automation (ICRA2020).
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
URL https://brain-pil.github.io/icra2020/
 
Description International Conference of Embodied Intelligence 2022 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Online free conference to invite world-leading researchers in the field of Embodied Intelligence
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://embodied-intelligence.org
 
Description Invited Seminar at Nanjing University of Science and Technology 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact I was invited to give a seminar talk at Nanjing University of Science and Technology.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
 
Description Invited Talk at ICRA2020 Self-Assembly Workshop 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact I gave a talk at Self-Assembling and Reconfigurable Systems - ICRA Workshop 2020
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
URL https://softsystemsgroup.com/2020/05/30/self-assembling-and-reconfigurable-systems-icra-workshop-202...
 
Description Invited Talk at IROS2020 RoPat Workshop 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact I gave an invited talk at IROS2020 RoPat Workshop
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
URL https://www.imperial.ac.uk/morph-lab/events/ropat20-iros-workshop/
 
Description Invited Talk at IROS2020 Workshop on Application-Driven Soft Robotic Systems: Translational Challenges 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact I gave an invited talk at IROS2020 Workshop on Application-Driven Soft Robotic Systems: Translational Challenges
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
URL https://ori.ox.ac.uk/labs/srl/iros2020/
 
Description Invited lecture at the IROS2021 Workshop on Self-Healing Soft Robotics 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Invited lecture at the IROS2021 Workshop on Self-Healing Soft Robotics
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
 
Description Invited lecture at the Seasonal School on Rehabilitation and Assistive Technologies based on Soft Robotics 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact Invited lecture at the Seasonal School on Rehabilitation and Assistive Technologies based on Soft Robotics
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
 
Description Invited lecture at the Solvay Workshop on Mechanics of slender structures in physics, biology and engineering, Brussels Belgium, 27-29 August 2018. 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Invited lecture was given at the Solvay Workshop on Mechanics of slender structures in physics, biology and engineering, Brussels Belgium, 27-29 August 2018. Approximately 60-80 participants with interdisciplinary background attended the workshop.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL http://www.solvayinstitutes.be/event/workshop/mechanics_2018/mechanics_2018.html
 
Description Invited lecture at the Summer School on Soft Manipulation. Munich Germany, 17-21 July 2017. 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact Invited lecture was given at the Summer School on Soft Manipulation. Munich Germany, 17-21 July 2017. Approximately 80 students have participated in the summer school to learn various projects on soft manipulation.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
URL http://soma-project.eu/index.php/events2
 
Description Invited seminar at Bilkent University 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Invited seminar at Bilkent University on the topic of bi-inspired soft robotics
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description Invited seminar at Keele University 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Invited seminar at Keele University about the topic of bio-inspired soft robotics
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description Invited seminar talk at Leeds University, Robotics Network, Leeds UK, February 6, 2019. 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact Invited seminar talk was given at Leeds University, Robotics Network, Leeds UK, February 6, 2019. Approximately 100 students and researchers have attended the talk followed by discussions.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description Invited seminar talk at University of Edinburgh, Centre of Robotics, Edinburgh UK, January 14, 2019. 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact Invited seminar talk was given at University of Edinburgh, Centre of Robotics, Edinburgh UK, January 14, 2019. A large audience approximately 100 students (both postgrad and undergrad) attended the lecture followed by discussions.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description Keynote lecture at IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact One of the 10 keynote lectures was given in an international conference with participants ca. 300
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
URL http://www.robosoft2019.org
 
Description Lab Visit (Max Planc Stuttgart) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact Invited lecture at Max Planc Institute, Dept Physical Intelligent Systems, Stuttgart, Germany, September 2016. The lecture covers the topics of biologically inspired robotics including the ongoing research challenges in the MOTION project, to discuss the implications and further collaborations with researchers and students.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
 
Description Plenary Talk at TAROS 2020 Conference 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact I gave a plenary lecture at the TAROS conference about the topic of Soft Robotics.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
URL https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/conference/fac-eng/taros/index.aspx
 
Description Plenary talk at the Great Bay Area Conference on Robotics and Artificial Intelligence, Shenzhen China, 6-7 December 2018. 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Plenary talk was given at the Great Bay Area Conference on Robotics and Artificial Intelligence, Shenzhen China, 6-7 December 2018. Introduction of this project was given to the large audience of AI and Robotics researchers.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL http://www.gbas-sziur.com/index.html
 
Description SMART Project Training Event Lecture 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact I geve an introductory lecture of soft sensing in the training event for EU H2020 Innovative Training Network Project.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
URL http://www.smartitn.eu/training-events/
 
Description Seminar Talk at Tohoku University Japan 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The invited seminar lecture covered the research topics achieved in my group in the recent years, attracted ca. 150 audience
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description UK-RAS Conference Plenary Talk 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact I gave a plenary talk at the UK RAS Conference, for mostly academic researchers and students in Robotics.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
URL https://www.ukras.org/publications/ras-proceedings/UKRAS20/