Development of Soft Robotic Prosthesis

Principal goal for project:
To develop the technologies within soft robotic prosthetic devices through research and experimentation, ideally resulting in the construction of a novel soft robotic prosthetic arm.
Research project:
Prosthetic limbs have improved significantly within recent years, moving on from wooden legs and mechanical hooks to running blades and robotic hands. However, some of the main drawbacks of modern functional prosthetics are that they are still made from hard materials with stiff mechanical parts and limited sensing capabilities. The solution to these problems could be found in the field of soft robotics. With recent advances in this area, like flexible sensors and soft actuators, the functional prosthetics of the future could look and feel a lot closer to their biological counterparts.

The aim of this project is to develop the technologies within soft robotic prosthetic devices through research and experimentation, ideally resulting in the construction of a novel soft robotic prosthetic arm. This aim will be met by conducting multiple research projects, covering three main areas of the soft robotics field:

Manufacturing
Human-Robot Interaction
Manipulation and Control Techniques
Manufacturing is a challenge for soft robotics research because traditional processes for making soft components, like injection moulding with metal dies, are time-consuming and expensive. Digital manufacturing techniques, like 3D printing, are being utilised to overcome these issues. However, more research is needed to improve digital manufacturing techniques to create parts that match the capabilities of alternatives made of hard materials. The first goal of this project is to innovate in the area of 3D printing, through iterative testing of soft robotic fingers manufactured using novel digital processes. Other experiments in this area could include the development of soft sensors in e-skins, or experimenting with biomimicry in the design of semi-flexible bone-like structural parts.

In the case of soft robotic prosthetics, human-robot interaction research mainly covers safety, comfort, and ease of use. Safety and comfort go hand-in-hand because uncomfortable prostheses often injure users and, without heavy countermeasures, can also cause injury to people around them. Also, for a prosthetic to be easy to use, it should be light, comfortable and highly functional. These challenges could be overcome by soft robotic prostheses, being safer and more comfortable due to their compliance, while also reducing the need for heavy safety systems. Relevant experiments covered by this project could include designing an attachment cuff that can adapt to daily bodily changes and increase comfort, and developing new structural geometries of prostheses to reduce weight.

Finally, manipulation and control techniques for soft robots can be difficult to devise due to the compliance of soft components. However, overcoming this issue could allow soft robotic prostheses to become the new standard, due to potential advantages in other areas. Experiments in this area could include, the development of soft actuators inspired by the mechanics of human muscles, and the application of e-skin sensors to control the grip strength of the prosthesis.

The Centre will have immediate short-term impacts on people skills and innovation pipeline, alongside key advances in scientific knowledge and techniques in Robotics and Autonomous Systems (RAS). With the strength of the programme's training emphasis on safety and responsible research and innovation (RI), we also target longer term economic and societal benefits.

Economy: It is estimated that the application of advanced robotics could generate a potential worldwide economic impact of $1.7-4.5 trillion by 2025 per year by 2025 (McKinsey). Over the last 5 years, the UK has witnessed significant new investments in robotics from both Government with the £4.7B Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF), spawning parallel investments from industry. An example is the EPSRC £18M investment in the EPSRC ORCA Hub in RAS, led by Heriot-Watt, leveraging a further £18.5M industry investment. The potential economic impact of RAS, however, is hampered by a massive skills shortage, which the proposed CDT-RAS would address. The new jobs created by these investments will require highly specialised, yet interdisciplinary and industrially relevant skill-sets. The CDT-RAS is well positioned to supply the UK workforce in this growing area, through strong links with industry through its extensive CDT-RAS Project Partners network and through a training emphasis on 'innovation-ready' graduates. For example, our CDT-RAS students will have the opportunity to grow into industrial leaders of tomorrow through direct experience and company placements, as well as, through the CDT's extensive support for commercialisation and start-ups.

Society: Robotic and autonomous systems have already been identified by the UK government as a key component to enable safer working conditions for 'dull, dirty and dangerous' tasks in extreme and challenging environments such as offshore, nuclear, mining, and space. Moreover, there are disruptive opportunities for RAS to contribute to cost-effective and safer construction, transport, and manufacturing and improved quality-of-life through healthcare and assisted living. CDT-RAS training focuses on interdisciplinary, cross-cutting, yet responsible research and innovation to allow our future leaders to develop techniques and technologies that will have impacts in new areas, beneficially improving society beyond what we can already imagine. We will develop autonomous systems and AI enablers that are transparent to developers and end-users alike. This will allow robots and machines to work seamlessly in society both individually and in teams and comply with regulations, such as the EU General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) and emerging IEEE standards, such as P7001 for Transparency for Autonomous Systems (for which Centre academics are members of the working group).

Science: CDT-RAS students will benefit from i) a critical mass of over 50 experienced supervisors, ii) the brand new facilities of the £27.5M National ROBOTARIUM and earlier £8M EPSRC equipment investments, as well as, iii) opportunities for international scientific and industrial lab placements. The Centre will realise scientific advancement and impact, crucial to enabling safe interaction between RAS, humans and the environment, including soft robotics, bio-inspired systems, human-robot interaction, swarms and collaborative robotics including human-robot teaming, sensing, embedded control, multi-agent decision making and maritime field robotics. The impact of the resultant research will be strengthened through top-venue publications and conference presentations, utilising student presentation/writing skills honed during the CDT-RAS training. Impact will also come through outreach such as international student robot competitions, public engagement activities such as science festivals and CDT-RAS hosted international researcher visitors and workshops.