The perception of soft robotics
Description
For many years, people have been developing robots that help people. The most obvious application areas are care and, entertainment and housekeeping.
The development efforts come from two directions. First, engineering, where a major focus is on realising human functions, such as walking, grasping and perception. Secondly, the human sciences, where one concentrates on the effects of interaction with artificial objects in the context of, for example, demented elderly people, but also children in hospitals.
One would expect great interest in the subject to exist in industrial designer circles, but this is still limited. There is much talk of 'smart products' in those circles, but robots, as an extreme example of a smart product, hardly enjoy any interest.
You can immediately tell from the products which corner they come from. The seal Paro clearly comes from the corner of human sciences. Its physical functions are limited and mental functions are focused on patient well-being.
The care robot Eva from Delft University of Technology clearly comes from the technical corner. The emphasis here is not on perception but on useful, technical functions that the product has to perform in a care environment. An arm seems sufficient.
It is striking that it is precisely from the technical corner that attempts are being made to imitate people. Human scientists gratefully use these fake human beings in their research into solutions to loneliness and dementia. The question is hardly ever asked whether this is the best appearance for the given situation. They remain wooden, hard, cold objects.
For some time, there has been interest in soft robotics. Majidi (2014) defines soft robotics as "An interesting field within the field of robotics, that focuses on the applications of deformable materials in robotic applications. This creates the challenge to reexamine the materials and mechanisms that are used to make machines and robots to make them more versatile, lifelike and compatible for human interaction"
18.30:00 Reception
18:50 Introduction laboratory Robotics Institute by Pieter Jonker
19:10 3D printing of flexible materials for soft robotics by Rob Scharff
19:40 Designing expressiveness of smart products and robots by Marco Rozendaal
21:10 Break
20:30 Conversational robots by Michiel van Overbeek
21:00 Robots and body language, introduction to discussion by Wim Poelman
21:30 End
Speaker(s)
This evening meeting will be devoted specifically to the topic of soft robotics from three perspectives, namely materials technology, design and the visual arts.
Pieter Jonker (Professor of Vision-based Robotics) will introduce the Laboratory Robotics Institute to you.
Recent graduate Rob Scharff will discuss the possibilities of 3D printing flexible materials in combination with pneumatics.
Marco Rozendaal will discuss the design expressiveness of smart products in general and of robots in particular.
Michiel van Overbeek will present his art project dealing with conversational robots.
The presentation by Wim Poelman (chairman of MaterialDesign) "Robots and body language" will be an introduction to the discussion, including through a number of propositions on "soft robotics"
Location
TUD, Lab. Robotics & Vision, 3mE Lecture Hall E
(Robert Hooke), Mijnbouwstraat 120, 2628 RX Delft
Organiser
Industrial Design
MaterialDesign Foundation
Name and contact details for information
MaterialDesign at the e-mail address below
Register via
MaterialDesign via e-mail
info@materialdesign.nl