Tech Briefs Magazine - September 2021 - 42

Robotics & Automation
with the environment are vital to the
robot's ability to manipulate objects.
While that may seem obvious, it turns
out the algorithm vastly outperformed
humans' intuition on where to site the
sensors.
The work could help to automate the
process of robot design. In addition to
developing algorithms to control a
robot's movements, designers need to
think about how to place sensors on
robots and how that will interplay with
other components of that system. Better
sensor placement could have industrial
applications, especially where robots are
used for fine tasks like gripping.
For more information, contact Abby
Aba zorius at abbya@mit.edu; 617-253-2709.
AI and Wearable Cameras Combine in Self-Walking
Robotic Exoskeletons
Exoskeleton legs are capable of thinking and making control decisions on their own using
artificial intelligence technology.
University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
esearchers are developing exoskeleton
legs capable of thinking and
making control decisions on their own
using sophisticated artificial intelligence
(AI) technology. The ExoNet system com -
bines computer vision and deep-learning
AI to mimic how able-bodied people
R
walk by seeing their surroundings and
adjusting their movements.
Exoskeleton legs operated by motors
already exist but they must be manually
controlled by users via smartphone
applications or joysticks. Each time the
user wants to perform a new locomotor
activity, they have to stop, take out their
smartphone, and select the desired
mode. To address that limitation, the
researchers fitted exoskeleton users with
wearable cameras and are now optimizing
AI computer software to process the
video feed to accurately recognize stairs,
doors, and other features of the surrounding
environment.
The next phase of the project will
involve sending instructions to motors so
that robotic exoskeletons can climb
stairs, avoid obstacles, or take other
appropriate actions based on analysis of
the user's current movement and the up -
coming terrain. The control approach
would not necessarily require human
thought. Similar to autonomous cars that
drive themselves, the autonomous exo -
skeletons would walk by themselves.
The researchers are also working to
improve the energy efficiency of motors
for robotic exoskeletons by using human
motion to self-charge the batteries.
For more information, contact Chris
The self-walking robotic exoskeleton legs can think and make control decisions on their own using
artificial intelligence.
Wilson-Smith at chris.ws@uwaterloo.ca;
519-888-4451.
Centimeter-Long Snail Robot Powered with Light
The soft robot harvests energy from a laser beam and can crawl on horizontal surfaces and
climb vertical walls and an upside-down glass ceiling.
University of Warsaw, Poland
C
rawling by traveling deformation of
a soft body is a widespread mode of
locomotion - from microscopic nematodes,
to earthworms, to gastropods.
Animals across scales use it to move
around different, often challenging
environments. Snails, in particular, use
mucus - a slippery, aqueous secretion
- to control the interaction between
42
Cov
their ventral foot and the surface. Their
adhesive locomotion has a unique property:
it can be used on different surfaces
including wood, metal, glass, Teflon
(PTFE), or sand in various configurations
such as crawling upside-down.
For robotics, low complexity of a single
continuous foot could offer resistance to
adverse external conditions and wear
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ToC
and tear, while the constant contact with
the ground may provide high margins of
failure resistance. Adhesive locomotion
in robots has been limited to externally
powered, centimeter-scale demonstrators
with electromechanical drives.
Liquid crystalline elastomers (LCEs)
are smart materials that can exhibit macro -
scopic, fast, reversible shape change
Tech Briefs, September 2021

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Tech Briefs Magazine - September 2021

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