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1 | | -# Tensegrity Workshop Series |
| 1 | +# RoboSoft 2025 Simulators Hack-a-Thon |
2 | 2 |
|
3 | | -An archive of the workshop series we've been running since 2018 |
| 3 | +## ABSTRACT |
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|
5 | | -* [IROS 2023](https://www.eng.yale.edu/faboratory/tensegrityworkshop/) |
6 | | -* [RoboSoft 2022](https://muse.union.edu/tensegrity/) |
7 | | -* [ICRA 2019](https://muse.union.edu/tensegrity/icra-2019/) |
8 | | -* [RoboSoft 2018](https://muse.union.edu/robosoft-tensegrity-workshop/) |
| 5 | +In the past few years a multitude of soft robotics simulators have emerged, each with its unique characteristics and models, and each suitable for different subsets of applications. The variety of simulators has recently blossomed with the arrival of differentiable simulators. As a result, it can be challenging for new researchers to decide which simulator is most suitable for their project. This event will provide brief overview talks of existing simulators and then we will spend the bulk of our time running an “install-fest” and “hack-a-thon” using these simulators. As a group, we will solicit simulator submissions from the community, develop a rubric to judge them by, and then assess the simulators using the rubric. This highly interactive and exciting process aims to unite the community, foster collaboration, and develop common resources for researchers looking to use soft robotic simulators. |
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| 7 | +## DESCRIPTION |
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|
11 | | -# Previous Workshop |
12 | 9 |
|
13 | | -## RoboSoft 2022 (Virtual) |
| 10 | +Effective simulators are essential to the field of soft robotics—they allow for the relatively rapid AI-driven discovery of effective morphologies and behaviors. However, the complexity of soft materials makes them challenging to simulate with fidelity, leading to challenges, particularly for sim2real transfer of solutions. The variety of new simulators can often feel overwhelming to researchers looking to incorporate simulators into their projects - there is no centralized clearinghouse that curates those simulators and weighs the pros and cons of each across a variety of tasks. |
| 11 | +The goal of this novel tutorial is to build and curate that knowledge base in several ways. First, leading up to the event we will solicit and gather a list of simulators in use or development by current researchers. Prior to the event we will have created a webpage with links to those simulators. We will also develop a rubric (detailed below) of criteria to assess the qualities of the contributed simulators. |
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|
15 | | -Edinburg, Scotland, April 4, 2022 |
| 13 | +During the event itself we will have short invited talks to introduce the soft robotics simulators, give insights about how each of these implementations came to life, the design choices adopted, and the main research results obtained thanks to these simulators. |
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17 | | - |
18 | | - |
19 | | -## Organizers: |
20 | | - |
21 | | -* John Rieffel (Union College) – Chair |
22 | | -* Dario Floreano (EPFL) |
23 | | -* Rebecca Kramer-Bottiglio (Yale) |
24 | | -* Valter Böhm (OTH Regensburg) |
25 | | -* Vishesh Vikas (University of Alabama) |
26 | | - |
27 | | - |
28 | | -## Description |
29 | | -Following on the successes of our 2018 and 2019 workshops, the purpose of this workshop is to provide a forum to discuss recent advances and challenges in the field of tensegrity robotics. As compliant structures with tunable stiffness, tensegrities are a compelling platform with which to study the spectrum of robotic morphologies, from soft to rigid. Tensegrities are relatively simple to design and fabricate, and yet they present all the same challenges and pathologies of more conventional robots. Most valuably, they are incredibly modular, requiring few distinct parts, and allowing them to scale quite well in complexity. This workshop will provide participants with an opportunity to present and discuss the current state-of-the-art in tensegrity robotic research, through a series of invited talks, a solicited poster session, and an interactive panel discussion. |
30 | | - |
31 | | -Tensegrities are relatively simple mechanical systems, consisting of a number of rigid elements (struts) joined at their endpoints by tensile elements (cables or springs), and kept stable through a synergistic interplay of pre-stress forces. Beyond engineering, properties of tensegrity have been demonstrated at all scales of the natural world, ranging from the tendinous network of the human hand to the mechanotransduction of living cell. At every scale, tensegrity structures have an impressive strength-to-weight ratio, are structurally robust, and stable in the face of deformation. Moreover, tensegrity structures are inherently modular (consisting of only struts and springs). This means that increasingly complex tensegrity structures can be constructed simply by increasing the number of struts and springs. They are simple enough to be baby toys and complex enough to serve as the basis for the next generation of NASA’s planetary rovers. Tensegrity structures are therefore a compelling and versatile platform with which to explore a wide range of topics and applications relevant to the broader IEEE-ROS and ICRA communities, including biomimetics, bio-inspired Robots soft material robotics, cellular and modular robots, compliant joint/mechanism, distributed robot systems, and tendon/wire mechanism (to name just a few). The goal of this workshop is therefore to provide a showcase for tensegrity researchers to present advances in the state-of-the-art and to discuss ongoing challenges within the field, while simultaneously attracting and engaging new participants in the field |
32 | | - |
33 | | -Specific topics include (but are not limited to): |
34 | | - |
35 | | -* Tensegrity-based soft robots |
36 | | -* Bioinspired tensegrity robots |
37 | | -* Tensegrity Modular Robots |
38 | | -* Multi-scale tensegrity robots |
39 | | -* Biological modeling with tensegrity systems |
40 | | -* Tensegrity models and simulators |
41 | | -* Sensing, control, and actuation of tensegrity robots |
42 | | -* Theory of tensegrity systems |
43 | | -* Applications of tensegrity robots |
44 | | -* Tensegrity structures in biological system |
45 | | - |
46 | | -Schedule (all times GMT+1) |
47 | | - |
48 | | -* 14:00: Opening Remarks (5 minutes) |
49 | | -* 14:00-16:00 Invited Talks: (15 minutes + 5 minutes questions) |
50 | | -* Tensegrity Robots Driven by Thin Pneumatic Artificial Muscles, Ryota Kobayashi (Tokyo Tech) |
51 | | -* Wheeled Tensegrity Modular Robots for Practical Applications, Tianyuan Wang (University of York) |
52 | | -* A System Design Approach for Control of Tensegrity Robots, Raman Goyal (PARC) |
53 | | -* Behavioral Repertoires for Tensegrity Robots, John Rieffel (Union College) |
54 | | -* Collision Resilient Bio-inspired Tensegrity Drone, Omar Aloui (EPFL) |
55 | | -* 16:00 – 17:00pm Poster Spotlight Talks/Poster Session: ( 3-minutes each) |
56 | | -* Compliant grippers based on multistable tensegrity structures, Glaser, J.; Langenscheidt, R.; Boehm, V. (OTH Regensburg) |
57 | | -* Multimodal mobile robot based on a multistable tensegrity structure, Schorr, P.; Boehm, V. (OTH Regensburg) |
58 | | -* A soft, stiffness-controllable joint using antagonistic actuation principles, Wenlong Gaozhang (UCL) |
59 | | -* 17:00 Panel Discussion:An open-ended interactive panel discussion of the upcoming ”grand challenges” of tensegrity robotics research. |
60 | | - |
61 | | - |
62 | | -POSTER GUIDELINES: |
63 | | - |
64 | | -Please respect A0 poster size in portrait orientation (841x1189mm) for your poster. |
65 | | -Paper Details: |
66 | | - |
67 | | -All participants will be invited to a future Journal Special Issue on tensegrity robotics. |
68 | | - |
69 | | -Submissions can be sent to the workshop chair, rieffelj@union.edu. |
70 | | - |
71 | | -Direct all correspondence to John Rieffel (rieffelj@union.edu) |
| 15 | +The bulk of our time will be spent with two exciting hands-on activities. First, we will host an “install-fest”, where participants are challenged to install as many simulators as they can on their personal computers. We will strive to have participants with MacOS, Windows, and Linux machines so that the diverse range of research environments is reflected in the audience. Participants will be asked to assess each simulator using our developed rubric. As participants are doing this, organizers will be circulating to help participants with the process. |
| 16 | +Next we will facilitate a “hack-a-thon”, where participants are challenged to implement a choice of simple optimization tasks (grasping, locomotion, etc) using an off-the-shelf optimizer such as CMA-ES. Once again, the participants will be asked to assess the simulator’s ability to achieve this integration using our rubric, and organizers will circulate to facilitate. |
| 17 | +We’ll end the event with a short summary discussion of our experiences, and will gather assessments back together for our website. |
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