Compliant and soft robotics

1) Compliant and soft mechatronics design

Variable Lever Mechanism (VLM) probe for medical palpation; BirthSIM a risk-free childbirth training simulator; Hyperelastic Ballooning Membrane Actuator (HBMA)

Funders and Collaborators

  • Childbirth simulator for risk-free forceps delivery training:
    Compliant actuation for better haptic rendering
    Hybrid electro-pneumatic/electro-mechanic robot
  • A variable stiffness probe for hard nodule detection in soft tissues:
    Variable stiffness mechanism design
    Bi-modal Tactile & Kinesthetic sensing
  • Hyperelastic Ballooning Membrane Actuator for robotic implants and tissue repair:
    Hybrid soft-rigid actuator
    High power to weight ratio
  • Publications:
    L. He, N Herzig et al., "An Abdominal Phantom With Tunable Stiffness Nodules and Force Sensing Capability for Palpation Training," in IEEE Transactions on Robotics, DOI: 10.1109/TRO.2020.3043717.
    N. Herzig, P. Maiolino, F. Iida and T. Nanayakkara, "A Variable Stiffness Robotic Probe for Soft Tissue Palpation," in IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 1168-1175, April 2018, DOI: 10.1109/LRA.2018.2793961
    N. Herzig, R. Moreau and T. Redarce, "A new design for the BirthSIM simulator to improve realism," 2014 36th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, Chicago, IL, USA, 2014, pp. 2065-2068, DOI: 10.1109/EMBC.2014.6944022.

2) Modeling of Compliant & Soft systems

HBMA model and simulations; VLM probe Finite Element model

Funders and Collaborators

  • Dynamic and Thermodynamic behavior of soft and compliant electro-pneumatic actuators:
    Model and experimental characterization for simulation
    Models for Controller and Observer synthesis
    Comparison between hyperelastic models
  • Finite Element Analysis for Variable Stiffness Actuators:
    To understand the impact of the stiffness during robot-environment interactions
    To generate simulated prior knowledge for data-driven control strategies
  • Publications:
    E Perez-Guagnelli, J Jones, AH Tokel, N Herzig, B Jones, S Miyashita, and DD Damian. “Characterization, Simulation and Control of a Soft Helical Pneumatic Implantable Robot for Tissue Regeneration” IEEE T-MRB 2020. DOI: 10.1109/TMRB.2020.2970308
    N Herzig, L He, P Maiolino, SA Abad, T Nanayakkara, “Conditioned haptic perception for 3D localization of nodules in soft tissue palpation with a variable stiffness probe.” PLOS ONE 2020 15(8): e0237379.  DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0237379
    SA Abad, N Herzig, SMH Sadati, and T Nanayakkara. "Significance of the Compliance of the Joints on the Dynamic Slip Resistance of a Bioinspired Hoof." IEEE Transactions on Robotics 35, no. 6 2019: 1450-1463. DOI: 10.1109/TRO.2019.2930864

3) Controllers for Compliant & Soft robots

Position and stiffness control strategy for multi-DoF electro-pneumatic robot; Bayesian-based control strategy for autonomous soft tissue palpation

Funders and Collaborators

  • Nonlinear Position and Stiffness Controller for multi-Degree-of-Freedom electro-pneumatic robots:
    Control synthesis based on backstepping
    Robust control of pneumatic cylinder in position
    Real-time tuning of the Closed-loop stiffness
  • Bayesian-based control strategy for autonomous soft tissue palpation:
    Autonomous detection of stiff inclusion in soft tissues
    Stiffness variation during palpation to maximize the gain of information
  • Publications:

    N Herzig, R Moreau, T Redarce, F Abry, X Brun, “Nonlinear position and stiffness Backstepping controller for a two Degrees of Freedom pneumatic robot” CEP 2018: DOI: 10.1016/j.conengprac.2017.12.007
    N Herzig, L He, P Maiolino, SA Abad, T Nanayakkara, “Conditioned haptic perception for 3D localization of nodules in soft tissue palpation with a variable stiffness probe” PLoS ONE 15(8): e0237379 2020. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0237379