Abstract: Soft robots are able to safely interact with delicate objects, absorb impacts without damage, and adapt to the shape of their environment, making them ideal for applications that require safe robot-human interaction. However, their use in real-world applications has been limited due to the difficulty of controlling them given their nonlinear dynamics and many degrees-of-freedom. In this talk, I’ll introduce a residual modeling and control approach that leverages Koopman operator theory to construct linear representations of nonlinear dynamical systems, enabling the use of efficient linear techniques to control soft robots. Using this Koopman-based approach, a pneumatically actuated soft arm was able to perform real-world manipulation tasks such as trajectory following, pick-and-place with a variable payload, and writing on a dry-erase board without undergoing any task-specific training. This approach improves the capabilities of soft robots, enabling their more widespread adoption in real-world applications.

Contact: Silas Alben