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The goal of this workshop is to bring together a group of international experts working at the intersection of materials science and robotics to discuss how materials innovation can shape the future of robotics. The workshop will feature invited talks that stimulate subsequent organized breakout sessions to discuss key future research themes and to set the course in the field. The meeting will take place at Castle Ringberg in the south of Germany, which offers an inspiring setting to discuss cutting edge research, to initiate new collaborations, and to reinvigorate existing connections.
Functional soft materials have the potential to revolutionize the field robotics. They promise to provide new functions and to lead to increased performance compared to current robot technologies. Over the last decade an active academic research community has emerged, which again and again demonstrates the tremendous capabilities of functional soft materials in proof-of-principle demonstrations. However, functional soft materials are rarely found in real-world robotic systems (see Rothemund et al. Nat. Mater. 20, 1582 (2021) for a detailed discussion). In this workshop we will discuss issues that still stand in the way of the use of functional materials in practical robotic systems and jointly develop possible solutions for these issues.
Program
Keynote talk by Cecilia Laschi: Soft Robotics: rethinking material role for sustainable robots
Keynote talk by Herbert Shea: Soft actuators for wearable haptics
Keynote talk by Kirstin Petersen: Collective embodied Intelligence in robotic systems
Keynote talk by Katherine Kuchenbecker: Sensing tactile contact over large, soft surfaces
Keynote talk by Xuanhe Zhao: Soft Medical Robots
Keynote talk by Michael Tolley: Materials for mobile biologically
Keynote talk by Martin Kaltenbrunner: Sustainable soft electronic and robotic systems