At the Crossroads: Interdisciplinary Paths to Soft Robots

Abstract

As I mentioned in my editorial, soft robotics is a highly collaborative field that relies on successful innovation in very diverse fields. Even the construction of a simple modest device might involve research spanning materials science, control theory, sensing, energy storage, flexible electronics, and a host of breakthroughs in more than one of these fields. Most researchers I know are fully engaged in the advancements within their own field and often lack the opportunity to discuss their projects and their project needs with experts in other disciplines. It is also a challenge for researchers with different backgrounds to communicate effectively and to be aware of new developments in distantly related technologies. A goal of Soft Robotics is to bridge such communication gaps and to share these collaborative discussions with you. To those ends, I have asked each of the following experts to comment on the state of their particular field: Randy H. Ewoldt, Design of Rheologically Complex Materials; Hod Lipson, Evolutionary Robotics; Mirko Kovac, Biomimetic Robots; Mohsen Shahinpoor, Soft Actuators; Nanshu Lu, Flexible Electronics, and Carmel Majidi, Soft Robotics. These insightful perspectives will be followed up by a lively discussion among the participants.