Soft Robotics: a developmental approach
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Abstract
In this Chapter we will first introduce and review soft robotics research, with emphasis on how compliance and softness have changed the robotics landscape in the past two decades. We will then briefly discuss the key ideas in Developmental Robotics which are fundamental for understanding the relationship between biological systems and artificial systems and finally discuss how the developmental sciences and soft robotics are irrevocably linked, into what we have chosen to call “Developmental Soft Robotics”. Here, in fact, the two fields can be merged into one where the developmental sciences can aid in the design and make of soft robots, which can then be used as platforms to better understand biological systems. We will finally discuss how phylogenetic development, ontogenetic development and short-term adaptation are indeed naturally suited to be embedded within a “soft” robotic context. Further readings (Trivedi et al. 2008; Pfeifer, Iida and Lungarella, 2014; Laschi et al. 2016), additionally to the soft robotics toolkit1 and the soft robotics TC website.