Smart fluidic circuits for electronics-free untethered soft robots*

Soft robotics is a promising technology for many applications, e.g. object handling, bio-medical devices and exploration of unknown environments. However, an important drawback of (fluid-driven) soft robots is the need for hard and bulky components (valves, pumps) and electronics for their control, limiting their potential in real-life applications where tethers restrain their autonomy.

To overcome these limitations, we remove electronics and hard components with a novel control paradigm, where we embed control elements directly in the fluidic circuits. By exploiting interactions between the driving fluid and non-linear elastomeric mechanisms, e.g. exhibiting instabilities, we implement functionalities such as oscillatory actuation, environmental feedback, short and long term memory and energy storage.

To this end, both the design of original devices and the fundamental understanding of the underlying physics are required. We make use of both experimental and analytical approaches, combining the creative side of the process with mathematical tools to describe the fundamental principles.

We believe that developing and understanding a new electronics-free form of intelligence entirely based on the soft robots’ structure is key for the realization of real-life autonomous soft robots.