NCCR Robotics is a consortium of robotics laboratories across Switzerland, working on robots for improving the quality of life and to strengthen robotics in Switzerland and worldwide. Newsletter
Annual Retreat
2020 12 & 13 March 2020 at LAC – Lugano Arte e Cultura 11.03.2020: INFO: NCCR Robotics update session The session will be held as a Zoom webinar and… Read more
Cellulo
The main goals of developing robots for education is to study how robots can improve the quality of education and give students a good basis in science and technology.… Read more
Classes & Workshops for Kids
Robots are engaging and captivate the young generation’s imagination. Robots also provide a valuable educational tool and a hands-on-fun way of learning STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) by… Read more
Event Library
Search Near… Dates and Country All Countries Australia Austria Canada China Finland Germany Hungary Italy Japan Norway Romania Singapore South Korea Spain Switzerland United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United… Read more
Exoskeletons
Orthoses, or exoskeletons as they’re more commonly known, are a method to either assist those with reduced mobility in certain parts of their body, or to completely reintroduce function… Read more
Field Tests
As part of our commitment to developing robots for use in real world applications, we organise annual practice sessions with professionals from the search and rescue community and take our… Read more
Human Robot Interaction
Have you ever dreamed of flying? The Symbiotic Drone Activity is a project that aims to give you the sensation of flying while controlling a real drone. The goal of… Read more
Keep in Touch
Use this form to contact us and we will get back to you as soon as possible. Alternatively you can email us on nccr-robotics@epfl.ch (general enquiries); communication@nccr-robotics.ch (press enquiries)… Read more
Masters in Robotics in Switzerland
Our partner institutions currently offer two courses that have a strong focus on robotics at the master level, although it is worth noting that students with a wide variety of… Read more
Sensars Neuroprosthetics receives ‘Fast Track to Innovation’ funding
NCCR Robotics start-up “Sensars Neuroprosthetics” was chosen to receive the Fast Track to Innovation funding from the European Commission, among 227 projects. The Fast Track to Innovation (FTI) is a fully-bottom-up innovation support programme promoting close-to-the-market innovation activities open to industry-driven consortia that can be composed of all types of participants. It can help partners …
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NCCR Robotics’ Cellulo project presented in Paris
Arzu Güneysu, from NCCR Robotics’ Chili Lab, attended the seminar ‘Technologies for Active Aging’ at the Sorbonne University in Paris earlier this month. She was a speaker there and presented the Cellulo project with the paper « Gamified rehabilitation with tangible robots » and with a demo. Abstract of the paper: Gamified Therapy with Tangible Robots: …
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EPFL opens new research center for educational science
EPFL inaugurated on Wednesday, October 10 2018 the LEARN Center for Learning Sciences. The Center will promote innovation in teaching and help formulate responses to the challenges being created by our society’s digital transformation. Its head, Francesco Mondada, and its co-founder, Pierre Dillenbourg, are both NCCR Robotics professors. EPFL has created a unique ecosystem of …
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Dronistics: new NCCR Robotics spin-off
The NCCR Robotics Spin Fund committee has granted Przemyslaw Kornatowski the Spin Fund for Dronistics. Dronistics is the 11th NCCR Robotics Spin-off and is hosted at Floreano Lab.
Visit and Talk by Prof. Katherine Kuchenbecker, MPI Stuttgart
On Thursday, May 31 and Friday, June 1st2018, Prof. Katherine Kuchenbecker visited ETH Zurich and gave a lecture on “Telerobotic Touch” as part of the Distinguished Seminar in Robotics, Systems and Control series. Katherine is director of the Haptic Intelligence Department at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart, and member of the …
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Swiss Robotics Industry Day 2018 – register now with the early bird rate
The 4th of the Swiss Robotics Industry Day is taking place at the Swiss Tech Convention Centre, Lausanne, Switzerland, on 1st of November 2018. It is designed for industry professionals to experience technologies from the labs of NCCR Robotics and the SMEs of the Swiss Robotics ecosystem. It is a unique opportunity for the industry to gain …
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IEEE TRO best paper award
Scaramuzza lab received the TRO best paper award at ICRA 2018 in Brisbane, Australia for their paper on IMU pre-integration.
NCCR Robotics drones showcased at VivaTech 2018 in Paris
Several drones were provided by NCCR Robotics to be exhibited at VivaTech 2018 in Paris last May, including a Dronistics drone. L’Agefi published a special “Home of Drones” magazine in support of this event, which features NCCR Robotics director Dario Floreano, as well as some of our spin-offs (Flyability, Foldaways Haptics and Fotokite). You …
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Call for Participation to the RSS 2018 Tutorial on Dynamical System-based Learning from Demonstration
RSS 2018 Tutorial on Dynamical System-based Learning from Demonstration, co-organised by Aude Billard, NCCR Robotics PI, will take place on June 29th at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh. More information here: https://epfl-lasa.github.io/TutorialRSS2018.io/
Two NCCR Robotics spin-offs selected for the 2018 MassChallenge Switzerland
Feeltronix and Foldaway Haptics have been selected to be part of the 18 startups in the “High Tech” category of the 2018 MassChallenge Switzerland. More info here.
Past Events
Date/Time | Event | Description |
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29 Jun – 3 Jul 2020 All Day |
ARCHE 2020
Wangen an der Aare, Wangen an der Aare |
ARCHE (Advanced Robotic Capabilities for Hazardous Environment) was initiated in 2017 by the SCDR of the DDPS and is lead together with the Teaching Unit of Engineering/Rescue/NBC, ETH Zurich, and... |
13 Sep – 15 Sep 2019 All Day |
EPFL Drone Days 2019 | In 2019, the Drone Days event will happen during EPFL's Open Days (13-15 September) and are part of the institution's 50th anniversary activities. As in the previous years, NCCR Robotics... |
13 Sep 2019 All Day |
Aviation Digital Transformation Forum
EPFL Rolex Learning Centre, Lausanne |
The event will take place at the EPFL Rolex Learning Centre in Lausanne, Switzerland on Friday 13 September at the EPFL Rolex Learning Centre. Dario Floreano, Davide Scaramuzza and Roland... |
3 May 2019 11:45 am – 2:00 pm |
2nd NCCR Robotics Women in Research Lunch
ETH Zurich, HG G3, Zurich |
Date: Friday, 3 May 2019 Time: 11:45 – 14:00 Location: ETH Zürich, room ML E 13 Guest: Prof. Dr. Heike Valléry, TU Delft Registration: https://ethz.doodle.com/poll/qxet6yvyw7qpui94 by 20 April at the... |
1 Apr – 5 Apr 2019 All Day |
Hannover Messe 2019
Deutsche Messe, Hannover |
NCCR Robotics will be present at the Hannover Messe 2019 with a corporate booth and 3 additional booths for its spin-offs: Dronistics FES-ABILITY Sevensense The corporate booth will also showcase... |
3 Dec – 4 Dec 2018 All Day |
BMI Symposium 2018 "Controlling behavior" | Prof. Pavan Ramdya, Prof. Carl Petersen & Prof. Auke Ijspeert (NCCR Robotics PI) invite you to the 2018 BMI Symposium on "Controlling behavior". With this one and a half day symposium, we... |
1 Nov 2018 All Day |
Swiss Robotics Industry Day 2018
SwissTech Convention Center, Ecublens |
The next Swiss Robotics Industry Day will take place on November 1st, 2018 at the Swiss Tech Convention Centre, in Lausanne. All information on the event can be found here: http://swissroboticsindustry.ch |
29 Oct – 31 Oct 2018 9:00 am – 5:00 pm |
Conference on Robot Learning (CoRL 2018) | CoRL 2018 will take place on October 29-31 2018 in Zurich. The conference focuses on the intersection of robotics and machine learning. CoRL aims at being a selective, top-tier venue... |
18 Oct – 19 Oct 2018 All Day |
SNSF Site Visit 2018 | The 2018 SNSF Site Visit will take place in Bern, on October 18 and 19th. More information will be provided closer to the dates. |
8 Oct – 9 Oct 2018 All Day |
Aerial Futures: The Drone Frontier @ HUBweek
Boston District Hall, Boston |
Swissnex Boston is gathering a selection of some of the most exciting drone exhibitors from Switzerland and the United States to bring to HUBweek. Expect an eclectic selection of UAVs... |
31 Jul – 2 Aug 2018 All Day |
EPFL Drone Days | Some NCCR Robotics laboratories will present demos at the EPFL Drone Days 2018. https://dronedays.epfl.ch |
2 Jul – 7 Jul 2018 All Day |
ARCHE
Wangen an der Aare, Wangen an der Aare |
The event took place in the training village of the civil protection forces of the Swiss Federal Department for Defense, Civil Protection and Sport and was used as field test... |
26 Jun 2018 All Day |
Seminar: Bioinspired Robotics | EPFL Bioinspired Platform invites you to their next Research & Industry Seminar on the topic of Bioinspired Robotics. Join them to learn how researchers and companies and are getting... |
1 Jun 2018 3:15 pm – 4:45 pm |
Distinguished Seminar in Robotics, Systems & Control | The Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Systems presents: Telerobotic Touch June 1st 2018, 15h15-16h15 Place: ETHZ, Main Building (HG G3) For those at EPFL: a video streaming will take place... |
21 May – 25 May 2018 All Day |
ICRA 2018, Brisbane, Australia
Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Center, South Brisbane |
Roland Siegward, NCCR Robotics PI, will be a member of the Industry Forum Chairs Committee at ICRA 2018, in Brisbane, Australia. Margarita Chli, NCCR Robotics PI, will give a keynote... |
23 Apr – 27 Apr 2018 All Day |
Hannover Messe
Deutsche Messe, Hannover |
NCCR Robotics has a booth within the Swiss Innovation Pavillion and will be accompanied by 2 two of our spin-offs: MyoSwiss and Foldaway Haptics and the project "MIRobotics". For more information... |
19 Apr 2018 All Day |
Forward (Forum de l'Innovation pour les PME)
SwissTech Convention Center, Ecublens |
NCCR Robotics will have a booth during this event, hosting two of our spin-offs Foldaway Haptics, and TWIICE. https://forward-sme.epfl.ch |
13 Mar – 15 Mar 2018 All Day |
European Robotics Forum
Tampere Hall, Tampere |
The European Robotics Forum (ERF) 2018 hosted over 900 participants this year in Tampere, Finland from 13 to 15th March. NCCR Robotics was present with a booth, hosting two of... |
8 Mar – 9 Mar 2018 All Day |
NCCR Robotics Annual Retreat
Hotel Ambassador, Bern |
The 2018 NCCR Robotics Annual Retreat (Bern, 8-9th March) was very successful, not only in bringing the community together but in achieving its targets in preparation for the next phase... |
12 Sep – 15 Sep 2017 All Day |
11th Conference on Field and Service Robotics
ETH Zurich, Zurich |
For more details and to register please see: https://www.fsr.ethz.ch/ |
18 Aug 2017 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm |
Seminar: Nanocomposite based Sensing and Monitoring
MED 115 18, EPFL, Lausanne |
Abstract: With the advent of information and communication technologies (ICT), the cost effective, robust and accurate sensors are becoming important elements of internet of things (IoT). Polymeric composite sensors that... |
5 Jun – 10 Jun 2017 All Day |
Summer School on Rehabilitation Robotics
Biomedical Engineering School, Shanghai |
Organised by the Riener Lab, ETH Zurich. For more information please see: http://www.sms.hest.ethz.ch/news-and-events/sms-news-channel/2017/01/summer-school-on-rehabilitation-robotics.html |
2 Jun 2017 8:30 am – 5:00 pm |
ICRA Workshop on Event-based vision
sands expo and convention centre, Singapore 018971 |
Tobi Delbruck and Davide Scaramuzza are confirmed speakers. For more information please see: http://rpg.ifi.uzh.ch/ICRA17_event_vision_workshop.html |
24 Apr – 28 Apr 2017 All Day |
Hannover Messe
Hannover Messe, Hannover |
We will present a booth at the Hannover Messe along with Swiss Robotics partners. To organise a meeting with us please contact techtransfer@nccr-robotics.ch |
27 Mar – 31 Mar 2017 All Day |
Design, Automation and Test in Europe 2017
SwissTech Convention Center, Ecublens |
We will be at the DATE 2017 conference presenting a booth with Swiss Robotics partners. If you would like to arrange a time to meet please contact techtransfer@nccr-robotics.ch |
20 Mar 2017 6:15 pm – 7:45 pm |
Talk: Roboter als Reha-Helfer im Einsatz by Robert Riener
Universität Zurich Zentrum, Hörsaal KOL-F-101, Zurich |
For more information please see the official flyer. |
18 Mar – 19 Mar 2017 All Day |
CoWriter project presented at GES, Dubai
Atlantis The Palm, Dubai |
|
16 Mar 2017 10:00 am – 11:00 am |
Talk by Prof. Eric Tytell (Tufts University), Quantifying responses to perturbations during locomotion in fish
MED 115 18, EPFL, Lausanne |
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6 Mar – 9 Mar 2017 All Day |
R4L @HRI2017
Aula der Wissenschaft – Hall of Science, Vienna |
http://r4l.epfl.ch/HRI2017 |
2 Mar 2017 12:30 pm – 2:00 pm |
Business Ideas @EPFL Swiss Robotics going global
SwissTech Convention Center, Ecublens |
www.ifj.ch/cti-epfl |
2 Mar 2017 12:30 pm – 2:00 pm |
Business Ideas @EPFL
SwissTech Convention Center, Ecublens |
http://www.ifj.ch/cti-epfl |
13 Feb 2017 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm |
Talk by Dr Diego Pardo (ETHZ) Legged Robots: Stepping out of the continuous and differentiable zone.
EPFL, Lausanne |
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16 Dec 2016 3:15 pm – 4:15 pm |
Talk: MIT Cheetah: new design paradigm shift toward mobile robots, ETH Distinguished Lecture in Robotics, Systems & Control - Sangbae Kim
ETH Zurich, HG G3, Zurich |
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19 Nov 2016 3:15 pm – 4:15 pm |
Talk: Insect-inspired technologies for civilian drones by Dario Floreano
ETH Zurich, HG G3, Zurich |
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9 Nov 2016 10:00 am – 11:00 am |
Talk: Rehabilitation robotics - Cristina Santos, Universidade do Minho, Portugal; Dealing with uncertainty in robot grasping - Alexandre Bernardino, Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisbon, Portugal; Locomotion with the Walkman humanoid robot - Nikos Tsagarakis, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italy.
MED 115 18, EPFL, Lausanne |
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4 Nov 2016 3:15 pm – 4:15 pm |
Talk: Designing and Controlling Robots for Direct Interaction with Humans by Prof. Alin Albu-Schaeffer, German Aerospace Center, Germany.
ETH Zurich, HG G3, Zurich |
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2 Nov 2016 All Day |
Swiss Robotics Industry Day
SwissTech Convention Center, Ecublens |
Please see www.swissindustryday.ch |
23 Oct – 27 Oct 2016 All Day |
International Symposium on Safety, Security and Rescue Robotics (SSRR 16) | Please see http://ssrrobotics.org/index.html |
9 Oct – 12 Oct 2016 All Day |
WORKSHOP ON BRAIN-MACHINE INTERFACES (SMC 2016)
Intercontinental Hotel, BUDAPEST, 1052 Budapest |
Please see: https://documents.epfl.ch/users/c/ch/chavarri/www/IEEESMC2016_BMI/BMI-IEEESMC2016.html |
23 Sep 2016 3:15 pm – 4:15 pm |
Talk: Humanitarian Robotics and Automation Technologies by Dr. Raj Madhavan
ETH Zurich, HG G3, Zurich |
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13 Jul – 15 Jul 2016 All Day |
Workshop on Dynamic Locomotion and Manipulation (DLMC2016)
ETH Zurich, Zurich |
Please see the website http://www.dlmc2016.ethz.ch/ |
Swiss Robotics Industry Day 2018 (official video)
EPFL opens new research center for educational science
Micro-Aerial Vehicles (MAVs) for Search and Rescue Applications
Auke Ijspeert: Animal Locomotion – Learning from Robots (WORLD.MINDS MOBILITY 2018)
Flyability Introduces the Range Extender
ANYmal – Let Robots Go Anywhere
Perception-aware Receding Horizon Navigation for MAVs
Onboard State Dependent LQR for Agile Quadrotors – (ICRA18 Video Pitch)
Event-based Vision meets Deep Learning on Steering Prediction for Self-driving Cars
A little fold-up joystick brings haptics to portable devices
EPFL spin-off’s tiny robots turn heads in Las Vegas
CES 2020 – Des robots nés à l’EPFL animent la carrosserie de la voiture du futur
Un drone comme marchand de glaces Ben & Jerry’s à l’EPFL
10 Swiss Drone Startups to Watch as Industry Leaders Land in Lausanne
The future of rescue robotics
Drohnenland Schweiz
La Suisse, home of drones
C’est la nouvelle image que la Confédération cherche à vendre à l’étranger: la Suisse pays du drone par Valérie Demierre
La madre de los robots ‘origami’: “Los ‘smartphones’ no tienen manos, ese es el siguiente paso”
Manche Modelle bringen bahnbrechende Erkenntnisse ans Licht
Looking for publications? You might want to consider searching on the EPFL Infoscience site which provides advanced publication search capabilities.
A Collision Resilient Flying Robot
Flying robots that can locomote efficiently in GPS-denied cluttered environments have many applications, such as in search and rescue scenarios. However, dealing with the high amount of obstacles inherent to such environments is a major challenge for flying vehicles. Conventional flying platforms cannot afford to collide with obstacles, as the disturbance from the impact may provoke a crash to the ground, especially when friction forces generate torques affecting the attitude of the platform. We propose a concept of resilient flying robots capable of colliding into obstacles without compromising their flight stability. Such platforms present great advantages over existing robots as they are capable of robust flight in cluttered environments without the need for complex sense and avoid strategies or 3D mapping of the environment. We propose a design comprising an inner frame equipped with conventional propulsion and stabilization systems enclosed in a protective cage that can rotate passively thanks to a 3-axis gimbal system, which reduces the impact of friction forces on the attitude of the inner frame. After addressing important design considerations thanks to a collision model and validation experiments, we present a proof-of-concept platform, named GimBall, capable of flying in various cluttered environments. Field experiments demonstrate the robot’s ability to fly fully autonomously through a forest while experiencing multiple collisions.
A Drone with Insect-Inspired Folding Wings
Flying robots are increasingly adopted in search and rescue missions because of their capability to quickly collect and stream information from remote and dangerous areas. To further enhance their use, we are investigating the development of a new class of drones, foldable sensorized hubs that can quickly take off from rescuers’ hands as soon as they are taken out of a pocket or a backpack. With this aim, this paper presents the development of a foldable wing inspired by insects. The wing can be packaged for transportation or deployed for flight in half a second with a simple action from the user. The wing is manufactured as a thick origami structure with a foldable multi-layer material. The prototype of the foldable wing is experimentally characterized and validated in flight on a mini-drone.
A Foldable Antagonistic Actuator
We report on an actuator based on dielectric elastomers that is capable of antagonistic actuation and passive folding. This actuator enables foldability in robots with simple structures. Unlike other antagonistic dielectric elastomer devices, our concept uses elastic hinges to allow the folding of the structure, which also provides an additional design parameter. To validate the actuator concept through a specific application test, a foldable elevon actuator with outline size of 70 mm × 130 mm is developed with angular displacement range and torque specifications matched to a 400-mm wingspan micro-air vehicle (MAV) of mass 130 g. A closed-form analytical model of the actuator is constructed, which was used to guide the actuator design. The actuator consists of 125-μm-thick silicone membranes as the dielectric elastomers, 0.2mm-thick fiberglass plate as the frame structure, and 50-μm-thick polyimide as the elastic hinge. We measured voltage-controllable angular displacement up to ±26° and torque of 2720 mN · mm at 5 kV, with good agreement between the model and the measured data. Two elevon actuators are integrated into the MAV, which was successfully flown, with the foldable actuators providing stable and well-controlled flight. The controllability was quantitatively evaluated by calculating the correlation between the control signal and the MAV motion, with a correlation in roll axis of over 0.7 measured during the flights, illustrating the high performance of this foldable actuator.
A low-cost, actuated passive dynamic walker kit for accessible research and education
A low-cost bipedal walking robot kit with limited actuation and sensing capabilities was designed and built to achieve actively powered, passive dynamic walking locomotion over level ground. The walking system is composed of readily available parts and materials totaling less than $50 and can be assembled either from plans or pre-fabricated parts in less than a day. Indeed, the very first (and only) prototype was conceived and built in one day, and capable of walking within two more. In place of components utilized for the prototype shown and demonstrated, alternative parts and materials can be substituted and accommodated by relatively simple design changes, allowing this robot construction to be adapted to different resource availability, in some cases key to the success of research or education.
A method for ego-motion estimation in micro-hovering platforms flying in very cluttered environments
We aim at developing autonomous miniature hovering flying robots capable of navigating in unstructured GPS-denied environments. A major challenge is the miniaturization of the embedded sensors and processors that allow such platforms to fly by themselves. In this paper, we propose a novel ego-motion estimation algorithm for hovering robots equipped with inertial and optic-flow sensors that runs in real- time on a microcontroller and enables autonomous flight. Unlike many vision-based methods, this algorithm does not rely on feature tracking, structure estimation, additional dis- tance sensors or assumptions about the environment. In this method, we introduce the translational optic-flow direction constraint, which uses the optic-flow direction but not its scale to correct for inertial sensor drift during changes of direction. This solution requires comparatively much sim- pler electronics and sensors and works in environments of any geometry. Here we describe the implementation and per- formance of the method on a hovering robot equipped with eight 0.65 g optic-flow sensors, and show that it can be used for closed-loop control of various motions.
A multi-modal hovering and terrestrial robot with adaptive morphology
Proceedings of the 2nd International Symposium on Aerial Robotics Most current drones are designed with a static morphology aimed at exploiting a single locomotion mode. This results in limited versatility and adaptability to multi-domain environments, such as those encountered in rescue missions, agriculture and inspection, where multiple locomotion capabilities could be more effective. For …
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A Perching Mechanism for Flying Robots Using a Fibre-Based Adhesive
Robots capable of hover flight in constrained indoor environments have many applications, however their range is constrained by the high energetic cost of airborne locomotion. Perching allows flying robots to scan their environment without the need to remain aloft. This paper presents the design of a mechanism that allows indoor flying robots to attach to vertical surfaces. To date, solutions that enable flying robot with perching capabilities either require high precision control of the dynamics of the robot or a mechanism robust to high energy impacts. We propose in this article a perching mechanism comprising a compliant deployable pad and a passive self-alignment system, that does not require any active control during the attachment procedure. More specifically, a perching mechanism using fibre-based dry adhesives was implemented on a 300 g flying platform. An adhesive pad was first modeled and optimized in shape for maximum attachment force at the low pre-load forces inherent to hovering platforms. It was then mounted on a deployable mechanism that stays within the structure of the robot during flight and can be deployed when a perching maneuver is initiated. Finally, the perching mechanism is integrated onto a real flying robot and successful perching maneuvers are demonstrated as a proof of concept.
A review: Can robots reshape K-12 STEM education?
Can robots in classroom reshape K-12 STEM education, and foster new ways of learning? To sketch an answer, this article reviews, side-by-side, existing literature on robot-based learning activities featuring mathematics and physics (purposefully putting aside the well-studied field of "robots to teach robotics") and existing robot platforms and toolkits suited for classroom environment (in terms of cost, ease of use, orchestration load for the teacher, etc.). Our survey suggests that the use of robots in classroom has indeed moved from purely technology to education, to encompass new didactic fields. We however identified several shortcomings, in terms of robotic platforms and teaching environments, that contribute to the limited presence of robotics in existing curricula; the lack of specific teacher training being likely pivotal. Finally, we propose an educational framework merging the tangibility of robots with the advanced visibility of augmented reality.
A Robot at Home? People"s Perception of a Domestic Service Robot
Actuator With Angle-Dependent Elasticity for Biomimetic Transfemoral Prostheses
Despite tremendous improvements in recent years, lower-limb prostheses are still inferior to their biological counterparts. Most powered knee joints use impedance control, but it is unknown which impedance profiles are needed to replicate physiological behavior. Recently, we have developed a method to quantify such profiles from conventional gait data. Based on this method, we derive stiffness requirements for knee prostheses, and we propose an actuation concept where physical actuator stiffness changes in function of joint angle. The idea is to express stiffness and moment requirements as functions of angle, and then to combine a series elastic actuator (SEA) with an optimized nonlinear transmission and parallel springs to reproduce the profiles. By considering the angle-dependent stiffness requirement, the upper bound for the impedance in zero-force control could be reduced by a factor of two. We realize this ANGle-dependent ELAstic Actuator (ANGELAA) in a leg, with rubber cords as series elastic elements. Hysteresis in the rubber is accounted for, and knee moment is estimated with a mean error of 0.7 Nm. The nonlinear parallel elasticity creates equilibria near 0◦ as well as 90◦ knee flexion, frequent postures in daily life. Experimental evaluation in a test setup shows force control bandwidth around 5–9 Hz, and a pilot experiment with an amputee subject shows the feasibility of the approach. While weight and power consumption are not optimized in this prototype, the incorporated mechatronic principles may pave the way for cheaper and lighter actuators in artificial legs and in other applications where stiffness requirements depend on kinematic configuration.