A Hybrid Combining Hard and Soft Robots

TLDR

Hard robotic arms are complex, expensive, and require sophisticated controls, whereas this hybrid system is easy to construct, simple to control, and low cost. The article presents a hybrid robotic system that combines hard and soft subsystems. The hybrid consists of a wheeled hard robot and a four‑legged soft robot, controlled wirelessly to enable rapid flat‑terrain locomotion via the wheeled unit and object gripping/retrieval via the soft quadruped. The hybrid successfully retrieved an iPod Nano from a room, demonstrating that the combined hard and soft components can perform tasks neither can accomplish alone, and the soft subsystem is lightweight, disposable, and multifunctional.

Abstract

This article describes a hybrid robotic system combining hard and soft subsystems. This hybrid comprises a wheeled robot (an iRobot Create; hard) and a four-legged quadruped (soft). It is capable (using a simple, wireless control system) of rapid locomotion over flat terrain (using the wheeled hard robot) and of gripping and retrieving an object (using the independent locomotive capabilities of the soft robot). The utility of this system is demonstrated by performing a mission requiring the capabilities of both components: retrieving an object (iPod Nano) from the center of a room. This class of robot—hybrids comprising hard and soft systems functioning synergistically—is capable of performing tasks that neither can do alone. In contrast to specialized hard robotic arms with grippers (capable of performing some of the functions we describe here), which are complex, relatively expensive, and require sophisticated controls, this hybrid system is easy to construct, simple to control, and low in cost. The soft robotic system in the hybrid is lightweight, disposable if contaminated or damaged, and capable of multiple functions.