ICRA 2023 Full Day Workshop
Soft Growing Robots: From Search-and-Rescue to Intraluminal Interventions
Monday 29th May 2023
ExCel Exhibition Centre, London, UK
Growing robots are inspired by the ability of vine plants to navigate via growth. They demonstrate unique capabilities such as tip extension, maneuvrability in narrow openings or complex environments, and the possibility of passing tools along a hollow central channel or via a functionalized tip. Example applications for these robots include medical robotics for minimally invasive surgery, search-and-rescue, archaeological inspection, burrowing, and also plant monitoring.
However, with the topic being relatively new, many challenges associated with their design, sensing, perception, modelling and control have been identified along the way. It has been frequently demonstrated that growing robots have limited steerability, complex control, non-trivial quasistatic and dynamic modelling, while they risk buckling and deforming as they extend to greater lengths. Their miniaturisation and fit-for-purpose design and manufacturing represent additional complexities for this class of robots. These challenges make growing robots a fascinating research topic but hinder their deployment in real-world applications. Inspiration to address them can be found in adjacent domains, such in industry for pipeline repair, and a commonly used approach called trenching.
In this workshop, we will bring together industrial and academic experts to discuss the challenges they have faced, the solutions they have created, and the remaining questions that must be addressed to enable real-world deployment of growing robots. Their seminars will cover design limitations as well as the modelling and control challenges. Additionally, the academic experts will discuss the requirements and features of their robots. By cross-referencing both the features and limitations, we aim to facilitate discussions that move the field forward and catalyse the development of new models, controllers and manufacturing approaches for soft growing robots. Furthermore, the in-depth seminars and discussions will give those who are new to the field an insight into the topic and inspire the next generation of students and early career researchers.
With this being at the forefront of our minds, we aim to bring together experts in the field to answer the following questions:
What are the manufacturing requirements for growing robots?
What are the challenges faced during the design, modelling and control of growing robots that hinder their deployment in real-world applications?
What open software and hardware solutions exist to support research in the domain?
What are the scopes for future research in the topic of growing robots?
SEMINARS
The workshop comprises 20-minute seminars followed by 10-minute Q&As per speaker, covered over 4 sessions:
Concept & Bioinspiration
Sensing & Perception
Modeling & Control
Application & Manufacture
POSTER SESSIONS
We will feature poster presentations during coffee and lunch breaks. 2-minute teasers will also be presented during the end of the workshop.
PANEL DISCUSSION
The workshop will conclude with an open discussion between the panelists and attendees to review the presented insights and discuss potential solutions.
Speakers
Barbara Mazzolai- Italian Institute of Technology, Italy
Kaspar Althoefer- Queen Mary's University London, UK
Allison Okamura- Stanford University, USA
Jee-Hwan Ryu- Korea Advanced Institute of Technology, South Korea
Haithem El-Hussieny- Egypt-Japan University of Science and Technology, Egypt
Ali Sadeghi- University of Twente, The Netherlands
Margaret Coad- University of Notre Dame, USA
Laura Blumenschein- Purdue Univ., USA
Evren Samur- Bogazici University, Turkey
S.M.Hadi Sadati- King's College London, UK
Tania Morimoto- University of California San Diego, USA
Christos Bergeles- King's College London, UK
Robert Katzschmann- ETH Zurich, Switzerland
Sponsors
MathWorks
The workshop poster call features three £100 awards, kindly supported in part by MathWorks, US.
BMEIS, KCL
The workshop poster call features three £100 awards, kindly supported in part by the School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Science, King's College London, UK.
(NIHR) Cardiovascular MedTech Co-operative
The organizers of the workshop acknowledge support from the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) MedTech Co-operative award for Cardiovascular Diseases to Guy’s & St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust in partnership with King’s College London.
Organizers
Christos Bergeles
Associate Professor, King's College London
Email: christos.bergeles@kcl.ac.uk
Tania Morimoto
Assistant Professor, University of California San Diego
Email: tkmorimoto@eng.ucsd.edu
S.M.Hadi Sadati
Research Fellow, King's College London
Email: smh_sadati@kcl.ac.uk
Zicong Wu
PhD Student, Robotics and Vision in Medicine (RViM) Lab, King's College London
Email: zicong.wu@kcl.ac.uk
Shamsa Al Harthy
Visiting Research Assistant, Robotics and Vision in Medicine (RViM) Lab, King's College London
Email: shamsa.al_harthy@kcl.ac.uk