ENERGY STORAGE AND DELIVERY IN ROBOTIC SYSTEMS
Power is a persistent challenge in autonomous robots across multiple functions and sizes. Energy storage is often the limiting factor in a system’s weight and operating time. High-power maneuvers such as jumping and flying increase maneuverability but demand novel transmissions. This workshop will bring together diverse fields to discuss this common limitation. Topics will range from micro-robotics, soft robotics, impulsive systems, medical devices, and beyond. The workshop will include presentations and demonstrations of cutting-edge approaches, as well as discussions to develop a unified framework.
CONTENT
The intent of this workshop is to bring together researchers in robotics working on different aspects of energy storage and power modulation. The challenge of energy management occurs in all robots regardless of size and functionality. Fundamentally, the operation of any robot can be broken down into cascading steps where energy gets converted from one form into another.
Roboticists have adopted a variety of energy storage methods: from readily available commercial batteries that are easy to integrate with conventional power electronics to higher energy density combustible fuels and beyond. Novel materials, processing, and assembly methods have enabled the use of new technologies for energy storage, pushing the system-level challenge towards integration and control.
Delivering power depends heavily on the robotic task to be performed, be it locomotion, manipulation, drug delivery, etc. In particular, fast movements, such as jumping, or flying, have high power requirements. Since many energy storage and conversion systems have strong rate limitations (e.g. battery maximum discharge rates) other mechanisms are required to modulate power at the robot level. As in the energy storage case, advances in materials and fabrication are opening new avenues for increasing energy conversion efficiency as well as the available power.
We have gathered experts in robotics, materials science, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and medical devices to discuss these topics. Our goal is to find common themes and solutions across different areas of research.
Topics will include:
Energy storage approaches: mechanical, electrical, chemical;
Transducer technologies: magnetic, thermal, electro-mechanical, electro-chemical, chemo-mechanical, etc.
Power modulation mechanisms for fast energy release: transmissions, latches, etc.
Applications in unthethered robotics, medical devices, impulsive systems.
Modeling aspects related to energy storage and power delivery
PROGRAM
For remote attendance, please login through INFOVAYA
Early morning session (all on Zoom):
8:00 am - Long-Life-Cycle and Damage-Recovery Artificial Muscles via Controllable and
Observable Self-Clearing Process - Huichan Zhao
8:30 am - Embodied energy in robotic systems - Benjamin Gorissen
9:00 am - Towards a new generation of soft adaptable robots - Barbara Mazzolai
9:30 am - Granular actuators - soft actuators made of discrete grains - Rebecca Kramer-Bottiglio
10:00 am - Bioinspired energy storage for robots - Nicholas Kotov
10:30 am - Mechanical Energy Harvester Based on Soft Hydrogels and Liquid Metals - Meixiang
Wang
Coffee break - 10:45 - 11:15 am
Late morning session (all in person):
11:15 am - Multicopter Battery and Power Consumption Model - Leonard Bauersfeld
11:30 am - Challenges in powering microrobots - Sambeetha Das
12:00 pm - Power modulation of ultrafast movements through latches - Sathvik Divi
12:15 pm - A Sodium Azide-Powered Free-Piston Gas Compressor for Mobile Soft Pneumatic
Systems - Ronald Heisser
Lunch break - 12:30 - 1:45 pm
Early afternoon session (all in person):
1:45 pm - Self-healable, Recyclable and Reconfigurable Thermoelectric Generator for Wearable
Energy Harvesting - Jianliang Xiao
2:15 pm - New Challenges in the Path Toward Full Autonomy at the Subgram Scale - Nestor
Perez-Arancibia
2:45 pm - Biodegradable double network hydrogels for stretchable high capacity metal-air
batteries - Muqing Ren
3:00 pm - A Click Beetle Inspired Robotic Model Organism: The design and power transfer
modeling approach - Aimy Wissa
Coffee break - 3:30 - 4:00 pm
Late afternoon in-person poster session: starting at 4:00 pm
Method for Measuring Capacitance of Dielectric Elastomer Actuators at High Voltage - Ang Li
Pseudo-Resonant Switched Capacitor Drive Circuits for Microrobotics - Yanqiao Li
Plant-hybrid energy harvesting - Serena Armiento
A battery consumption optimization algorithm for a prosthetic hand - Alessandro Valarda
High Payload Capacity for Fully Autonomous Battery-Powered Flying Artificial Insects -
Francisco Goncalves
Dynamics and Control of Bubble-Propelled Microrobots - David Rivas
Powering Motion at the Micro and Nanoscale - Max Sokolich
The Energetics of Submeter Aquatic Robots - Pascal Daniel Spino
Autonomous UGV Battery Exchange System - David Adegbesan
Soft autonomy: a tensegrity robot with robust closed-loop control and real-time state estimation
capable of locomotion across various terrains - Will Johnson
ORGANIZERS
Prof. Mihai Duduta, University of Toronto (primary contact)
Prof. Zeynep Temel, Carnegie Mellon University
Prof. James Pikul, University of Pennsylvania