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Introducing the Open Soft Robotics Research Collection

PLOS ONE is delighted to announce a Collection entitled Open Soft Robotics Research. This Collection consists of research articles submitted to a 2019-2020 Call for Papers on the same topic. As the Collection launches today, it consists of six research articles, while two reviews will be added at a later stage.

Largely inspired by the way many living organisms move and adapt their shape to their surroundings, soft robots have been designed and constructed with compliant, deformable and variable-stiffness materials, sensors and actuators. Biomimicry has allowed soft robots to acquire novel features such as stretchability, growth, morphing, self-reconfigurability, self-healing and edibility. Their impact has grown in a variety of sectors, from search and rescue and exploration, to rehabilitation medicine, surgery, prostheses and exoskeletons, as well as various applications that improve wellness and quality of life.

The papers published today present several exciting aspects of the latest research on the topic of soft robotics. Two papers touch on 3D printing, one for printing surgical devices [1], and one for cores [2] which can be used in a variety of applications. A second set of papers intersect with medicine, in that they provide methods for fabricating prosthetic hands [3] and artificial muscles [4], respectively. Lastly, two of the papers utilise dynamic modelling, one for dielectric elastomer actuators [5] and one for soft continuum manipulators [6]. Taken together, these papers present a fascinating snapshot of the state-of-the-art within soft robotics research.

This Collection was curated by a dedicated team of Guest Editors: Guoying Gu (Shanghai Jiao Tong University), Aslan Miriyev (EMPA, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology), Lucia Beccai, (IIT, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia), Matteo Cianchetti (Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, School of Advanced Studies Pisa), Barbara Mazzolai (IIT, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia) and Dana D. Damian (University of Sheffield).

We invite you to explore the Collection starting today, and encourage you to check back in for more Open Soft Robotics Research in PLOS ONE.

References:

[1] Culmone C, Henselmans PWJ, van Starkenburg RIB, Breedveld P (2020) Exploring non-assembly 3D printing for novel compliant surgical devices. PLoS ONE 15(5): e0232952. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0232952 

[2] Preechayasomboon P, Rombokas E (2020) Negshell casting: 3D-printed structured and sacrificial cores for soft robot fabrication. PLoS ONE 15(6): e0234354. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0234354 

[3] Mohammadi A, Lavranos J, Zhou H, Mutlu R, Alici G, Tan Y, et al. (2020) A practical 3D-printed soft robotic prosthetic hand with multi-articulating capabilities. PLoS ONE 15(5): e0232766. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0232766 

[4] Harjo M, Järvekülg M, Tamm T, Otero TF, Kiefer R (2020) Concept of an artificial muscle design on polypyrrole nanofiber scaffolds. PLoS ONE 15(5): e0232851. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0232851 

[5] Huang P, Ye W, Wang Y (2020) Dynamic modeling of dielectric elastomer actuator with conical shape. PLoS ONE 15(8): e0235229. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0235229 

[6] Tariverdi A, Venkiteswaran VK, Martinsen ØG, Elle OJ, Tørresen J, Misra S (2020) Dynamic modeling of soft continuum manipulators using lie group variational integration. PLoS ONE 15(7): e0236121. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0236121 

Featured Image credit: UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering CC-BY 2.0

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