Soft Robotics news

• Avonmouth Eastern European Health and Research Promotion Day

  Our recent participation in the Eastern European Health & Research Promotion Day was a successful activity, featuring an engaging talk on the innovative field of soft robotics and artificial muscles. This session presented the cutting-edge advancements and potential health applications of this technology, fostering a deeper understanding and appreciation among attendees for the intersection of robotics and healthcare. The lively discussion and interactive presentation highlighted our group's commitment to bringing groundbreaking scientific developments closer to the public.
• Sound Voice, The Robot in Me - Workshop at BRL

  We were very excited to host a visit from Sound Voice, who provided us with an interactive workshop and examples of their videos and their work. The Robot in Me is an artistic project commissioned by the EPSRC emPOWER Programme, and the videos and exercises shared enabled our researchers to explore and discuss our concepts, understandings, and personal experiences of movement and what people really need in their day to day lives when they experience any condition or disease that compromise their movement abilities. Sound Voice’s artistic process aims to enable the emPOWER Programme to gain fresh insights and deeper understanding of individuals' experiences with physicality and its influence on our identity and interactions with the surrounding environment. We look forward to further involvement and collaboration as the project progresses.
• 1st Place - IROS Functional Fashion Competition 2023

  Congratulations to Amy Hicks, Ajmal Roshan and the Sumbrella team from SoftLab Bristol who won first place at the Functional Fashion Competition at IROS Conference 2023. The Sumbrella is a portable robotic wearable device, resembling an umbrella hat designed and built by the Bristol-based roboticists and robpsychologists. It contains soft bio-inspired tentacles which responsively interact with humans or objects in the surrounding environment via tuning movement and changing their shapes for a wide range of dynamic behaviours.
• Robot Demonstration at UoB

  At a recent Robot Demonstration Day, held at UoB, we were excited to be celebrating the excellent work from over 25 projects of current MSc Robotics (joint programme with UWE), MSc Biorobotics, and MSc Aerial Robotics students. Gemma Gibbs & Boon Aksornukul MSc students, Soft Robotics for wearable technology, presented their research on wearable devices for muscle rehabilitation at Robot Demo Day UoB. Congratulations to Gemma for winning Best Communicated Project Award across 3 MSc robotic programmes 2023.
• SORO Workshop

  A SORO Workshop held on 29th June 2023 brought together emerging solutions in three cutting-edge research fields of soft robotics, advanced biomaterials, and clinical translational science to discuss their combined potential to shape solutions for unmet challenges related to mobility/motility disorders. The workshop included diverse interdisciplinary talks to deliver an overview of the state-of-the-art in these three areas, followed by discussions of the challenges and opportunities associated with integrating them to deliver novel healthcare soft robotics technologies, at discovery, prototype and clinical levels.
• Soft Robotics Showcase

  We are excited to be hosting a Soft Robotics Showcase at the University of Bristol on 30th March, at Bill Brown Design Suite.  We are looking forward to meeting industry stakeholders working in this area.
• A row-bot that loves dirty water

  Taking inspiration from water beetles and other swimming insects, academics at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory (BRL) have developed the Row-bot, a robot that thrives in dirty water. The Row-bot mimics the way that the water boatman moves and the way that it feeds on rich organic matter in the dirty water it swims in.
• Squid inspires camouflaging smart materials

  Researchers from the University of Bristol have shown it is possible to create artificial skin that can be transformed at the flick of a switch to mimic one of nature's masters of camouflage, the squid.
• Move over Wallace and Gromit - it’s the right trousers

  With an ageing UK population, older people could have the opportunity to stay independent for longer thanks to a pioneering project led by the University of Bristol, using artificial muscles.
• Nature-inspired engineering project wins Leverhulme grant

  A project to develop 'biomimetic' devices that re-orientate in response to light has been granted funding by the Leverhulme Trust.