Module 1: Soft Robotics – Introduction, types and recent developments, soft vs rigid robots, History of Soft robots, Bio-Inspiration, Biological Gripping,
Materials for soft robots – Classification of Compliant Material, Polymers, Elastomers, Dielectric Elastomers, Fluid Materials, Hydrogels, Smart Materials, Biological Materials, Carbon-based materials
Design and Fabrication – Structural design of soft robot – Bionic structure, Fabrication methods – Casting manufacturing, Shape deposition manufacturing, 3D printing technology.
Module 2: Soft Actuation – Definition of soft actuation, classification of soft actuators, Principles and Techniques for Diverse Soft Actuators – Fluid driven, Magnetic driven, Cable driven, Shape memory material driven, Electro-active polymer driven and other soft actuators, challenges.
Soft Sensors – Classification of sensors – Passive mode, semi-active mode, active mode and interactive perception mode, Sensing technology – Tactile, Visual and Multisensor technology. Soft robot perception – Visual, Tactile – biological, Visual-Tactile fusion perception. Challenges.
Soft Robot Modeling and Control – Mechanics, Geometrical, Discrete, Lumped, Pseudo-rigid, Surrogate models, Control strategies – Model-based controllers, Model-free controllers.
Soft Robot Applications – Underwater Soft robots, Agricultural Soft robots, Industrial Soft robots, Space Soft robots, Medical Soft robots – Soft robotics in rehabilitation and Healthcare applications, Wearable Soft Robots.
Module 3: Bio-Inspired Robotics – Introduction to biologically inspired Robotics- Evolutionary Robotics-Biomimicry in Robotics- Bio-inspired Locomotion- Bio-inspired Soft Hands- Bio-hybrid Systems- Integration of Bio-inspired and Soft Robotics.
Applications of Bio-Inspired Robotics – Bionic fitness cycle, Robotic Fish-Bio inspired Humanoid Robot neck, Nanorobotics manipulation for biological cell, Measurement of Brain activity robot, Hand motion control using EMG- Hand rehabilitation system.