Optimizing soft robot design and tracking with and without evolutionary computation: an intensive survey

Soft robotic devices are designed for applications such as exploration, manipulation, search and rescue, medical surgery, rehabilitation, and assistance. Due to their complex kinematics, various and often hard-to-define degrees of freedom, and nonlinear properties of their material, designing and op...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Robotica 2024-08, Vol.42 (8), p.2848-2884
Main Authors: Stroppa, Fabio, Majeed, Fatimah Jabbar, Batiya, Jana, Baran, Eray, Sarac, Mine
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Design optimization
Evolutionary computation
Factories
Integer programming
Kinematics
Linear programming
Literature reviews
Locomotion
Morphology
Optimization algorithms
Optimization techniques
Performance evaluation
Robotic surgery
Robots
Searching
Soft robotics
Topology optimization
Tracking devices
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Summary:Soft robotic devices are designed for applications such as exploration, manipulation, search and rescue, medical surgery, rehabilitation, and assistance. Due to their complex kinematics, various and often hard-to-define degrees of freedom, and nonlinear properties of their material, designing and operating these devices can be quite challenging. Using tools such as optimization methods can improve the efficiency of these devices and help roboticists manufacture the robots they need. In this work, we present an extensive and systematic literature search on the optimization methods used for the mechanical design of soft robots, particularly focusing on literature exploiting evolutionary computation (EC). We completed the search in the IEEE, ACM, Springer, SAGE, Elsevier, MDPI, Scholar, and Scopus databases between 2009 and 2024 using the keywords “soft robot,” “design,” and “optimization.” We categorized our findings in terms of the type of soft robot (i.e., bio-inspired, cable-driven, continuum, fluid-driven, gripper, manipulator, modular), its application (exploration, manipulation, surgery), the optimization metrics (topology, force, locomotion, kinematics, sensors, and energy), and the optimization method (categorized as EC or non-EC methods). After providing a road map of our findings in the state of the art, we offer our observations concerning the implementation of the optimization methods and their advantages. We then conclude our paper with suggestions for future research.
ISSN:0263-5747
1469-8668
DOI:10.1017/S0263574724001152