Towards Untethered Soft Robotic Systems for Industrial Inspection Applications—Challenges and Possibilities

Inspection and repair of high-value industrial assets such as turbomachinery, aircraft and nuclear reactors using traditional robotic technologies often require expensive disassembly, and conservative inspection and maintenance schedules. The significant strategic and commercial advantages of in-situ industrial, military, and consumer inspection is driving the need for solutions beyond the fundamental limits of traditional robotics. Soft robotics technologies can not only enable access to confined spaces, but also provide capabilities for rapid inspection and repair of strategic industrial assets.<br/>In this talk, we will discuss (1) the unique constraints and challenges of in-situ industrial inspection robotics, and (2) how the confluence of soft mechanics, stretchable and flexible hybrid electronics, soft sensing technologies, bio-inspired morphologies and control and energy harvesting are coming together to address these challenges. We will demonstrate how the use of highly stretchable conducting inks and flexible hybrid electronics enable our soft robots to have the capability of multiparameter sensing on irregular and curved surfaces, how we utilize bio-inspired modalities for locomotion in complex unstructured environments inside industrial assets, how we exploit piezoelectric and triboelectric effects for flexible energy harvesting, and how our integrated soft robot systems are shaped by considerations of scalability, robustness and reliability.<br/>We will conclude with a perspective for future needs, challenges, and possibilities in the area of soft robotics for inspection of high-value industrial assets.