Abstract

Soft robots are underactuated systems ideally suited for minimally invasive surgery because of their compliance and inherent safety. Similarly, robotic systems for percutaneous interventions that employ slender needles can be viewed as underactuated systems. In both cases, underactuation further complicates the control problem, which is already challenging due to the uncertainties characterizing the surgical environment and to the stringent safety requirements. Passivity-based control methodologies represent a promising approach for underactuated systems, since they do not employ high gains thus allowing to preserve the compliance of these systems in closed-loop. This talk will present recent developments in passivity-based control of underactuated systems that account for the effect of the actuator dynamics and for different classes of disturbances. The second part of the talk will illustrate experimental applications to soft robotics and to needle insertion.

The seminar will be held in JDB Seminar Room, Department of Engineering, and online (zoom): https://newnham.zoom.us/j/92544958528?pwd=YS9PcGRnbXBOcStBdStNb3E0SHN1UT09