Soft Manipulation Surface With Reduced Actuator Density For Heterogeneous Object Manipulation.

Pratik Ingle; Kasper Støy; Andrés Faiña

doi:10.1109/robosoft63089.2025.11020841

Soft Manipulation Surface With Reduced Actuator Density For Heterogeneous Object Manipulation.

Research output: Conference Article in Proceeding or Book/Report chapter › Article in proceedings › Research › peer-review

Abstract

Object manipulation in robotics faces challenges due to diverse object shapes, sizes, and fragility. Gripper-based methods offer precision and low degrees of freedom (DOF) but the gripper limits the kind of objects to grasp. On the other
hand, surface-based approaches provide flexibility for handling fragile and heterogeneous objects but require numerous actuators, increasing complexity. We
propose new manipulation hardware that utilizes equally spaced linear actuators placed vertically and connected by a soft surface. In this setup, object
manipulation occurs on the soft surface through coordinated movements of the surrounding actuators. This approach requires fewer actuators to cover a large
manipulation area, offering a cost-effective solution with a lower DOF compared to dense actuator arrays. It also effectively handles heterogeneous objects of varying shapes and weights, even when they are significantly smaller than the distance between actuators. This method is particularly suitable for managing highly fragile objects in the food industry.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Proceedings of the 2025 IEEE 8th International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft)
Number of pages	8
Publisher	IEEE
Publication date	22 Apr 2025
ISBN (Print)	979-8-3315-2021-2
ISBN (Electronic)	979-8-3315-2020-5
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/robosoft63089.2025.11020841
Publication status	Published - 22 Apr 2025
Event	International Conference on Soft Robotics - Lausanne, Switzerland Duration: 22 Apr 2025 → 26 Feb 2026 Conference number: 8 https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/conhome/11020754/proceeding

Conference

Conference	International Conference on Soft Robotics
Number	8
Country/Territory	Switzerland
City	Lausanne
Period	22/04/2025 → 26/02/2026
Internet address	https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/conhome/11020754/proceeding

Access to Document

10.1109/robosoft63089.2025.11020841

https://arxiv.org/abs/2411.14290Licence: CC BY

MUHMI-MOZART: Multimodal Human-Machine Interfaces for Morphing Computerized Mats with Embodied Sensing and Artificial Intelligence
Støy, K. (PI), Faina, A. (CoI), Garcia, R. M. (Collaborator), Zahadat, P. (CoI), Bessone, N. H. (Collaborator), Dacre, B. (Collaborator) & Ingle, P. S. (Collaborator)
European Commission
01/03/2024 → 30/09/2026
Project: Research

Cite this

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title = "Soft Manipulation Surface With Reduced Actuator Density For Heterogeneous Object Manipulation.",

abstract = "Object manipulation in robotics faces challenges due to diverse object shapes, sizes, and fragility. Gripper-based methods offer precision and low degrees of freedom (DOF) but the gripper limits the kind of objects to grasp. On the other hand, surface-based approaches provide flexibility for handling fragile and heterogeneous objects but require numerous actuators, increasing complexity. We propose new manipulation hardware that utilizes equally spaced linear actuators placed vertically and connected by a soft surface. In this setup, object manipulation occurs on the soft surface through coordinated movements of the surrounding actuators. This approach requires fewer actuators to cover a large manipulation area, offering a cost-effective solution with a lower DOF compared to dense actuator arrays. It also effectively handles heterogeneous objects of varying shapes and weights, even when they are significantly smaller than the distance between actuators. This method is particularly suitable for managing highly fragile objects in the food industry.",

keywords = "Manipulation, Robotic Manipulation Surface, Soft Robot, Surface Manipulation",

author = "Pratik Ingle and Kasper St{\o}y and Andr{\'e}s Fai{\~n}a",

note = "DBLP's bibliographic metadata records provided through http://dblp.org/search/publ/api are distributed under a Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication. Although the bibliographic metadata records are provided consistent with CC0 1.0 Dedication, the content described by the metadata records is not. Content may be subject to copyright, rights of privacy, rights of publicity and other restrictions.; International Conference on Soft Robotics, RoboSoft ; Conference date: 22-04-2025 Through 26-02-2026",

year = "2025",

month = apr,

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doi = "10.1109/robosoft63089.2025.11020841",

language = "English",

isbn = "979-8-3315-2021-2",

booktitle = "Proceedings of the 2025 IEEE 8th International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft)",

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Soft Manipulation Surface With Reduced Actuator Density For Heterogeneous Object Manipulation. / Ingle, Pratik ; Støy, Kasper ; Faiña, Andrés.
Proceedings of the 2025 IEEE 8th International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft). IEEE, 2025.

Research output: Conference Article in Proceeding or Book/Report chapter › Article in proceedings › Research › peer-review

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AU - Ingle, Pratik

AU - Støy, Kasper

AU - Faiña, Andrés

N1 - Conference code: 8

PY - 2025/4/22

Y1 - 2025/4/22

N2 - Object manipulation in robotics faces challenges due to diverse object shapes, sizes, and fragility. Gripper-based methods offer precision and low degrees of freedom (DOF) but the gripper limits the kind of objects to grasp. On the other hand, surface-based approaches provide flexibility for handling fragile and heterogeneous objects but require numerous actuators, increasing complexity. We propose new manipulation hardware that utilizes equally spaced linear actuators placed vertically and connected by a soft surface. In this setup, object manipulation occurs on the soft surface through coordinated movements of the surrounding actuators. This approach requires fewer actuators to cover a large manipulation area, offering a cost-effective solution with a lower DOF compared to dense actuator arrays. It also effectively handles heterogeneous objects of varying shapes and weights, even when they are significantly smaller than the distance between actuators. This method is particularly suitable for managing highly fragile objects in the food industry.

AB - Object manipulation in robotics faces challenges due to diverse object shapes, sizes, and fragility. Gripper-based methods offer precision and low degrees of freedom (DOF) but the gripper limits the kind of objects to grasp. On the other hand, surface-based approaches provide flexibility for handling fragile and heterogeneous objects but require numerous actuators, increasing complexity. We propose new manipulation hardware that utilizes equally spaced linear actuators placed vertically and connected by a soft surface. In this setup, object manipulation occurs on the soft surface through coordinated movements of the surrounding actuators. This approach requires fewer actuators to cover a large manipulation area, offering a cost-effective solution with a lower DOF compared to dense actuator arrays. It also effectively handles heterogeneous objects of varying shapes and weights, even when they are significantly smaller than the distance between actuators. This method is particularly suitable for managing highly fragile objects in the food industry.

KW - Manipulation

KW - Robotic Manipulation Surface

KW - Soft Robot

KW - Surface Manipulation

U2 - 10.1109/robosoft63089.2025.11020841

DO - 10.1109/robosoft63089.2025.11020841

M3 - Article in proceedings

SN - 979-8-3315-2021-2

BT - Proceedings of the 2025 IEEE 8th International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft)

PB - IEEE

T2 - International Conference on Soft Robotics

Y2 - 22 April 2025 through 26 February 2026

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Soft Manipulation Surface With Reduced Actuator Density For Heterogeneous Object Manipulation.

Abstract

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Projects

MUHMI-MOZART: Multimodal Human-Machine Interfaces for Morphing Computerized Mats with Embodied Sensing and Artificial Intelligence

Cite this