Abstract
Soft robotics is an emerging technology that has shown considerable promise in deep-sea marine biological applications. It is particularly useful in facilitating delicate interactions with fragile marine organisms. This study describes the shipboard design, 3D printing and integration of custom soft robotic manipulators for investigating and interacting with deep-sea organisms. Soft robotics manipulators were tested down to 2224m via a Remotely-Operated Vehicle (ROV) in the Phoenix Islands Protected Area (PIPA) and facilitated the study of a diverse suite of soft-bodied and fragile marine life. Instantaneous feedback from the ROV pilots and biologists allowed for rapid re-design, such as adding “fingernails”, and re-fabrication of soft manipulators at sea. These were then used to successfully grasp fragile deep-sea animals, such as goniasterids and holothurians, which have historically been difficult to collect undamaged via rigid mechanical arms and suction samplers. As scientific expeditions to remote parts of the world are costly and lengthy to plan, on-the-fly soft robot actuator printing offers a real-time solution to better understand and interact with delicate deep-sea environments, soft-bodied, brittle, and otherwise fragile organisms. This also offers a less invasive means of interacting with slow-growing deep marine organisms, some of which can be up to 18,000 years old.
Highlights
Marine biologists studying deep sea environments are confronted with technological difficulties while gaining access to, interacting with, and collecting marine life
Each Schilling Robotics TITAN 4 Manipulator arm on SuBastian Remotely-Operated Vehicle (ROV) was equipped with a distal manipulator with jaws which could open to 186.74mm and exert a maximum nominal grip force of 4092 Newtons
We have described the design, fabrication, on-the-fly modifications of, and improvements to soft robotic manipulators on an oceanographic research cruise to one of the most remote regions of the Pacific Ocean
Summary
Marine biologists studying deep sea environments are confronted with technological difficulties while gaining access to, interacting with, and collecting marine life. On-the-fly printing of 3D soft robotic manipulators for the investigation of delicate deep-sea organisms. Instrument Development for Biological Research Award # 1556164 to RJW and #1556123 to DFG; the National Academies Keck Futures Initiative of the National Academy of Sciences under award #NAKFI DBS21 to RJW and DFG; and NFS Research Fellowship awarded to KPB (#DGE1144152). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript
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