Soft Robotic Grippers for Biological Sampling on Deep Reefs.

Kevin C Galloway,Stephen Licht,Dan Tchernov,Brennan Phillips,Robert J Wood,Jordan Kirby,Kaitlyn P Becker,David F Gruber

doi:10.1089/soro.2015.0019

Abstract

This article presents the development of an underwater gripper that utilizes soft robotics technology to delicately manipulate and sample fragile species on the deep reef. Existing solutions for deep sea robotic manipulation have historically been driven by the oil industry, resulting in destructive interactions with undersea life. Soft material robotics relies on compliant materials that are inherently impedance matched to natural environments and to soft or fragile organisms. We demonstrate design principles for soft robot end effectors, bench-top characterization of their grasping performance, and conclude by describing in situ testing at mesophotic depths. The result is the first use of soft robotics in the deep sea for the nondestructive sampling of benthic fauna.

Highlights

Deep and mesophotic coral reefs, as well as other deep sea ecosystems in general, are hotspots for unique biological diversity and genetic adaptions
Soft material robotics relies on compliant materials that are inherently impedance matched to natural environments and to soft or fragile organisms
We presented new advancements in the design, fabrication, and field testing of soft robotic grippers for deep sea collection of fragile biological specimens

Summary

Introduction

Deep and mesophotic coral reefs, as well as other deep sea ecosystems in general, are hotspots for unique biological diversity and genetic adaptions. The field of soft robotics has erupted as an alternative to hard-material robotics, providing a safer alternative for robots to interact, in proximity, with living organisms.[12,13,14,15,16,17,18] By using soft materials instead of more traditional metals and hard polymers, robotic components can closely mimic the properties of natural systems This can allow marine and molecular biologists to delicately handle an organism while in its natural setting (see concept Fig. 1) and perform more complicated tasks while on location underwater. Attached to the bottom of the ROV is a Hydro-Lek (HLK-43000)[2 5] degrees of freedom (DOF)

Related Work

Findings

Conclusions and Future Work