The student team of the DFG Priority Program 2100 “Soft Material Robotic Systems” (SPP2100), coordinated by the Institute of Assembly Technology and Robotics (match), won the RoboSoft 2024 competition in San Diego.
The competition was part of the annual IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics and focused on application areas for compliant and soft robotic systems. Teams from all over the world were able to compete in the two categories mobility and manipulation to demonstrate their prototypes. Although the SPP2100 team, led by Ditzia García Morales and consisting of Lucía Flores Sarco, Miriam Walter, Anna Elisa Leal and Lisa Kesting, qualified for both categories, the team decided to focus on the Manipulation Challenge and took first place in this category.
The Fruit-Salad Challenge
The task was to transport fruit, such as raspberries, grapes and watermelons, from a basket into one of the three different manipulation zones, a shopping bag, a bowl or a plate, without damaging the fruit in the process. To do this, the teams had to develop their own grippers, which are particularly suitable for gripping fragile objects due to their flexibility and the choice of soft materials. Despite their flexibility, the grippers must also be able to lift heavy objects.
The competition started with a test in which all prototypes were exposed to different environmental conditions in order to demonstrate the robustness of the designs. For this purpose, the prototypes were placed on a heated hotplate, brought into contact with dry ice, worked on with a hammer and finally pulled over a nail board. Once the gripper had passed these tests, it was mounted on a robot arm and the fruit sorting started. Some of the fruit could be placed directly into the shopping bag. For the plate and the bowl, the fruit had to be placed in the required orientation before it was deposited.
Finally, the flexibility and safety of the grippers were tested. For this purpose, all prototypes were dropped onto a balloon. The teams whose balloons burst were panelized by deducting points from their overall ranking. A total of eleven teams qualified for the competition, four of which took part on the competition day.
Conference participation and networking
Another highlight of the trip, apart from the competition, was the opportunity for the team members to attend the conference to network and exchange ideas with experts from around the world. The winning team took the opportunity to make valuable contacts for the future and gain insights into the latest trends and developments in the field of soft robotics. The team found the trip incredibly enriching as it opened up new perspectives and sparked inspiration for future research.
