A Desktop-sized Platform for Real-time Control Applications of Pneumatic Soft Robots
Brandon Caasenbrood, Femke E. van Beek, Hoang Chu, Irene A. Kuling
Abstract
In recent years, there have been many modeling and control advances in the field of soft robotics, which resulted in a growing interest in practical, real-time applications. To further enable these developments, we present a desktop-sized testing and development platform intended for fast, precise, and reliable (closed-loop) control of pneumatic soft robots. The Soft Robotics Control-unit (SRC) is fully compatible with Matlab, Simulink, and Unity, allowing for real-time control tasks of various complexity. The system's performance is tested in three use-cases: model-based controller design, soft haptic feedback in virtual-reality, and tele-operation of a soft gripper. To promote the use of the SRC in the soft robotics community, all presented material is fully open-sourced such that it is easily reproducible by students or researchers from any technical background.