About the Project Traditional robots are made from hard, heavy, and rigid materials and this makes them potentially highly dangerous
when operating around humans. For this reason, robots are typically kept behind barriers and in cages so that they cannot come into contact with people. However, we are starting to see a significant change in how and where robots are used and there is significant interest in having robots that are able to work in collaboration with humans. Also, traditionally, robots were typically only used in the manufacturing sector but we are now starting to see robots increasingly operating in many other environments such as in healthcare, maintenance, entertainment and even in the home. This means robots are increasingly operating in environments where humans are present and this means that there needs to be a fundamental change in the way robots are designed to allow them to work in close proximity to humans whilst maintaining safety. The aim of this PhD project will be to design and develop new types of robots that can operate safely with people. This will require a change in design approach away from the use of heavy and rigid materials such as metals to more lightweight, soft and flexible materials. These new robot designs may take inspiration from nature and will be able to flex and deform if they collide with people which will significantly reduce the chance of injury. However, the use of rigid materials in traditional robot designs has a number of advantages, most notably in giving the robot the ability to support very high loads. Using lightweight and deformable materials would mean that a robot made from just soft and flexible material would deform or buckle when high loads are applied to it. The aim of this research will therefore be to develop the next generation of robots. These robots will use a combination of the lowest volume of rigid components as possible, in order to give the robot useful strength, and lightweight flexible materials which will allow it to operate safely alongside people. The research will also explore a move away from robots that consist of links and joints arranged like a human arm to systems that can flex and deform depending upon the task they are performing and the environment they are operating in. For further details please contact Dr Steve Davis (s.davis.2@bham.ac.uk). Funding Notes This position is open to self-funded students only.
