An insect-like robot printed and designed using the new process being developed to revolutionize the way robots are developed. The robot could be used for exploring areas inaccessible to humans. Image: Jason Dorfman, CSAIL/MIT |
An ambitious new project to reinvent how
robots are designed and produced is being funded by a $10 million grant from
the National Science Foundation (NSF).
A team of researchers from the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Harvard
University, and the University of Pennsylvania
aims to develop a desktop technology that would make it possible for the
average person to design, customize, and print a specialized robot in a matter
of hours.
The five-year project, called “An
Expedition in Computing for Compiling Printable Programmable Machines,” is
funded as part of the NSF’s Expeditions in Computing program.
“This research envisions a whole new way
of thinking about the design and manufacturing of robots, and could have a
profound impact on society,” said Daniela Rus, leader of the project and a
principal investigator at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence
Laboratory (CSAIL). “We believe that it has the potential to transform
manufacturing and to democratize access to robots.”
Robert Wood, associate professor of electrical
engineering at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS)
will serve as a co-investigator for the project.
“This project aims to dramatically
reduce the development time for a variety of useful robots, opening the doors
to potential applications in manufacturing, education, personalized health care,
and even disaster relief,” said Wood.
Through an earlier collaboration with Rus
and other MIT colleagues, Wood demonstrated self-folding origami robots that
became a YouTube sensation.
His laboratory also developed an ingenious
production method inspired by elegant pop-up books that
will soon allow clones of robotic insects to be mass-produced by the sheet.
Wood, who also serves as a core faculty
member at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at
Harvard, is currently the lead for another Expeditions in
Computing grant that supports the design of sophisticated Micro Air Vehicles
(MAVs) inspired by flying insect swarms.
“Our goal is to develop technology that
enables anyone to manufacture their own customized robot. This is truly a game
changer,” said Vijay Kumar, who is leading the team from the University of Pennsylvania. “It could allow for the rapid design and manufacture of customized goods, and
change the way we teach science and technology in high schools.”
It currently takes years to produce,
program, and design a functioning robot, and it is an extremely expensive
process, involving hardware and software design, machine learning and vision,
and advanced programming techniques. The new project would automate the process
of producing functional 3D devices and allow individuals to design and build
functional robots from materials as easily accessible as a sheet of paper.
“Our vision is to develop an end-to-end process;
specifically, a compiler for building physical machines that starts with a high
level of specification of function, and delivers a programmable machine for
that function using simple printing processes,” said Rus.
Researchers hope to create a platform that
would allow an individual to identify a household problem that needs
assistance; then head to a local printing store to select a blueprint from a
library of robotic designs; and then customize an easy-to-use robotic device
that could solve the problem. Within 24 hrs, the robot would be printed,
assembled, fully programmed, and ready for action.
By altering the way in which machines can
be produced, designed, and built, the project could have far-reaching
implications for a variety of fields.
Currently, project researchers are
focusing their research in several areas: developing an application programming
interface for simple function specification and design, writing algorithms that
would allow for control of the assembly of a device and its operations,
creating an easy-to-use programming language environment, and designing new,
programmable materials that would allow for automatic fabrication of robots.
Thus far, the research team has prototyped
two machines for designing, printing, and programming, including an insect-like
robot that could be used for exploring a contaminated area and a gripper that
could be used by people with limited mobility.
“It’s really exciting to think about the
kind of impact this work could have on the general population—beyond just a few
select people who work in robotics,” said associate professor Wojciech Matusik,
also a principal investigator at CSAIL.