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Published on December 5, 2024– Updated on December 5, 2024
HASORO, Innovative Flexible Robots for Human Interaction
In its 2024 call for proposals, CY Initiative funded 17 innovative research projects. Let's explore one of the winning projects of the Emergence program, a project led by Frédéric Vidal, professor and member of the LPPI laboratory, in collaboration with Alexandre Pitti, professor of robotics in the ETIS laboratory, both at CY Cergy Paris University. Meet Alexandre Pitti to find out more about the project.
CY Initiative: Could you introduce yourself and tell us more about your career and your main research themes?
After a PhD at the University of Tokyo (ISI Laboratory) in 2007, I worked as a researcher for the Japanese research agency JST until 2011. I joined CY Cergy Paris University in 2011. I held the CNRS/CY Cergy Paris University Excellence Chair in Cognitive Robotics from 2011 to 2016 and was a member of the CNRS Robotics GDR committee, GT8 “Robotics and Neuroscience” from 2015 to 2019.
I am currently an associate professor at the ETIS laboratory at ENSEA, and head of the NEURO group, which consists of 15 researchers and twenty PhD and post-doc students.
My research focuses on embodied AI, which considers the body as an important element of intelligence functions, such as spatiality and sensorimotor coordination. The body itself is important, as are its morphology, muscles and sensors.
In the ETIS laboratory, we are increasingly focusing on flexible, bio-inspired robotics. We're trying to understand human cognition in order to model it. In this sense, we have to think in terms of the robot's body, with its sensors and motors. For example, we have developed flexible robots and artificial skin.
Although our expertise lies in computer science, we realized that we needed to go beyond this and explore the chemical side to get to the heart of the hardware; for example, to create artificial muscles.
CY Initiative: You won the CY Initiative's 2024 call for proposals. What does this project involve, and what is its objective?
This project is about flexible robots. These are robots that we could encourage to move or act with greater ease and less effort than conventional rigid robots. By combining strength and flexibility, these flexible robots could help people perform certain actions. However, if they are to interact physically and socially, they must be able to do so without endangering humans. For example, they need to be able to avoid obstacles, measure the force required... We want them to be flexible but easy to control, and this is where the algorithmic problem of control becomes complex.
This project is being carried out by two laboratories and two complementary project leaders: the ETIS laboratory for the IT part, which I represent, and the LPPI laboratory for physicochemistry, with the help of Frédéric Vidal. We're trying to work on flexible robots and create conductive, piezoelectric materials. When these materials are deformed, an electric current is emitted to activate parts of the robot. Frédéric Vidal's teams will create the materials, and we'll work on developing control models based on them. This will enable us to work with precision to develop materials that most effectively meet our needs. This is complementary work between our two laboratories.
We will also be working on artificial muscles, based on those developed by German researchers, known as HASEL (Hydraulic Amplified Self-Healing Electrostatic) muscles. These muscles are both flexible and hydraulic. By passing an extremely strong current through a liquid system, the result is a muscle that can be compressed or inflated.
The subject of flexible robots is at the heart of current research issues in robotics and chemistry. Last year, a national project was launched by the CNRS, CEA and INRIA, the PEPR Robotique Organique, in which I'm involved, and which brings together some fifteen laboratories. The aim is to explore ways of improving and developing these flexible robots.
CY Initiative: In concrete terms, how will the project be rolled out?
At the ETIS laboratory, we have expertise in flexible robots, but with a focus on mechanics and control. We don't work on the hardware aspects. So we'll be working in parallel with the LPPI laboratory. Frédéric Vidal will be working on the chemical side to develop materials, and I'll be working on the development of flexible robots that can incorporate these materials. Frédéric can create muscles with a wide range of criteria (flexible, fast, light...), so it's up to us to give them our requirements according to the desired application.
We then work on integrating these elements into the robot. Once we have a muscle, how can it be inserted into a robotic system? And then, how do we control this robot?
The subject of flexible robots is one that will become increasingly important, as it will enable us to develop robots that are more resistant to wear and tear, that break less, but also robots that perform better in interactions with humans. This could even lead to significant advances in the medical field, particularly in the prosthetics resulting from this research.
CY Initiative: Why did you apply for this Call for proposals?
This call for proposals represents an opportunity to move this project forward and obtain preliminary results. This will enable us to develop more ambitious projects and seek funding at both national and European level. It will also enable us to work with other laboratories, particularly on an international level or within the EUTOPIA alliance, to find complementary skills to our own.
After a PhD at the University of Tokyo (ISI Laboratory) in 2007, I worked as a researcher for the Japanese research agency JST until 2011. I joined CY Cergy Paris University in 2011. I held the CNRS/CY Cergy Paris University Excellence Chair in Cognitive Robotics from 2011 to 2016 and was a member of the CNRS Robotics GDR committee, GT8 “Robotics and Neuroscience” from 2015 to 2019.
I am currently an associate professor at the ETIS laboratory at ENSEA, and head of the NEURO group, which consists of 15 researchers and twenty PhD and post-doc students.
My research focuses on embodied AI, which considers the body as an important element of intelligence functions, such as spatiality and sensorimotor coordination. The body itself is important, as are its morphology, muscles and sensors.
In the ETIS laboratory, we are increasingly focusing on flexible, bio-inspired robotics. We're trying to understand human cognition in order to model it. In this sense, we have to think in terms of the robot's body, with its sensors and motors. For example, we have developed flexible robots and artificial skin.
Although our expertise lies in computer science, we realized that we needed to go beyond this and explore the chemical side to get to the heart of the hardware; for example, to create artificial muscles.
CY Initiative: You won the CY Initiative's 2024 call for proposals. What does this project involve, and what is its objective?
This project is about flexible robots. These are robots that we could encourage to move or act with greater ease and less effort than conventional rigid robots. By combining strength and flexibility, these flexible robots could help people perform certain actions. However, if they are to interact physically and socially, they must be able to do so without endangering humans. For example, they need to be able to avoid obstacles, measure the force required... We want them to be flexible but easy to control, and this is where the algorithmic problem of control becomes complex.
This project is being carried out by two laboratories and two complementary project leaders: the ETIS laboratory for the IT part, which I represent, and the LPPI laboratory for physicochemistry, with the help of Frédéric Vidal. We're trying to work on flexible robots and create conductive, piezoelectric materials. When these materials are deformed, an electric current is emitted to activate parts of the robot. Frédéric Vidal's teams will create the materials, and we'll work on developing control models based on them. This will enable us to work with precision to develop materials that most effectively meet our needs. This is complementary work between our two laboratories.
We will also be working on artificial muscles, based on those developed by German researchers, known as HASEL (Hydraulic Amplified Self-Healing Electrostatic) muscles. These muscles are both flexible and hydraulic. By passing an extremely strong current through a liquid system, the result is a muscle that can be compressed or inflated.
The subject of flexible robots is at the heart of current research issues in robotics and chemistry. Last year, a national project was launched by the CNRS, CEA and INRIA, the PEPR Robotique Organique, in which I'm involved, and which brings together some fifteen laboratories. The aim is to explore ways of improving and developing these flexible robots.
CY Initiative: In concrete terms, how will the project be rolled out?
At the ETIS laboratory, we have expertise in flexible robots, but with a focus on mechanics and control. We don't work on the hardware aspects. So we'll be working in parallel with the LPPI laboratory. Frédéric Vidal will be working on the chemical side to develop materials, and I'll be working on the development of flexible robots that can incorporate these materials. Frédéric can create muscles with a wide range of criteria (flexible, fast, light...), so it's up to us to give them our requirements according to the desired application.
We then work on integrating these elements into the robot. Once we have a muscle, how can it be inserted into a robotic system? And then, how do we control this robot?
The subject of flexible robots is one that will become increasingly important, as it will enable us to develop robots that are more resistant to wear and tear, that break less, but also robots that perform better in interactions with humans. This could even lead to significant advances in the medical field, particularly in the prosthetics resulting from this research.
CY Initiative: Why did you apply for this Call for proposals?
This call for proposals represents an opportunity to move this project forward and obtain preliminary results. This will enable us to develop more ambitious projects and seek funding at both national and European level. It will also enable us to work with other laboratories, particularly on an international level or within the EUTOPIA alliance, to find complementary skills to our own.
