On October 2nd at the IROS Conference, there was a keynote speaker who spoke about shape-changing soft robots for different tasks and environments. I thought that was very interesting. During her keynote, she discussed a robot that functioned similarly to a turtle. In that, it would walk on land and sort of waddle when it got to a different texture. It helped introduce me to soft robotics and the different forms robotics can take. I learned the ways robotics can be used and some of the elements of research. I also got to see different robotics in a corporate setting during the exhibition.
I thought the lecture was very informative. It was very interesting how it was inspired by animals like turtles. While watching the slides I heard her explain how they helped get it to where it could walk or waddle based on the texture it was on. I hadn’t seen robots in that way except for movies so I really enjoyed seeing a robot different from what I normally see. It made me think about how many other robots may exist that I didn’t consider. For instance, later in the keynote, she talked about her group and how they’re working on a robot that is practically two 3, or 4 sticks connected with rubberbands that can move and go up platforms
Before this conference, I hadn’t even considered softness being something that could be necessary. The conference made me consider what I knew about the uses of robots, as most of the ones I’d seen had been used for manufacturing or humanoid. I had to research some of the terms I was seeing to understand better what I was experiencing which enabled me to expand my knowledge of what robotics is. Seeing the keynote and the presentations also gave me insight into what grad school was as I saw the questions people had to ask on their journey to getting their doctorate, and how they accomplished those tasks.
With being in the exhibition hall a lot of the robots were being sold rather than an expression of knowledge. Although, I kind of liked it because they explained all of the things It also made me realize more of the possible ethical dynamics and how some companies would rather not address them. I feel like these topics are important and it made me sad that I felt like I didn’t see some depth on this topic. As I feel like a lot of problems revolve around these currently and it feels like an amazing idea would be to tackle these ethical dilemmas. Like I wish maybe I would’ve seen some talks about it. Although, it’s possible that I missed that.
I wish I had seen more topics on these ethical dilemmas and how we can avoid bias or what is too much, are there certain problems that don’t need a solution or will the solution cause problems for the common man? Other than this I really thought that it was informative and it made me seriously consider grad school and what I can do through the keynotes and the presentations. It made me realize I can possibly work on something that may help disabled people or do a job that humans aren’t capable of doing. Which is something I’d really like to do.
[1] R. Kramer-Bottiglio. (2023). Shape-Shifting Soft Robots That Adapt to Changing Tasks and Environments[Slideshow Presentation]. Available: October 2, 2023, Huntington Place, Detroit Michigan