robotics research topics

101+ Simple Robotics Research Topics For Students

Imagine a world where machines come to life, performing tasks on their own or assisting humans with precision and efficiency. This captivating realm is the heart of robotics—a fusion of engineering, computer science, and technology. If you’re a student eager to dive into this mesmerizing field, you’re in for an electrifying journey. 

In this blog, we’ll unravel the secrets of robotics research, highlight its significance, and unveil an array of interesting robotics research topics. These topics are perfect for middle and high school students, making the exciting world of robotics accessible to all. Let’s embark on this adventure into the future of technology and innovation!

In your quest to explore robotics, don’t forget the valuable support of services like Engineering Assignment Help . Dive into these fascinating research topics and let us assist you on your educational journey

What is Robotics Research Topic?

Table of Contents

A robotics research topic is a specific area of study within the field of robotics that students can investigate to gain a deeper understanding of how robots work and how they can be applied to various real-world problems. These topics can range from designing and building robots to exploring the algorithms and software that control them.

Research topics in robotics can be categorized into various subfields, including:

• Mechanical Design: Studying how to design and build the physical structure of robots, including their components and materials.
• Sensors and Perception: Investigating how robots can sense and understand their environment through sensors like cameras, infrared sensors, and ultrasonic sensors.
• Control Systems: Exploring the algorithms and software that enable robots to move, make decisions, and interact with their surroundings.
• Human-Robot Interaction: Researching how robots can collaborate with humans, including topics like natural language processing and gesture recognition.
• Artificial Intelligence (AI): Studying how AI techniques can be applied to robotics, such as machine learning for object recognition and path planning.
• Applications: Focusing on specific applications of robotics, such as medical robotics, autonomous vehicles, and industrial automation.

Why is Robotics Research Important?

Before knowing robotics research topics, you need to know the reasons for the importance of robotics research. Robotics research is crucial for several reasons:

Advancing Technology

Research in robotics leads to the development of cutting-edge technologies that can improve our daily lives, enhance productivity, and solve complex problems.

Solving Real-World Problems

Robotics can be applied to address various challenges, such as environmental monitoring, disaster response, and healthcare assistance.

Inspiring Innovation

Engaging in robotics research encourages creativity and innovation among students, fostering a passion for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) fields.

Educational Benefits

Researching robotics topics equips students with valuable skills in problem-solving, critical thinking, and teamwork.

Career Opportunities

A strong foundation in robotics can open doors to exciting career opportunities in fields like robotics engineering, AI, and automation.

Also Read: Quantitative Research Topics for STEM Students

Easy Robotics Research Topics For Middle School Students

Let’s explore some simple robotics research topics for middle school students:

Robot Design and Building

1. How to build a simple robot using household materials.

2. Designing a robot that can pick up and sort objects.

3. Building a robot that can follow a line autonomously.

4. Creating a robot that can draw pictures.

5. Designing a robot that can mimic animal movements.

6. Building a robot that can clean and organize a messy room.

7. Designing a robot that can water plants and monitor their health.

8. Creating a robot that can navigate through a maze of obstacles.

9. Building a robot that can imitate human gestures and movements.

10. Designing a robot that can assemble a simple puzzle.

11. Developing a robot that can assist in food preparation and cooking.

Robotics in Everyday Life

1. Exploring the use of robots in home automation.

2. Designing a robot that can assist people with disabilities.

3. How can robots help with chores and housekeeping?

4. Creating a robot pet for companionship.

5. Investigating the use of robots in education.

6. Exploring the use of robots for food delivery in restaurants.

7. Designing a robot that can help with grocery shopping.

8. Creating a robot for home security and surveillance.

9. Investigating the use of robots for waste recycling.

10. Designing a robot that can assist in organizing a bookshelf.

Robot Programming

1. Learning the basics of programming a robot.

2. How to program a robot to navigate a maze.

3. Teaching a robot to respond to voice commands.

4. Creating a robot that can dance to music.

5. Programming a robot to play simple games.

6. Teaching a robot to recognize and sort recyclable materials.

7. Programming a robot to create art and paintings.

8. Developing a robot that can give weather forecasts.

9. Creating a robot that can simulate weather conditions.

10. Designing a robot that can write and print messages or drawings.

Robotics and Nature

1. Studying how robots can mimic animal behavior.

2. Designing a robot that can pollinate flowers.

3. Investigating the use of robots in wildlife conservation.

4. Creating a robot that can mimic bird flight.

5. Exploring underwater robots for marine research.

6. Investigating the use of robots in studying insect behavior.

7. Designing a robot that can monitor and report air quality.

8. Creating a robot that can mimic the sound of various birds.

9. Studying how robots can help in reforestation efforts.

10. Investigating the use of robots in studying coral reefs and marine life.

Robotics and Space

1. How do robots assist astronauts in space exploration?

2. Designing a robot for exploring other planets.

3. Investigating the use of robots in space mining.

4. Creating a robot to assist in space station maintenance.

5. Studying the challenges of robot communication in space.

6. Designing a robot for collecting samples on other planets.

7. Creating a robot that can assist in assembling space telescopes.

8. Investigating the use of robots in space agriculture.

9. Designing a robot for space debris cleanup.

10. Studying the role of robots in exploring and mapping asteroids.

These robotics research topics offer even more exciting opportunities for middle school students to explore the world of robotics and develop their research skills.

Latest Robotics Research Topics For High School Students

Let’s get started with some robotics research topics for high school students:

Advanced Robot Design

1. Developing a robot with human-like facial expressions.

2. Designing a robot with advanced mobility for rough terrains.

3. Creating a robot with a soft, flexible body.

4. Investigating the use of drones in agriculture.

5. Developing a bio-inspired robot with insect-like capabilities.

6. Designing a robot with the ability to self-repair and adapt to damage.

7. Developing a robot with advanced tactile sensing for delicate tasks.

8. Creating a robot that can navigate both underwater and on land seamlessly.

9. Investigating the use of drones in disaster response and relief efforts.

10. Designing a robot inspired by cheetahs for high-speed locomotion.

11. Developing a robot that can assist in search and rescue missions in extreme weather conditions, such as hurricanes or wildfires.

Artificial Intelligence and Robotics

1. How can artificial intelligence enhance robot decision-making?

2. Creating a robot that can recognize and respond to emotions.

3. Investigating ethical concerns in AI-driven robotics.

4. Developing a robot that can learn from its mistakes.

5. Exploring the use of machine learning in robotic vision.

6. Exploring the role of AI-driven robots in space exploration and colonization.

7. Creating a robot that can understand and respond to human emotions in healthcare.

8. Investigating the ethical implications of autonomous vehicles in urban transportation.

9. Developing a robot that can analyze and predict weather patterns using AI.

10. Exploring the use of machine learning to enhance robotic prosthetics.

Human-Robot Interaction

1. Studying the impact of robots on human mental health.

2. Designing a robot that can assist in therapy sessions.

3. Investigating the use of robots in elderly care facilities.

4. Creating a robot that can act as a language tutor.

5. Developing a robot that can provide emotional support.

6. Studying the psychological impact of humanoid robots in educational settings.

7. Designing a robot that can assist individuals with neurodegenerative diseases.

8. Investigating the use of robots for mental health therapy and counseling.

9. Creating a robot that can help children with autism improve social skills.

10. Developing a robot companion for the elderly to combat loneliness.

Robotics and Industry

1. How are robots transforming the manufacturing industry?

2. Investigating the use of robots in 3D printing.

3. Designing robots for warehouse automation.

4. Developing robots for precision agriculture.

5. Studying the role of robotics in supply chain management.

6. Exploring the integration of robots in the construction and architecture industry.

7. Investigating the use of robots for recycling and waste management in cities.

8. Designing robots for autonomous maintenance and repair of industrial equipment.

9. Developing robotic solutions for monitoring and managing urban traffic.

10. Studying the role of robotics in the development of smart factories and Industry 4.0.

Cutting-Edge Robotics Applications

1. Exploring the use of swarm robotics for search and rescue missions.

2. Investigating the potential of exoskeletons for enhancing human capabilities.

3. Designing robots for autonomous underwater exploration.

4. Developing robots for minimally invasive surgery.

5. Studying the ethical implications of autonomous military robots.

6. Exploring the use of robotics in sustainable energy production.

7. Investigating the use of swarming robots for ecological conservation and monitoring.

8. Designing exoskeletons for individuals with mobility impairments for daily life.

9. Developing robots for autonomous planetary exploration beyond our solar system.

10. Studying the ethical and legal aspects of AI-powered military robots in warfare.

These robotics research topics offer high school students the opportunity to delve deeper into advanced robotics concepts and address some of the most challenging and impactful issues in the field.

Robotics research is a captivating field with a wide range of robotics research topics suitable for students of all ages. Whether you’re in middle school or high school, you can explore robot design, programming, AI integration , and cutting-edge applications. Robotics research not only fosters innovation but also prepares you for a future where robots will play an increasingly important role in various aspects of our lives. So, pick a topic that excites you, and embark on your journey into the fascinating world of robotics!

I hope you enjoyed this blog about robotics research topics for middle and high school students.

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Research Topics & Ideas: Robotics

50 Topic Ideas To Kickstart Your Research Project

If you’re just starting out exploring robotics and/or automation-related topics for your dissertation, thesis or research project, you’ve come to the right place. In this post, we’ll help kickstart your research by providing a hearty list of research ideas , including real-world examples from recent studies.

PS – This is just the start…

We know it’s exciting to run through a list of research topics, but please keep in mind that this list is just a starting point . These topic ideas provided here are intentionally broad and generic , so keep in mind that you will need to develop them further. Nevertheless, they should inspire some ideas for your project.

To develop a suitable research topic, you’ll need to identify a clear and convincing research gap , and a viable plan to fill that gap. If this sounds foreign to you, check out our free research topic webinar that explores how to find and refine a high-quality research topic, from scratch. Alternatively, consider our 1-on-1 coaching service .

Robotics & Automation Research Ideas

• Developing AI algorithms for autonomous decision-making in self-driving cars.
• The impact of robotic automation on employment in the manufacturing sector.
• Investigating the use of drone technology for agricultural crop monitoring and management.
• The role of robotics in enhancing surgical precision in minimally invasive procedures.
• Analyzing the ethical implications of using robots in elderly care.
• The effectiveness of humanoid robots in assisting children with autism.
• Investigating the integration of IoT and robotics in smart home systems.
• The impact of automation on workflow efficiency in the healthcare industry.
• Analyzing the challenges of human-robot interaction in industrial settings.
• The role of robotics in deep-sea exploration and data collection.
• Investigating the use of robotic exoskeletons in rehabilitation therapy for stroke patients.
• The impact of artificial intelligence on the future of job skills and training.
• Developing advanced machine learning models for robotic vision and object recognition.
• Analyzing the role of robots in disaster response and search-and-rescue missions.
• The effectiveness of collaborative robots (cobots) in small-scale industries.
• Investigating the potential of robotics in renewable energy operations and maintenance.
• The role of automation in enhancing precision agriculture techniques.
• Analyzing the security risks associated with industrial automation systems.
• The impact of 3D printing technology on robotic design and manufacturing.
• Investigating the use of robotics in hazardous waste management and disposal.
• The effectiveness of swarm robotics in environmental monitoring and data collection.
• Analyzing the ethical and legal aspects of deploying autonomous weapon systems.
• The role of robotics in enhancing logistics and supply chain management.
• Investigating the potential of robotic process automation in banking and finance.
• The impact of robotics and automation on the future of urban planning and smart cities.

Robotics Research Ideas (Continued)

• Developing underwater robots for marine biodiversity conservation and research.
• Analyzing the challenges of integrating AI and robotics in the educational sector.
• The role of robotics in advancing precision medicine and personalized healthcare.
• Investigating the social implications of widespread adoption of service robots.
• The impact of automation on productivity and efficiency in the food industry.
• Analyzing human psychological responses to interaction with advanced robots.
• The effectiveness of robotic assistants in enhancing the retail customer experience.
• Investigating the use of automation in streamlining media and entertainment production.
• The role of robotics in preserving cultural heritage and archeological sites.
• Analyzing the potential of robotics in addressing environmental pollution and climate change.
• The impact of cyber-physical systems on the evolution of smart manufacturing.
• Investigating the role of robotics in non-invasive medical diagnostics and screening.
• The effectiveness of robotic technologies in construction and infrastructure development.
• Analyzing the challenges of energy management and sustainability in robotics.
• The role of AI and robotics in advancing space exploration and satellite deployment.
• Investigating the application of robotics in textile and garment manufacturing.
• The impact of automation on the dynamics of global trade and economic growth.
• Analyzing the role of robotics in enhancing sports training and athlete performance.
• The effectiveness of robotic systems in large-scale environmental restoration projects.
• Investigating the potential of AI-driven robots in personalized content creation and delivery.
• The role of robotics in improving safety and efficiency in mining operations.
• Analyzing the impact of robotic automation on customer service and support.
• The effectiveness of autonomous robotic systems in utility and infrastructure inspection.
• Investigating the role of robotics in enhancing border security and surveillance.
• The impact of robotic and automated technologies on future transportation systems.

Recent Studies: Robotics & Automation

While the ideas we’ve presented above are a decent starting point for finding a research topic, they are fairly generic and non-specific. So, it helps to look at actual robotics and automation-related studies to see how this all comes together in practice.

Below, we’ve included a selection of recent studies to help refine your thinking. These are actual studies,  so they can provide some useful insight as to what a research topic looks like in practice.

• A Comprehensive Survey on Robotics and Automation in Various Industries (Jeyakumar K, 2022)
• Dual-Material 3D-Printed PaCoMe-Like Fingers for Flexible Biolaboratory Automation (Zwirnmann et al., 2023)
• Robotic Process Automation (RPA) Adoption: A Systematic Literature Review (Costa et al., 2022)
• Analysis of the Conditions Influencing the Assimilation of Robotic Process Automation by Enterprises (Sobczak, 2022)
• Using RPA for Performance Monitoring of Dynamic SHM Applications (Atencio et al., 2022)
• When Harry, the Human, Met Sally, the Software Robot: Metaphorical Sensemaking and Sensegiving around an Emergent Digital Technology (Techatassanasoontorn et al., 2023)
• Model-driven Engineering and Simulation of Industrial Robots with ROS (Hoppe & Hoffschulte, 2022)
• RPA Bot to Automate Students Marks Storage Process (Krishna, 2022)
• Intelligent Process Automation and Business Continuity: Areas for Future Research (Brás et al., 2023)
• Enabling the Gab Between RPA and Process Mining: User Interface Interactions Recorder (Choi et al., 2022)
• An Electroadhesive Paper Gripper With Application to a Document-Sorting Robot (Itoh et al., 2022)
• A systematic literature review on Robotic Process Automation security (Gajjar et al., 2022)
• Teaching Industrial Robot Programming Using FANUC ROBOGUIDE and iRVision Software (Coletta & Chauhan, 2022)
• Industrial Automation and Robotics (Kumar & Babu, 2022)
• Process & Software Selection for Robotic Process Automation (RPA) (Axmann & Harmoko, 2022)
• Robotic Process Automation: A Literature-Based Research Agenda (Plattfaut & Borghoff, 2022)
• Automated Testing of RPA Implementations (Sankpal, 2022) Template-Based Category-Agnostic Instance Detection for Robotic Manipulation (Hu et al., 2022)
• Robotic Process Automation in Smart System Platform: A Review (Falih et al., 2022)
• MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS FOR ROBOTIC PROCESS AUTOMATION IMPLEMENTATIONS IN DIGITAL INDUSTRIES (Stamoulis, 2022)

As you can see, these research topics are a lot more focused than the generic topic ideas we presented earlier. So, for you to develop a high-quality research topic, you’ll need to get specific and laser-focused on a specific context with specific variables of interest.  In the video below, we explore some other important things you’ll need to consider when crafting your research topic.

Get 1-On-1 Help

If you’re still unsure about how to find a quality research topic, check out our Research Topic Kickstarter service, which is the perfect starting point for developing a unique, well-justified research topic.

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• NATURE INDEX
• 12 October 2022

Growth in AI and robotics research accelerates

It may not be unusual for burgeoning areas of science, especially those related to rapid technological changes in society, to take off quickly, but even by these standards the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) has been impressive. Together with robotics, AI is representing an increasingly significant portion of research volume at various levels, as these charts show.

Across the field

The number of AI and robotics papers published in the 82 high-quality science journals in the Nature Index (Count) has been rising year-on-year — so rapidly that it resembles an exponential growth curve. A similar increase is also happening more generally in journals and proceedings not included in the Nature Index, as is shown by data from the Dimensions database of research publications.

Source: Nature Index, Dimensions. Data analysis by Catherine Cheung; infographic by Simon Baker, Tanner Maxwell and Benjamin Plackett

Leading countries

Five countries — the United States, China, the United Kingdom, Germany and France — had the highest AI and robotics Share in the Nature Index from 2015 to 2021, with the United States leading the pack. China has seen the largest percentage change (1,174%) in annual Share over the period among the five nations.

AI and robotics infiltration

As the field of AI and robotics research grows in its own right, leading institutions such as Harvard University in the United States have increased their Share in this area since 2015. But such leading institutions have also seen an expansion in the proportion of their overall index Share represented by research in AI and robotics. One possible explanation for this is that AI and robotics is expanding into other fields, creating interdisciplinary AI and robotics research.

Nature 610 , S9 (2022)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-03210-9

This article is part of Nature Index 2022 AI and robotics , an editorially independent supplement. Advertisers have no influence over the content.

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200+ Robotics Research Topics: Discovering Tomorrow’s Tech

• Post author By admin
• September 15, 2023

Explore cutting-edge robotics research topics and stay ahead of the curve with our comprehensive guide. Discover the latest advancements in the field today.

Robotics research topics are not like any other research topics. In these topics science fiction meets reality and innovation knows no bounds.

In this blog post we are going to explore some of the best robotics research topics that will help you to explore machine learning, artificial intelligence and many more.

Apart from that you will also explore the industries and the future of robotics. Whether you are an experienced engineering or a student of robotics, these project ideas will definitely help you to explore a lot more the dynamic and ever evolving world of robotics. So be ready to explore these topics:-

Table of Contents

Robotics Research Topics

Have a close look at robotics research topics:-

Autonomous Robots

• Development of an Autonomous Delivery Robot for Urban Environments
• Swarm Robotics for Agricultural Crop Monitoring and Maintenance
• Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) for Indoor Navigation of Service Robots
• Human-Robot Interaction Study for Improved Robot Assistance in Healthcare
• Self-Driving Car Prototype with Advanced Perception and Decision-Making Algorithms
• Autonomous Aerial Surveillance Drones for Security Applications
• Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) for Ocean Exploration
• Robotic Drones for Disaster Response and Search-and-Rescue Missions
• Autonomous Exploration Rover for Planetary Surfaces
• Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for Precision Agriculture and Crop Analysis

Robot Manipulation and Grasping

• Object Recognition and Grasping Planning System for Warehouse Automation
• Cooperative Multi-Robot Manipulation for Assembly Line Tasks
• Tactile Sensing Integration for Precise Robotic Grasping
• Surgical Robot with Enhanced Precision and Control for Minimally Invasive Surgery
• Robotic System for Automated 3D Printing and Fabrication
• Robot-Assisted Cooking System with Object Recognition and Manipulation
• Robotic Arm for Hazardous Materials Handling and Disposal
• Biomechanically Inspired Robotic Finger Design for Grasping
• Multi-Arm Robotic System for Collaborative Manufacturing
• Development of a Dexterous Robotic Hand for Complex Object

Robot Vision and Perception:

• Object Detection and Recognition Framework for Robotic Inspection
• Deep Learning-Based Vision System for Real-time Object Recognition
• Human Activity Recognition Algorithm for Assistive Robots
• Vision-Based Localization and Navigation for Autonomous Vehicles
• Image Processing and Computer Vision for Robotic Surveillance
• Visual Odometry for Precise Mobile Robot Positioning
• Facial Recognition System for Human-Robot Interaction
• 3D Object Reconstruction from 2D Images for Robotic Mapping
• Autonomous Drone with Advanced Vision-Based Obstacle Avoidance
• Development of a Visual SLAM System for Autonomous Indoor navigation.

Human-Robot Collaboration

• Development of Robot Assistants for Elderly Care and Companionship
• Implementation of Collaborative Robots (Cobots) in Manufacturing Processes
• Shared Control Interfaces for Teleoperation of Remote Robots
• Ethics and Social Impact Assessment of Human-Robot Interaction
• Evaluation of User Interfaces for Robotic Assistants in Healthcare
• Human-Centric Design of Robotic Exoskeletons for Enhanced Mobility
• Enhancing Worker Safety in Industrial Settings through Human-Robot Collaboration
• Haptic Feedback Systems for Improved Teleoperation of Remote Robots
• Investigating Human Trust and Acceptance of Autonomous Robots in Daily Life
• Design and Testing of Safe and Efficient Human-Robot Collaborative Workstations

Bio-Inspired Robotics

• Biohybrid Robots Combining Biological and Artificial Components for Unique Functions
• Evolutionary Robotics Algorithms for Robot Behavior Optimization
• Swarm Robotics Inspired by Insect Behavior for Collective Tasks
• Design and Fabrication of Soft Robotics for Flexible and Adaptive Movement
• Biomimetic Robotic Fish for Underwater Exploration
• Biorobotics Research for Prosthetic Limb Design and Control
• Development of a Robotic Pollination System Inspired by Bees
• Bio-Inspired Flying Robots for Agile and Efficient Aerial Navigation
• Bio-Inspired Sensing and Localization Techniques for Robotic Applications
• Development of a Legged Robot with Biomimetic Locomotion Inspired by Animals

Robot Learning and AI

• Transfer Learning Strategies for Robotic Applications in Varied Environments
• Explainable AI Models for Transparent Robot Decision-Making
• Robot Learning from Demonstration (LfD) for Complex Tasks
• Machine Learning Algorithms for Predictive Maintenance of Industrial Robots
• Neural Network-Based Vision System for Autonomous Robot Learning
• Reinforcement Learning for UAV Swarms and Cooperative Flight
• Human-Robot Interaction Studies to Improve Robot Learning
• Natural Language Processing for Human-Robot Communication
• Robotic Systems with Advanced AI for Autonomous Exploration
• Implementation of Reinforcement Learning Algorithms for Robotic Control

Robotics in Healthcare

• Design and Testing of Robotic Prosthetics and Exoskeletons for Enhanced Mobility
• Telemedicine Platform for Remote Robotic Medical Consultations
• Robot-Assisted Rehabilitation System for Physical Therapy
• Simulation-Based Training Environment for Robotic Surgical Skill Assessment
• Humanoid Robot for Social and Emotional Support in Healthcare Settings
• Autonomous Medication Dispensing Robot for Hospitals and Pharmacies
• Wearable Health Monitoring Device with AI Analysis
• Robotic Systems for Elderly Care and Fall Detection
• Surgical Training Simulator with Realistic Haptic Feedback
• Development of a Robotic Surgical Assistant for Minimally Invasive Procedures

Robots in Industry

• Quality Control and Inspection Automation with Robotic Systems
• Risk Assessment and Safety Measures for Industrial Robot Environments
• Human-Robot Collaboration Solutions for Manufacturing and Assembly
• Warehouse Automation with Robotic Pick-and-Place Systems
• Industrial Robot Vision Systems for Quality Assurance
• Integration of Cobots in Flexible Manufacturing Cells
• Robot Grippers and End-Effector Design for Specific Industrial Tasks
• Predictive Maintenance Strategies for Industrial Robot Fleet
• Robotics for Lean Manufacturing and Continuous Improvement
• Robotic Automation in Manufacturing: Process Optimization and Integration

Robots in Space Exploration

• Precise Autonomous Spacecraft Navigation for Deep Space Missions
• Robotics for Satellite Servicing and Space Debris Removal
• Lunar and Martian Surface Exploration with Autonomous Robots
• Resource Utilization and Mining on Extraterrestrial Bodies with Robots
• Design and Testing of Autonomous Space Probes for Interstellar Missions
• Autonomous Space Telescopes for Astronomical Observations
• Robot-Assisted Lunar Base Construction and Maintenance
• Planetary Sample Collection and Return Missions with Robotic Systems
• Biomechanics and Human Factors Research for Astronaut-Robot Collaboration
• Autonomous Planetary Rovers: Mobility and Scientific Exploration

Environmental Robotics

• Environmental Monitoring and Data Collection Using Aerial Drones
• Robotics in Wildlife Conservation: Tracking and Protection of Endangered Species
• Disaster Response Robots: Search, Rescue, and Relief Operations
• Autonomous Agricultural Robots for Sustainable Farming Practices
• Autonomous Forest Fire Detection and Firefighting Robot Systems
• Monitoring and Rehabilitation of Coral Reefs with Robotic Technology
• Air Quality Monitoring and Pollution Detection with Mobile Robot Swarms
• Autonomous River and Marine Cleanup Robots
• Ecological Studies and Environmental Protection with Robotic Instruments
• Development of Underwater Robotic Systems for Ocean Exploration and Monitoring

These project ideas span a wide range of topics within robotics research, offering opportunities for innovation, exploration, and contribution to the field. Researchers, students, and enthusiasts can choose projects that align with their interests and expertise to advance robotics technology and its applications.

Robotics Research Topics for high school students

• Home Robots: Explore how robots can assist in daily tasks at home.
• Medical Robotics: Investigate robots used in surgery and patient care.
• Robotics in Education: Learn about robots teaching coding and science.
• Agricultural Robots: Study robots in farming for planting and monitoring.
• Space Exploration: Discover robots exploring planets and space.
• Environmental Robots: Explore robots in conservation and pollution monitoring.
• Ethical Questions: Discuss the ethical dilemmas in robotics.
• DIY Robot Projects: Build and program robots from scratch.
• Robot Competitions: Participate in exciting robotics competitions.
• Cutting-Edge Innovations: Stay updated on the latest in robotics.

These topics offer exciting opportunities for high school students to delve into robotics research, learning, and creativity.

Easy Robotics Research Topics 

Introduction to robotics.

Explore the basics of robotics, including robot components and their functions.

History of Robotics

Investigate the evolution of robotics from its beginnings to modern applications.

Robotic Sensors

Learn about various sensors used in robots for detecting and measuring data.

Simple Robot Building

Build a basic robot using kits or everyday materials and learn about its components.

Programming a Robot

Experiment with programming languages like Scratch or Blockly to control a robot’s movements.

Robots in Entertainment

Explore how robots are used in the entertainment industry, such as animatronics and robot performers.

Robotics in Toys

Investigate robotic toys and their mechanisms, such as remote-controlled cars and drones.

Robotic Pets

Learn about robotic pets like robot dogs and cats and their interactive features.

Robotics in Science Fiction

Analyze how robots are portrayed in science fiction movies and literature.

Robotic Safety

Explore safety measures and protocols when working with robots to prevent accidents.

These topics provide a gentle introduction to robotics research and are ideal for beginners looking to learn more about this exciting field.

Latest Research Topics in Robotics

The field of robotics is ever-evolving, with a plethora of exciting research topics at the forefront of exploration. Here are some of the latest and most intriguing areas of research in robotics:

Soft Robotics

Soft robots, crafted from flexible materials, can adapt to their surroundings, making them safer for human interaction and ideal for unstructured environments.

Robotic Swarms

Groups of robots working collectively toward a common objective, such as search and rescue missions, disaster relief efforts, and environmental monitoring.

Robotic Exoskeletons

Wearable devices designed to enhance human strength and mobility, offering potential benefits for individuals with disabilities, boosting worker productivity, and aiding soldiers in carrying heavier loads.

Medical Robotics

Robots play a vital role in various medical applications, including surgery, rehabilitation, and drug delivery, enhancing precision, reducing human error, and advancing healthcare practices.

Intelligent Robots

Intelligent robots have the ability to learn and adapt to their surroundings, enabling them to tackle complex tasks and interact naturally with humans.

These are just a glimpse of the thrilling research avenues within robotics. As the field continues to progress, we anticipate witnessing even more groundbreaking advancements and innovations in the years ahead.

What topics are in robotics?

Robotics basics.

Understanding the fundamental concepts of robotics, including robot components, kinematics, and control systems.

Robotics History

Exploring the historical development of robotics and its evolution into a multidisciplinary field.

Robot Sensors

Studying the various sensors used in robots for perception, navigation, and interaction with the environment.

Robot Actuators

Learning about the mechanisms and motors that enable robot movement and manipulation.

Robot Control

Understanding how robots are programmed and controlled, including topics like motion planning and trajectory generation.

Robot Mobility

Examining the different types of robot mobility, such as wheeled, legged, aerial, and underwater robots.

Artificial Intelligence in Robotics

Exploring the role of AI and machine learning in enhancing robot autonomy, decision-making, and adaptability.

Human-Robot Interaction

Investigating how robots can effectively interact with humans, including social and ethical considerations.

Robot Perception

Studying computer vision and other technologies that enable robots to perceive and interpret their surroundings.

Robotic Manipulation

Delving into robot arms, grippers, and manipulation techniques for tasks like object grasping and assembly.

Robot Localization and Mapping

Understanding methods for robot localization (knowing their position) and mapping (creating maps of their environment).

Robotics in Medicine

Exploring the use of robots in surgery, rehabilitation, and medical applications.

Analyzing the role of robots in manufacturing and automation, including industrial robot arms and cobots.

Learning about robots capable of making decisions and navigating autonomously in complex environments.

Robot Ethics

Examining ethical considerations related to robotics, including issues of privacy, safety, and AI ethics.

Exploring robots inspired by nature, such as those mimicking animal locomotion or behavior.

Robotic Applications

Investigating specific applications of robots in fields like agriculture, space exploration, entertainment, and more.

Robotics Research Trends

Staying updated on the latest trends and innovations in the field, such as soft robotics, swarm robotics, and intelligent agents.

These topics represent a broad spectrum of areas within robotics, each offering unique opportunities for research, development, and exploration.

What are your 10 robotics ideas?

Home assistant robot.

Build a robot that can assist with everyday tasks at home, like fetching objects, turning lights on and off, or even helping with cleaning.

Robotics in Agriculture

Create a robot for farming tasks, such as planting seeds, monitoring crop health, or even autonomous weed removal.

Autonomous Delivery Robot

Design a robot capable of delivering packages or groceries autonomously within a neighborhood or urban environment.

Search and Rescue Robot

Develop a robot that can navigate disaster-stricken areas to locate and assist survivors or relay important information to rescuers.

Robot Artist

Build a robot that can create art, whether it’s through painting, drawing, or even sculpture.

Underwater Exploration Robot

Construct a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) for exploring the depths of the ocean and gathering data on marine life and conditions.

Robot for the Elderly

Create a companion robot for the elderly that can provide companionship, reminders for medication, and emergency assistance.

Educational Robot

Design a robot that can teach coding and STEM concepts to children in an engaging and interactive way.

Robotics in Space

Develop a robot designed for space exploration, such as a planetary rover or a robot for asteroid mining.

Design a lifelike robotic pet that can offer companionship and emotional support, especially for those unable to care for a real pet.

These project ideas span various domains within robotics, from practical applications to creative endeavors, offering opportunities for innovation and exploration.

What are the 7 biggest challenges in robotics?

Robot autonomy.

Imagine robots that can think for themselves, make decisions, and navigate complex, ever-changing environments like a seasoned explorer.

Robotic Senses

Picture robots with superhuman perception, able to see, hear, and understand the world around them as well as or even better than humans.

Human-Robot Harmony

Think of robots seamlessly working alongside us, understanding our needs, and being safe, friendly, and helpful companions.

Robotic Hands and Fingers

Envision robots with the dexterity of a skilled surgeon, capable of handling delicate and complex tasks with precision.

Robots on the Move

Imagine robots that can gracefully traverse all kinds of terrain, from busy city streets to rugged mountain paths.

Consider the ethical questions surrounding robots, like privacy, fairness, and the impact on employment, as we strive for responsible and beneficial AI.

Robot Teamwork

Visualize a world where robots from different manufacturers can effortlessly work together, just like a symphony orchestra playing in perfect harmony.

What are the 5 major fields of robotics?

Industrial wizards.

Think of robots working tirelessly on factory floors, welding, assembling, and ensuring top-notch quality in the products we use every day.

Helpful Companions

Imagine robots assisting us in non-industrial settings, from healthcare, where they assist in surgery and rehabilitation, to our homes, where they vacuum our floors and make life a little easier.

Mobile Marvels

Picture robots that can move and navigate on their own, exploring uncharted territories in space, performing search and rescue missions, or even delivering packages to our doorstep.

Human-Like Helpers

Envision robots that resemble humans, not just in appearance but also in their movements and interactions. These are the robots designed to understand and assist us in ways that feel natural.

AI-Powered Partners

Think of robots that aren’t just machines but intelligent partners. They learn from experience, adapt to different situations, and make decisions using cutting-edge artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Let’s wrap up our robotics research topics. As we have seen that there is endless innovation in robotics research topics. That is why there are lots of robotics research topics to explore.

As the technology is innovating everyday and continuously evolving there are lots of new challenges and discoveries are emerging in the world of robotics.

With these robotics research topics you would explore a lot about the future endeavors of robotics.  These topics would also tap on your creativity and embrace your knowledge about robotics. So let’s implement these topics and feel the difference.

Frequently Asked Questions

How can i get involved in robotics research.

To get started in robotics research, you can pursue a degree in robotics, computer science, or a related field. Join robotics clubs, attend conferences, and seek out research opportunities at universities or tech companies.

Are there any ethical concerns in robotics research?

Yes, ethical concerns in robotics research include issues related to job displacement, privacy, and the use of autonomous weapons. Researchers are actively addressing these concerns to ensure responsible development.

What are the career prospects in robotics research?

Robotics research offers a wide range of career opportunities, including robotics engineer, AI specialist, data scientist, and robotics consultant. The field is constantly evolving, creating new job prospects.

How can robotics benefit society?

Robotics can benefit society by improving healthcare, increasing manufacturing efficiency, conserving the environment, and aiding in disaster response. It has the potential to enhance various aspects of our lives.

What is the role of AI in robotics research?

AI plays a crucial role in robotics research by enabling robots to make intelligent decisions, adapt to changing environments, and perform complex tasks. AI and robotics are closely intertwined, driving innovation in both fields.

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• Robotics Research
• Aude Billard 0 ,
• Tamim Asfour 1 ,
• Oussama Khatib 2

EPFL STI SMT-GE, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

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Institute for Anthropomatics and Robotic, KIT, Karlsruhe, Germany

Artificial intelligence laboratory, department of computer science, stanford university, stanford, usa.

• Presents top class research in Robotics Research
• Provides outcome of the 20th International Symposium on Robotics Research
• Includes contributions from leading researchers and pioneers from academia, government, and industry in robotics

Part of the book series: Springer Proceedings in Advanced Robotics (SPAR, volume 27)

Conference series link(s): ISRR: The International Symposium of Robotics Research

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Conference proceedings info: ISRR 2022.

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Table of contents (37 papers)

Front matter, robot learning, it’s just semantics: how to get robots to understand the world the way we do.

• Jen Jen Chung, Julian Förster, Paula Wulkop, Lionel Ott, Nicholas Lawrance, Roland Siegwart

Learning Agile, Vision-Based Drone Flight: From Simulation to Reality

• Davide Scaramuzza, Elia Kaufmann

Continual SLAM: Beyond Lifelong Simultaneous Localization and Mapping Through Continual Learning

• Niclas Vödisch, Daniele Cattaneo, Wolfram Burgard, Abhinav Valada

Efficiently Learning Single-Arm Fling Motions to Smooth Garments

• Lawrence Yunliang Chen, Huang Huang, Ellen Novoseller, Daniel Seita, Jeffrey Ichnowski, Michael Laskey et al.

Learning Long-Horizon Robot Exploration Strategies for Multi-object Search in Continuous Action Spaces

• Fabian Schmalstieg, Daniel Honerkamp, Tim Welschehold, Abhinav Valada

Visual Foresight with a Local Dynamics Model

• Colin Kohler, Robert Platt

Robot Vision

Monocular camera and single-beam sonar-based underwater collision-free navigation with domain randomization.

• Pengzhi Yang, Haowen Liu, Monika Roznere, Alberto Quattrini Li

Nonmyopic Distilled Data Association Belief Space Planning Under Budget Constraints

• Moshe Shienman, Vadim Indelman

SCIM: Simultaneous Clustering, Inference, and Mapping for Open-World Semantic Scene Understanding

• Hermann Blum, Marcus G. Müller, Abel Gawel, Roland Siegwart, Cesar Cadena

6N-DoF Pose Tracking for Tensegrity Robots

• Shiyang Lu, William R. Johnson III, Kun Wang, Xiaonan Huang, Joran Booth, Rebecca Kramer-Bottiglio et al.

Scale-Invariant Fast Functional Registration

• Muchen Sun, Allison Pinosky, Ian Abraham, Todd Murphey

Towards Mapping of Underwater Structures by a Team of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles

• Marios Xanthidis, Bharat Joshi, Monika Roznere, Weihan Wang, Nathaniel Burgdorfer, Alberto Quattrini Li et al.

Grasping and Manipulation

Contact-implicit planning and control for non-prehensile manipulation using state-triggered constraints.

• Maozhen Wang, Aykut Özgün Önol, Philip Long, Taşkın Padır

Mechanical Search on Shelves with Efficient Stacking and Destacking of Objects

• Huang Huang, Letian Fu, Michael Danielczuk, Chung Min Kim, Zachary Tam, Jeffrey Ichnowski et al.

Multi-object Grasping in the Plane

• Wisdom C. Agboh, Jeffrey Ichnowski, Ken Goldberg, Mehmet R. Dogar

Parameter Estimation for Deformable Objects in Robotic Manipulation Tasks

• David Millard, James A. Preiss, Jernej Barbič, Gaurav S. Sukhatme

Other Volumes

The proceedings of the 2022 edition of the International Symposium of Robotics Research (ISRR) offer a series of peer-reviewed chapters that report on the most recent research results in robotics, in a variety of domains of robotics including robot design, control, robot vision, robot learning, planning, and integrated robot systems. The proceedings entail also invited contributions that offer provocative new ideas, open-ended themes, and new directions for robotics, written by some of the most renown international researchers in robotics.

• Robotics Future
• ISRR 2022 proceedings
• International Symposium on Robotics Research
• Advanced Robotics

Aude Billard

Tamim Asfour

Oussama Khatib

Book Title : Robotics Research

Editors : Aude Billard, Tamim Asfour, Oussama Khatib

Series Title : Springer Proceedings in Advanced Robotics

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-25555-7

Publisher : Springer Cham

eBook Packages : Intelligent Technologies and Robotics , Intelligent Technologies and Robotics (R0)

Copyright Information : The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023

Hardcover ISBN : 978-3-031-25554-0 Published: 08 March 2023

Softcover ISBN : 978-3-031-25557-1 Published: 08 March 2024

eBook ISBN : 978-3-031-25555-7 Published: 07 March 2023

Series ISSN : 2511-1256

Series E-ISSN : 2511-1264

Edition Number : 1

Number of Pages : XV, 575

Number of Illustrations : 14 b/w illustrations, 232 illustrations in colour

Topics : Control, Robotics, Mechatronics , Robotics , Computational Intelligence

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Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Machines

Research overview.

Foundations of Robotics

Research in the foundational concepts of robotics and automation covers an interdisciplinary range of topics. Computational methodologies, electronics engineering, and physics are all foundational areas of robotics research. Sub-topics include simulation, kinematics, control, optimization, and probabilistic inference.

Field & Service Robotics

Field robots are mobile robots that operate in dynamic environments. These robots are adaptive, and responsive working in variable conditions and territories. Service Robots are fully or partially autonomous and perform tasks that are dangerous, repetitive, or hazardous. This research area also comprises simple and complex industrial robots as well as frontline service robots.

Human-Centered Robotics

Human-centered robotics focuses on robots that interact, assist and cooperate with humans requiring robot operation in human environments and close interaction with non-professional users. The research spans broad areas in human-robot interaction including; assistive and rehabilitation robotics, robotic systems design, wearable robotics, biomedical, surgical and clinical robots.

Manipulation & Locomotion

Robotic manipulation addresses the frameworks of modeling, motion planning, and control of grasp and manipulation of an object for a task. Manipulation research deals not only with the way in which the robot performs, but also the numerous operator-robot interface options. Once a task is defined, robots must be able to navigate its environment successfully. Legged, wheeled, articulated and winged are just a few of the way in robots are constructed for their specific tasks. Many of IRIM’s  faculty are working to advance robotic locomotion, creating multi-environment capable robots and bespoke design options.

Safe, Secure, & Resilient Autonomy

Robots given a high degree of autonomy require formal assurances on their abilities and resiliency in the face of disruptions and uncertainty. Obtaining these assurances requires innovations across an interdisciplinary range of topics including control theory, machine learning, optimization, and formal methods for designing cyber-physical intelligent machines. By establishing a rigorous mathematical foundation of guaranteed performance, robots can be confidently deployed in safety-critical settings---for example, alongside humans---or for long durations without operator input such as underwater or in space.

Sensing & Perception

Robotic perception is related to many applications in robotics where sensory data and artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) techniques are involved. Examples include; object detection, environment representation, scene understanding, human/pedestrian detection, activity recognition, semantic place classification, and object modeling.

IRIM in 1 Minute

If you want to know what amazing robotics research is happening at the Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Machines this 1 minute video gives a great overview!

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500 research papers and projects in robotics – Free Download

The recent history of robotics is full of fascinating moments that accelerated the rapid technological advances in artificial intelligence , automation , engineering, energy storage, and machine learning. The result transformed the capabilities of robots and their ability to take over tasks once carried out by humans at factories, hospitals, farms, etc.

These technological advances don’t occur overnight; they require several years of research and development in solving some of the biggest engineering challenges in navigation, autonomy, AI and machine learning to build robots that are much safer and efficient in a real-world situation. A lot of universities, institutes, and companies across the world are working tirelessly in various research areas to make this reality.

In this post, we have listed 500+ recent research papers and projects for those who are interested in robotics. These free, downloadable research papers can shed lights into the some of the complex areas in robotics such as navigation, motion planning, robotic interactions, obstacle avoidance, actuators, machine learning, computer vision, artificial intelligence, collaborative robotics, nano robotics, social robotics, cloud, swan robotics, sensors, mobile robotics, humanoid, service robots, automation, autonomous, etc. Feel free to download. Share your own research papers with us to be added into this list. Also, you can ask a professional academic writer from  CustomWritings – research paper writing service  to assist you online on any related topic.

Navigation and Motion Planning

• Robotics Navigation Using MPEG CDVS
• Design, Manufacturing and Test of a High-Precision MEMS Inclination Sensor for Navigation Systems in Robot-assisted Surgery
• Motion Control of a Three Active Wheeled Mobile Robot and Collision-Free Human Following Navigation in Outdoor Environment
• One Point Perspective Vanishing Point Estimation for Mobile Robot Vision Based Navigation System
• Application of Ant Colony Optimization for finding the Navigational path of Mobile Robot-A Review
• Robot Navigation Using a Brain-Computer Interface
• Path Generation for Robot Navigation using a Single Ceiling Mounted Camera
• Exact Robot Navigation Using Power Diagrams
• Learning Socially Normative Robot Navigation Behaviors with Bayesian Inverse Reinforcement Learning
• Pipelined, High Speed, Low Power Neural Network Controller for Autonomous Mobile Robot Navigation Using FPGA
• Proxemics models for human-aware navigation in robotics: Grounding interaction and personal space models in experimental data from psychology
• Optimality and limit behavior of the ML estimator for Multi-Robot Localization via GPS and Relative Measurements
• Aerial Robotics: Compact groups of cooperating micro aerial vehicles in clustered GPS denied environment
• Disordered and Multiple Destinations Path Planning Methods for Mobile Robot in Dynamic Environment
• Integrating Modeling and Knowledge Representation for Combined Task, Resource and Path Planning in Robotics
• Path Planning With Kinematic Constraints For Robot Groups
• Robot motion planning for pouring liquids
• Implan: Scalable Incremental Motion Planning for Multi-Robot Systems
• Equilibrium Motion Planning of Humanoid Climbing Robot under Constraints
• POMDP-lite for Robust Robot Planning under Uncertainty
• The RoboCup Logistics League as a Benchmark for Planning in Robotics
• Planning-aware communication for decentralised multi- robot coordination
• Combined Force and Position Controller Based on Inverse Dynamics: Application to Cooperative Robotics
• A Four Degree of Freedom Robot for Positioning Ultrasound Imaging Catheters
• The Role of Robotics in Ovarian Transposition
• An Implementation on 3D Positioning Aquatic Robot

Robotic Interactions

• On Indexicality, Direction of Arrival of Sound Sources and Human-Robot Interaction
• OpenWoZ: A Runtime-Configurable Wizard-of-Oz Framework for Human-Robot Interaction
• Privacy in Human-Robot Interaction: Survey and Future Work
• An Analysis Of Teacher-Student Interaction Patterns In A Robotics Course For Kindergarten Children: A Pilot Study
• Human Robotics Interaction (HRI) based Analysis–using DMT
• A Cautionary Note on Personality (Extroversion) Assessments in Child-Robot Interaction Studies
• Interaction as a bridge between cognition and robotics
• State Representation Learning in Robotics: Using Prior Knowledge about Physical Interaction
• Eliciting Conversation in Robot Vehicle Interactions
• A Comparison of Avatar, Video, and Robot-Mediated Interaction on Users’ Trust in Expertise
• Exercising with Baxter: Design and Evaluation of Assistive Social-Physical Human- Robot Interaction
• Using Narrative to Enable Longitudinal Human- Robot Interactions
• Computational Analysis of Affect, Personality, and Engagement in HumanRobot Interactions
• Human-robot interactions: A psychological perspective
• Gait of Quadruped Robot and Interaction Based on Gesture Recognition
• Graphically representing child- robot interaction proxemics
• Interactive Demo of the SOPHIA Project: Combining Soft Robotics and Brain-Machine Interfaces for Stroke Rehabilitation
• Interactive Robotics Workshop
• Activating Robotics Manipulator using Eye Movements
• Wireless Controlled Robot Movement System Desgined using Microcontroller
• Gesture Controlled Robot using LabVIEW
• RoGuE: Robot Gesture Engine

Obstacle Avoidance

• Low Cost Obstacle Avoidance Robot with Logic Gates and Gate Delay Calculations
• Advanced Fuzzy Potential Field Method for Mobile Robot Obstacle Avoidance
• Controlling Obstacle Avoiding And Live Streaming Robot Using Chronos Watch
• Movement Of The Space Robot Manipulator In Environment With Obstacles
• Assis-Cicerone Robot With Visual Obstacle Avoidance Using a Stack of Odometric Data.
• Obstacle detection and avoidance methods for autonomous mobile robot
• Moving Domestic Robotics Control Method Based on Creating and Sharing Maps with Shortest Path Findings and Obstacle Avoidance
• Control of the Differentially-driven Mobile Robot in the Environment with a Non-Convex Star-Shape Obstacle: Simulation and Experiments
• A survey of typical machine learning based motion planning algorithms for robotics
• Linear Algebra for Computer Vision, Robotics , and Machine Learning
• Applying Radical Constructivism to Machine Learning: A Pilot Study in Assistive Robotics
• Machine Learning for Robotics and Computer Vision: Sampling methods and Variational Inference
• Rule-Based Supervisor and Checker of Deep Learning Perception Modules in Cognitive Robotics
• The Limits and Potentials of Deep Learning for Robotics
• Autonomous Robotics and Deep Learning
• A Unified Knowledge Representation System for Robot Learning and Dialogue

Computer Vision

• Computer Vision Based Chess Playing Capabilities for the Baxter Humanoid Robot
• Non-Euclidean manifolds in robotics and computer vision: why should we care?
• Topology of singular surfaces, applications to visualization and robotics
• On the Impact of Learning Hierarchical Representations for Visual Recognition in Robotics
• Focused Online Visual-Motor Coordination for a Dual-Arm Robot Manipulator
• Towards Practical Visual Servoing in Robotics
• Visual Pattern Recognition In Robotics
• Automated Visual Inspection: Position Identification of Object for Industrial Robot Application based on Color and Shape
• Automated Creation of Augmented Reality Visualizations for Autonomous Robot Systems
• Implementation of Efficient Night Vision Robot on Arduino and FPGA Board
• On the Relationship between Robotics and Artificial Intelligence
• Artificial Spatial Cognition for Robotics and Mobile Systems: Brief Survey and Current Open Challenges
• Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Its Impact on Society
• The Effects of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics on Business and Employment: Evidence from a survey on Japanese firms
• Artificially Intelligent Maze Solver Robot
• Artificial intelligence, Cognitive Robotics and Human Psychology
• Minecraft as an Experimental World for AI in Robotics
• Impact of Robotics, RPA and AI on the insurance industry: challenges and opportunities

Probabilistic Programming

• On the use of probabilistic relational affordance models for sequential manipulation tasks inrobotics
• Exploration strategies in developmental robotics: a unified probabilistic framework
• Probabilistic Programming for Robotics
• New design of a soft-robotics wearable elbow exoskeleton based on Shape Memory Alloy wires actuators
• Design of a Modular Series Elastic Upgrade to a Robotics Actuator
• Applications of Compliant Actuators to Wearing Robotics for Lower Extremity
• Review of Development Stages in the Conceptual Design of an Electro-Hydrostatic Actuator for Robotics
• Fluid electrodes for submersible robotics based on dielectric elastomer actuators
• Cascaded Control Of Compliant Actuators In Friendly Robotics

Collaborative Robotics

• Interpretable Models for Fast Activity Recognition and Anomaly Explanation During Collaborative Robotics Tasks
• Collaborative Work Management Using SWARM Robotics
• Collaborative Robotics : Assessment of Safety Functions and Feedback from Workers, Users and Integrators in Quebec
• Accessibility, Making and Tactile Robotics : Facilitating Collaborative Learning and Computational Thinking for Learners with Visual Impairments
• Trajectory Adaptation of Robot Arms for Head-pose Dependent Assistive Tasks

Mobile Robotics

• Experimental research of proximity sensors for application in mobile robotics in greenhouse environment.
• Multispectral Texture Mapping for Telepresence and Autonomous Mobile Robotics
• A Smart Mobile Robot to Detect Abnormalities in Hazardous Zones
• Simulation of nonlinear filter based localization for indoor mobile robot
• Integrating control science in a practical mobile robotics course
• Experimental Study of the Performance of the Kinect Range Camera for Mobile Robotics
• Planification of an Optimal Path for a Mobile Robot Using Neural Networks
• Security of Networking Control System in Mobile Robotics (NCSMR)
• Vector Maps in Mobile Robotics
• An Embedded System for a Bluetooth Controlled Mobile Robot Based on the ATmega8535 Microcontroller
• Experiments of NDT-Based Localization for a Mobile Robot Moving Near Buildings
• Hardware and Software Co-design for the EKF Applied to the Mobile Robotics Localization Problem
• Design of a SESLogo Program for Mobile Robot Control
• An Improved Ekf-Slam Algorithm For Mobile Robot
• Intelligent Vehicles at the Mobile Robotics Laboratory, University of Sao Paolo, Brazil [ITS Research Lab]
• Introduction to Mobile Robotics
• Miniature Piezoelectric Mobile Robot driven by Standing Wave
• Mobile Robot Floor Classification using Motor Current and Accelerometer Measurements
• Sensors for Robotics 2015
• An Automated Sensing System for Steel Bridge Inspection Using GMR Sensor Array and Magnetic Wheels of Climbing Robot
• Sensors for Next-Generation Robotics
• Multi-Robot Sensor Relocation To Enhance Connectivity In A WSN
• Automated Irrigation System Using Robotics and Sensors
• Design Of Control System For Articulated Robot Using Leap Motion Sensor
• Automated configuration of vision sensor systems for industrial robotics

Nano robotics

• Light Robotics: an all-optical nano-and micro-toolbox
• Light-driven Nano- robotics
• Light-driven Nano-robotics
• Light Robotics: a new tech–nology and its applications
• Light Robotics: Aiming towards all-optical nano-robotics
• NanoBiophotonics Appli–cations of Light Robotics
• System Level Analysis for a Locomotive Inspection Robot with Integrated Microsystems
• High-Dimensional Robotics at the Nanoscale Kino-Geometric Modeling of Proteins and Molecular Mechanisms
• A Study Of Insect Brain Using Robotics And Neural Networks

Social Robotics

• Integrative Social Robotics Hands-On
• ProCRob Architecture for Personalized Social Robotics
• Definitions and Metrics for Social Robotics, along with some Experience Gained in this Domain
• Transmedia Choreography: Integrating Multimodal Video Annotation in the Creative Process of a Social Robotics Performance Piece
• Co-designing with children: An approach to social robot design
• Toward Social Cognition in Robotics: Extracting and Internalizing Meaning from Perception
• Human Centered Robotics : Designing Valuable Experiences for Social Robots
• Preliminary system and hardware design for Quori, a low-cost, modular, socially interactive robot
• Socially assistive robotics: Human augmentation versus automation
• Tega: A Social Robot

Humanoid robot

• Compliance Control and Human-Robot Interaction – International Journal of Humanoid Robotics
• The Design of Humanoid Robot Using C# Interface on Bluetooth Communication
• An Integrated System to approach the Programming of Humanoid Robotics
• Humanoid Robot Slope Gait Planning Based on Zero Moment Point Principle
• Literature Review Real-Time Vision-Based Learning for Human-Robot Interaction in Social Humanoid Robotics
• The Roasted Tomato Challenge for a Humanoid Robot
• Remotely teleoperating a humanoid robot to perform fine motor tasks with virtual reality

Cloud Robotics

• CR3A: Cloud Robotics Algorithms Allocation Analysis
• Cloud Computing and Robotics for Disaster Management
• ABHIKAHA: Aerial Collision Avoidance in Quadcopter using Cloud Robotics
• The Evolution Of Cloud Robotics: A Survey
• Sliding Autonomy in Cloud Robotics Services for Smart City Applications
• CORE: A Cloud-based Object Recognition Engine for Robotics
• A Software Product Line Approach for Configuring Cloud Robotics Applications
• Cloud robotics and automation: A survey of related work
• ROCHAS: Robotics and Cloud-assisted Healthcare System for Empty Nester

Swarm Robotics

• Evolution of Task Partitioning in Swarm Robotics
• GESwarm: Grammatical Evolution for the Automatic Synthesis of Collective Behaviors in Swarm Robotics
• A Concise Chronological Reassess Of Different Swarm Intelligence Methods With Multi Robotics Approach
• The Swarm/Potential Model: Modeling Robotics Swarms with Measure-valued Recursions Associated to Random Finite Sets
• The TAM: ABSTRACTing complex tasks in swarm robotics research
• Task Allocation in Foraging Robot Swarms: The Role of Information Sharing
• Robotics on the Battlefield Part II
• Implementation Of Load Sharing Using Swarm Robotics
• An Investigation of Environmental Influence on the Benefits of Adaptation Mechanisms in Evolutionary Swarm Robotics

Soft Robotics

• Soft Robotics: The Next Generation of Intelligent Machines
• Soft Robotics: Transferring Theory to Application,” Soft Components for Soft Robots”
• Advances in Soft Computing, Intelligent Robotics and Control
• The BRICS Component Model: A Model-Based Development Paradigm For ComplexRobotics Software Systems
• Soft Mechatronics for Human-Friendly Robotics
• Seminar Soft-Robotics
• Special Issue on Open Source Software-Supported Robotics Research.
• Soft Brain-Machine Interfaces for Assistive Robotics: A Novel Control Approach
• Towards A Robot Hardware ABSTRACT ion Layer (R-HAL) Leveraging the XBot Software Framework

Service Robotics

• Fundamental Theories and Practice in Service Robotics
• Natural Language Processing in Domestic Service Robotics
• Localization and Mapping for Service Robotics Applications
• Designing of Service Robot for Home Automation-Implementation
• Benchmarking Speech Understanding in Service Robotics
• The Cognitive Service Robotics Apartment
• Planning with Task-oriented Knowledge Acquisition for A Service Robot
• Cognitive Robotics
• Meta-Morphogenesis theory as background to Cognitive Robotics and Developmental Cognitive Science
• Experience-based Learning for Bayesian Cognitive Robotics
• Weakly supervised strategies for natural object recognition in robotics
• Robotics-Derived Requirements for the Internet of Things in the 5G Context
• A Comparison of Modern Synthetic Character Design and Cognitive Robotics Architecture with the Human Nervous System
• PREGO: An Action Language for Belief-Based Cognitive Robotics in Continuous Domains
• The Role of Intention in Cognitive Robotics
• On Cognitive Learning Methodologies for Cognitive Robotics
• Relational Enhancement: A Framework for Evaluating and Designing Human-RobotRelationships
• A Fog Robotics Approach to Deep Robot Learning: Application to Object Recognition and Grasp Planning in Surface Decluttering
• Spatial Cognition in Robotics
• IOT Based Gesture Movement Recognize Robot
• Deliberative Systems for Autonomous Robotics: A Brief Comparison Between Action-oriented and Timelines-based Approaches
• Formal Modeling and Verification of Dynamic Reconfiguration of Autonomous RoboticsSystems
• Robotics on its feet: Autonomous Climbing Robots
• Implementation of Autonomous Metal Detection Robot with Image and Message Transmission using Cell Phone
• Toward autonomous architecture: The convergence of digital design, robotics, and the built environment
• Advances in Robotics Automation
• Data-centered Dependencies and Opportunities for Robotics Process Automation in Banking
• On the Combination of Gamification and Crowd Computation in Industrial Automation and Robotics Applications
• Advances in RoboticsAutomation
• Meshworm With Segment-Bending Anchoring for Colonoscopy. IEEE ROBOTICS AND AUTOMATION LETTERS. 2 (3) pp: 1718-1724.
• Recent Advances in Robotics and Automation
• Key Elements Towards Automation and Robotics in Industrialised Building System (IBS)
• Knowledge Building, Innovation Networks, and Robotics in Math Education
• The potential of a robotics summer course On Engineering Education
• Robotics as an Educational Tool: Impact of Lego Mindstorms
• Effective Planning Strategy in Robotics Education: An Embodied Approach
• An innovative approach to School-Work turnover programme with Educational Robotics
• The importance of educational robotics as a precursor of Computational Thinking in early childhood education
• Pedagogical Robotics A way to Experiment and Innovate in Educational Teaching in Morocco
• Learning by Making and Early School Leaving: an Experience with Educational Robotics
• Robotics and Coding: Fostering Student Engagement
• Computational Thinking with Educational Robotics
• New Trends In Education Of Robotics
• Educational robotics as an instrument of formation: a public elementary school case study
• Developmental Situation and Strategy for Engineering Robot Education in China University
• Towards the Humanoid Robot Butler
• YAGI-An Easy and Light-Weighted Action-Programming Language for Education and Research in Artificial Intelligence and Robotics
• Simultaneous Tracking and Reconstruction (STAR) of Objects and its Application in Educational Robotics Laboratories
• The importance and purpose of simulation in robotics
• An Educational Tool to Support Introductory Robotics Courses
• Lollybot: Where Candy, Gaming, and Educational Robotics Collide
• Assessing the Impact of an Autonomous Robotics Competition for STEM Education
• Educational robotics for promoting 21st century skills
• New Era for Educational Robotics: Replacing Teachers with a Robotic System to Teach Alphabet Writing
• Robotics as a Learning Tool for Educational Transformation
• The Herd of Educational Robotic Devices (HERD): Promoting Cooperation in RoboticsEducation
• Robotics in physics education: fostering graphing abilities in kinematics
• Enabling Rapid Prototyping in K-12 Engineering Education with BotSpeak, a UniversalRobotics Programming Language
• Innovating in robotics education with Gazebo simulator and JdeRobot framework
• How to Support Students’ Computational Thinking Skills in Educational Robotics Activities
• Educational Robotics At Lower Secondary School
• Evaluating the impact of robotics in education on pupils’ skills and attitudes
• Imagining, Playing, and Coding with KIBO: Using Robotics to Foster Computational Thinking in Young Children
• How Does a First LEGO League Robotics Program Provide Opportunities for Teaching Children 21st Century Skills
• A Software-Based Robotic Vision Simulator For Use In Teaching Introductory Robotics Courses
• Robotics Practical
• A project-based strategy for teaching robotics using NI’s embedded-FPGA platform
• Teaching a Core CS Concept through Robotics
• Ms. Robot Will Be Teaching You: Robot Lecturers in Four Modes of Automated Remote Instruction
• Robotic Competitions: Teaching Robotics and Real-Time Programming with LEGO Mindstorms
• Visegrad Robotics Workshop-different ideas to teach and popularize robotics
• LEGO® Mindstorms® EV3 Robotics Instructor Guide
• DRAFT: for Automaatiop iv t22 MOKASIT: Multi Camera System for Robotics Monitoring and Teaching
• MOKASIT: Multi Camera System for Robotics Monitoring and Teaching
• Autonomous Robot Design and Build: Novel Hands-on Experience for Undergraduate Students
• Semi-Autonomous Inspection Robot
• Sumo Robot Competition
• Engagement of students with Robotics-Competitions-like projects in a PBL Bsc Engineering course
• Robo Camp K12 Inclusive Outreach Program: A three-step model of Effective Introducing Middle School Students to Computer Programming and Robotics
• The Effectiveness of Robotics Competitions on Students’ Learning of Computer Science
• Engaging with Mathematics: How mathematical art, robotics and other activities are used to engage students with university mathematics and promote
• Design Elements of a Mobile Robotics Course Based on Student Feedback
• Sixth-Grade Students’ Motivation and Development of Proportional Reasoning Skills While Completing Robotics Challenges
• Student Learning of Computational Thinking in A Robotics Curriculum: Transferrable Skills and Relevant Factors
• A Robotics-Focused Instructional Framework for Design-Based Research in Middle School Classrooms
• Transforming a Middle and High School Robotics Curriculum
• Geometric Algebra for Applications in Cybernetics: Image Processing, Neural Networks, Robotics and Integral Transforms
• Experimenting and validating didactical activities in the third year of primary school enhanced by robotics technology

Construction

• Bibliometric analysis on the status quo of robotics in construction
• AtomMap: A Probabilistic Amorphous 3D Map Representation for Robotics and Surface Reconstruction
• Robotic Design and Construction Culture: Ethnography in Osaka University’s Miyazaki Robotics Lab
• Infrastructure Robotics: A Technology Enabler for Lunar In-Situ Resource Utilization, Habitat Construction and Maintenance
• A Planar Robot Design And Construction With Maple
• Robotics and Automations in Construction: Advanced Construction and FutureTechnology
• Why robotics in mining
• Examining Influences on the Evolution of Design Ideas in a First-Year Robotics Project
• Mining Robotics
• TIRAMISU: Technical survey, close-in-detection and disposal mine actions in Humanitarian Demining: challenges for Robotics Systems
• Robotics for Sustainable Agriculture in Aquaponics
• Design and Fabrication of Crop Analysis Agriculture Robot
• Enhance Multi-Disciplinary Experience for Agriculture and Engineering Students with Agriculture Robotics Project
• Work in progress: Robotics mapping of landmine and UXO contaminated areas
• Robot Based Wireless Monitoring and Safety System for Underground Coal Mines using Zigbee Protocol: A Review
• Minesweepers uses robotics’ awesomeness to raise awareness about landminesexplosive remnants of war
• Intelligent Autonomous Farming Robot with Plant Disease Detection using Image Processing
• Auotomatic Pick And Place Robot
• Video Prompting to Teach Robotics and Coding to Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder
• Bilateral Anesthesia Mumps After RobotAssisted Hysterectomy Under General Anesthesia: Two Case Reports
• Future Prospects of Artificial Intelligence in Robotics Software, A healthcare Perspective
• Designing new mechanism in surgical robotics
• Open-Source Research Platforms and System Integration in Modern Surgical Robotics
• Soft Tissue Robotics–The Next Generation
• CORVUS Full-Body Surgical Robotics Research Platform
• OP: Sense, a rapid prototyping research platform for surgical robotics
• Preoperative Planning Simulator with Haptic Feedback for Raven-II Surgical Robotics Platform
• Origins of Surgical Robotics: From Space to the Operating Room
• Accelerometer Based Wireless Gesture Controlled Robot for Medical Assistance using Arduino Lilypad
• The preliminary results of a force feedback control for Sensorized Medical Robotics
• Medical robotics Regulatory, ethical, and legal considerations for increasing levels of autonomy
• Robotics in General Surgery
• Evolution Of Minimally Invasive Surgery: Conventional Laparoscopy Torobotics
• Robust trocar detection and localization during robot-assisted endoscopic surgery
• How can we improve the Training of Laparoscopic Surgery thanks to the Knowledge in Robotics
• Discussion on robot-assisted laparoscopic cystectomy and Ileal neobladder surgery preoperative care
• Robotics in Neurosurgery: Evolution, Current Challenges, and Compromises
• Hybrid Rendering Architecture for Realtime and Photorealistic Simulation of Robot-Assisted Surgery
• Robotics, Image Guidance, and Computer-Assisted Surgery in Otology/Neurotology
• Neuro-robotics model of visual delusions
• Neuro-Robotics
• Robotics in the Rehabilitation of Neurological Conditions
• What if a Robot Could Help Me Care for My Parents
• A Robot to Provide Support in Stigmatizing Patient-Caregiver Relationships
• A New Skeleton Model and the Motion Rhythm Analysis for Human Shoulder Complex Oriented to Rehabilitation Robotics
• Towards Rehabilitation Robotics: Off-The-Shelf BCI Control of Anthropomorphic Robotic Arms
• Rehabilitation Robotics 2013
• Combined Estimation of Friction and Patient Activity in Rehabilitation Robotics
• Brain, Mind and Body: Motion Behaviour Planning, Learning and Control in view of Rehabilitation and Robotics
• Reliable Robotics – Diagnostics
• Robotics for Successful Ageing
• Upper Extremity Robotics Exoskeleton: Application, Structure And Actuation

Defence and Military

• Voice Guided Military Robot for Defence Application
• Design and Control of Defense Robot Based On Virtual Reality
• AI, Robotics and Cyber: How Much will They Change Warfare
• BORDER SECURITY ROBOT
• Brain Controlled Robot for Indian Armed Force
• Autonomous Military Robotics
• Wireless Restrained Military Discoursed Robot
• Bomb Detection And Defusion In Planes By Application Of Robotics
• Impacts Of The Robotics Age On Naval Force Design, Effectiveness, And Acquisition

Space Robotics

• Lego robotics teacher professional learning
• New Planar Air-bearing Microgravity Simulator for Verification of Space Robotics Numerical Simulations and Control Algorithms
• The Artemis Rover as an Example for Model Based Engineering in Space Robotics
• Rearrangement planning using object-centric and robot-centric action spaces
• Model-based Apprenticeship Learning for Robotics in High-dimensional Spaces
• Emergent Roles, Collaboration and Computational Thinking in the Multi-Dimensional Problem Space of Robotics
• Reaction Null Space of a multibody system with applications in robotics

Other Industries

• Robotics in clothes manufacture
• Recent Trends in Robotics and Computer Integrated Manufacturing: An Overview
• Application Of Robotics In Dairy And Food Industries: A Review
• Architecture for theatre robotics
• Human-multi-robot team collaboration for efficent warehouse operation
• A Robot-based Application for Physical Exercise Training
• Application Of Robotics In Oil And Gas Refineries
• Implementation of Robotics in Transmission Line Monitoring
• Intelligent Wireless Fire Extinguishing Robot
• Monitoring and Controlling of Fire Fighthing Robot using IOT
• Robotics An Emerging Technology in Dairy Industry
• Robotics and Law: A Survey
• Increasing ECE Student Excitement through an International Marine Robotics Competition
• Application of Swarm Robotics Systems to Marine Environmental Monitoring

Future of Robotics / Trends

• The future of Robotics Technology
• RoboticsAutomation Are Killing Jobs A Roadmap for the Future is Needed
• The next big thing (s) in robotics
• Robotics in Indian Industry-Future Trends
• The Future of Robot Rescue Simulation Workshop
• PreprintQuantum Robotics: Primer on Current Science and Future Perspectives
• Emergent Trends in Robotics and Intelligent Systems

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70 Innovative Robotics Research Topics: The Eyes of Innovation

Embark on a wild ride into the fascinating world of robotics research, where machines aren’t just gears and wires but partners in our tech-filled future. Imagine a world where robots aren’t just tools; they’re our helpful buddies, making everyday life a bit more awesome.

In the fast-paced gears of tech evolution, robotics research isn’t just a field of study—it’s a ticket to a future that’s downright spectacular. Think about it: a world where robots are our active collaborators, working alongside us in ways we’ve only dreamt of.

So, get ready for an exciting journey as we dive into the heart of “Robotics Research Topics.” Forget about the idea of robots as cold, metallic beings. Instead, envision them as friendly companions, here to assist us in tasks big and small.

In this article, we’re not just talking about topics; we’re unwrapping gifts from the tech universe. Each one reveals a different side of the dynamic and ever-surprising world of robotics research.

Join us on this adventure where machines aren’t just tools; they’re collaborators, and the possibilities are endless. From the gentle touch of soft robotics to robots exploring the cosmos, this is a sneak peek into the tech wonderland awaiting us. Robotics research is where dreams turn into plans, and innovation is the language spoken.

So, buckle up for a rollercoaster ride through fifteen mind-blowing robotics research topics. The future is knocking, and it’s filled with the hum of robotics. Let’s not just explore; let’s get lost in the wonders that await in the mesmerizing world of robotics research.

Table of Contents

Significance of Robotics Research Topics

Why bother with all this fuss about Robotics Research Topics? Well, let’s break it down in simple terms:

Cooking Up Tomorrow’s Solutions

So, we’re not just fooling around with robots; we’re cooking up solutions for the future. Each research topic is like adding a secret ingredient to the recipe of making the world a cooler place. It’s about fixing real-life problems with a dash of futuristic flair.

Being the Tech Trailblazers

We’re not here to follow trends; we’re here to blaze the tech trails. Think of robotics research as a playground where brainy folks dream big and draw the map for a future filled with cool gadgets and gizmos. These topics aren’t just for today; they’re blueprints for the awesomeness of tomorrow.

Making Tech More Human

It’s not just about machines with a metallic heart. We’re aiming to make tech more human-friendly. Take human-robot interaction, for example—it’s like envisioning a world where robots aren’t just gadgets; they’re like your friendly sidekick, making your life better every day.

Mixing Ideas Like a Smoothie

Robotics research isn’t stuck in one boring corner. It’s like a smoothie of ideas—mixing engineering with psychology, coding with creativity. It’s the ultimate mashup where the coolest discoveries happen.

Crafting Our Tomorrow

Most importantly, it’s about crafting our future. Robotics research is like being in a sci-fi movie where dreams turn into reality. The big deal is in creating a world where machines aren’t just tools; they’re our buddies, making life smoother, cooler, and more fun.

So, as we unravel the mysteries of robotics research topics, let’s keep it real—it’s not just geek talk; it’s about making our lives more awesome with every robot we meet. Think of it as building a future where tech isn’t just a thing; it’s a way of making life one big adventure.

Why Robotics Research Topics Rock Our World ?

Why do Robotics Research Topics rock our world? Let’s cut to the chase and explore why these topics are like the rockstars of the tech universe:

Future-Proofing Fun

Robotics Research Topics aren’t just about today; they’re like a backstage pass to the future. They’re the rock anthems of innovation, setting the stage for tech trends that will blow our minds tomorrow.

Geeky Wonders Unveiled

Imagine a concert where each song is a geeky wonder unveiled. These topics are like chart-toppers that unravel the mysteries of robotics, turning the complex into catchy tunes of understanding.

Everyday Solutions on Stage

Forget dull and boring—these topics bring everyday solutions to the stage. It’s like having a rock concert where each song solves a real-world problem, making life smoother and more enjoyable.

Tech Fusion Beats

Robotics Research Topics are the fusion beats of technology. It’s where engineering, coding, and creativity jam together, creating tunes that resonate across disciplines. It’s not just tech; it’s a symphony of ideas.

Crowd-Surfing into Tomorrow

Picture this: the crowd is cheering, the lights are dazzling, and we’re crowd-surfing into tomorrow. These topics take us on a wild ride, where we’re not just spectators but active participants in shaping the future.

Innovation Jams

They’re not just topics; they’re innovation jams. It’s like being at a concert where every beat is a breakthrough, every riff is a revelation. It’s the kind of music that makes the tech world groove.

Tech Legends in the Making

Robotics Research Topics are where tech legends are born. It’s the arena where today’s ideas become tomorrow’s tech legends. We’re not just witnessing; we’re part of the creation of tech history.

So, why do Robotics Research Topics rock our world? Because they’re the pulsating heartbeat of tech innovation, the electrifying tunes of progress, and the VIP passes to a future where every day feels like a front-row seat at the coolest tech concert.

Robotics Research Topics

Check out robotics research topics:-

Mobile Robotics

• Create a pair of robots that explore unknown environments together, like dynamic robot buddies on a discovery mission.
• Develop a drone capable of navigating urban landscapes, avoiding obstacles like a ninja in the sky.
• Design a robot that zips around a café, serving up orders and ensuring customers have their caffeine fix in record time.
• Build a robot that explores the depths, searching for hidden treasures in the underwater world.
• Craft a robot tailored for agriculture, helping farmers by monitoring crops and ensuring they thrive.
• Create a swarm of mini-robots that collaborate like superheroes in a rescue mission, helping each other and saving the day.
• Upgrade the classic Roomba into a smart cleaning maestro, navigating and cleaning homes with finesse.
• Develop a robot fleet for efficient warehouse operations, ensuring packages are swiftly picked, packed, and ready for delivery.
• Engineer a drone that maneuvers through city landscapes, delivering packages with precision and speed.
• Invent a robot that optimizes traffic flow in busy urban areas, making rush hour feel like a breeze.

Soft Robotics

• Craft a soft robotic companion that gives the coziest hugs, bringing a new level of comfort and warmth.
• Design a wearable soft exoskeleton for rehabilitation, helping users recover with gentle support.
• Create a soft robotic snake that can wriggle its way through tight spaces for exploration missions.
• Invent a soft robot that mimics raindrops, collecting water in a gentle and eco-friendly manner.
• Develop a soft robotic hand that adapts to the shape of objects, providing a delicate yet firm grip.
• Build a soft robotic teddy bear that provides companionship and comfort, especially for those in need.
• Create a soft robotic glove that gives therapeutic massages, making relaxation an art form.
• Invent a textile that transforms its properties, adapting to temperature changes or user preferences.
• Craft a soft robotic ball that rolls around, offering playful interactions and entertainment.
• Design a robotic pillow that adjusts its shape and firmness for the perfect night’s sleep.

Medical Robotics

• Create a robot that assists surgeons during complex surgeries, orchestrating precision like a maestro.
• Develop a teleoperated robot for remote medical assistance, providing support in regions with limited healthcare access.
• Design a robot that guides users through rehabilitation exercises, making workouts feel like fun.
• Craft a robotic prosthetic limb with customizable features, enhancing mobility and comfort.
• Build a robot companion for the elderly, offering assistance and companionship in daily activities.
• Create a small robotic endoscope for precise and minimally invasive medical procedures.
• Develop a robot equipped with AI to analyze health data and provide personalized health advice.
• Invent a robot that dispenses medication with reminders, ensuring users never miss a dose.
• Design a robot that customizes the appearance of prosthetic limbs, adding a touch of personal style.
• Engineer a wearable robotic exoskeleton for upper limb support during various activities.

Humanoid Robotics

• Develop a humanoid robot that learns and plays with children, adapting to their preferences and fostering creativity.
• Create a humanoid robot that recognizes and expresses emotions, connecting with users on a personal level.
• Build a humanoid robot to assist teachers in classrooms, engaging students and making learning interactive.
• Design humanoid robots capable of playing soccer autonomously, showcasing teamwork and strategic brilliance.
• Create a humanoid robot programmed to perform elegant ballet movements, bringing artistry to life.
• Develop a humanoid robot skilled in various household chores, making daily tasks a breeze.
• Build a humanoid robot equipped with AI to serve as a receptionist, welcoming and assisting visitors.
• Design a humanoid robot that helps users learn new languages through interactive conversations.
• Create a humanoid robot capable of collaborative drawing sessions, unlocking artistic expressions.
• Develop a humanoid robot to assist individuals, especially children, in developing social skills through interactive scenarios.

Artificial Intelligence in Robotics

• Implement a vision-based system for robots, enabling them to see and understand their surroundings with eagle-like precision.
• Apply reinforcement learning techniques to teach robots new tricks, turning them into brainy problem solvers.
• Develop algorithms for robotic decision-making in unpredictable environments, making choices like a savvy problem-solver.
• Design an AI model that explains its decisions transparently, helping users understand the reasoning behind each action.
• Implement AI-driven semantic mapping for robots, allowing them to create detailed maps with a keen sense of surroundings.
• Integrate natural language processing into robots for smooth communication, making them fluent in human talk.
• Enhance robots’ object manipulation skills using advanced AI-based recognition, turning them into object-handling geniuses.
• Apply deep learning algorithms to enable robots to navigate autonomously through complex environments, like intrepid explorers.
• Implement learning from demonstration techniques using AI, allowing robots to soak up new skills by watching and mimicking.
• Develop AI planning algorithms that consider human presence and preferences, making robots dance through tasks with human-like harmony.

Swarm Robotics

• Create a swarm of robots that collaboratively work together to extinguish fires in challenging environments.
• Develop a swarm of agile robots for efficient search and rescue operations, navigating through complex terrains.
• Design a swarm of robots to monitor and protect crops in large agricultural fields, ensuring optimal growth.
• Implement a swarm of robots to manage and optimize traffic flow in urban areas, making rush hours smoother.
• Build a swarm of underwater robots for environmental monitoring, protecting marine ecosystems.
• Create a swarm of robots for collaborative construction tasks, working together to build structures with precision.
• Develop a swarm of robots for pest control in agricultural settings, targeting pests while minimizing environmental impact.
• Implement a surveillance system using a swarm of robots to monitor and secure large areas, ensuring safety.
• Design a swarm of robots specialized in disaster recovery tasks, aiding in clearing debris and providing assistance.
• Develop algorithms for dynamic formation control in a swarm of robots, enabling them to adapt their shapes for different tasks.

Cognitive Robotics

• Create a robot with symbolic reasoning abilities, solving problems using abstract symbols and logic.
• Develop a robot with enhanced memory, capable of remembering past experiences and learning from them.
• Implement algorithms for ethical decision-making in robots, considering moral principles and societal norms.
• Build a cognitive robot that can generate and participate in interactive storytelling experiences with users.
• Research methods for enabling human-robot collaboration with a shared memory, storing and retrieving information together.
• Develop algorithms for commonsense reasoning in robots, allowing them to make informed decisions in diverse scenarios.
• Create a cognitive robot capable of generating artistic creations, demonstrating creativity and aesthetic understanding.
• Design a cognitive robotic personal assistant that understands user preferences and adapts to changing needs.
• Implement mechanisms for robots to learn from feedback provided by humans, improving their performance over time.
• Integrate affective computing capabilities into robots, allowing them to recognize and respond to human emotions.

What are the 5 major fields of robotics?

In the exciting realm of robotics, we delve into five major fields that bring our mechanical friends to life:

1. Mobile Robotics

• Mission: Creating robots that navigate the world on their own.
• Adventure Zones: Path planning, obstacle dodging, and crafting mental maps .

2. Manipulation Robotics

• Quest: Unleashing robots with a talent for object manipulation.
• Skills Unveiled: Grasping secrets, mastering dexterity, dancing with force, and feeling with finesse.

3. Human-Robot Interaction (HRI)

• Journey: Exploring the dance between robots and humans.
• Moves to Master: Conversing in robot lingo, decoding human gestures, and embracing social vibes.

4. Perception Robotics

• Expedition: Equipping robots with super-senses to understand their surroundings.
• Superpowers Unleashed: Spotting objects, reading scenes like novels, navigating spaces, and learning from their experiences.

5. Cognitive Robotics

• Odyssey: Crafting robots that think, learn, and decide like humans.
• Mental Gymnastics: Navigating the realms of artificial intelligence, flexing machine learning muscles, and diving into the deep pools of cognitive science.

These fields are not solo adventurers; they dance, share, and evolve together, making the world of robotics a dynamic, ever-surprising playground where innovation knows no bounds. Welcome to the unfolding saga of robotic wonders!

And there you have it – the thrilling journey through Robotics Research Topics! As we wrap up this exploration, it’s like closing the pages of a sci-fi novel where robots aren’t just machines; they’re our partners in innovation.

Imagine a world where drones gracefully soar through cityscapes, soft robots give the coziest hugs, and humanoid buddies dance ballet – that’s the future these topics paint. It’s not just about circuits and algorithms; it’s about creating robotic wonders that feel like they’re straight out of a tech fairy tale.

From the bustling streets managed by traffic-savvy bots to the quiet depths where underwater explorers seek hidden treasures, every topic sparks a sense of wonder. It’s like stepping into a world where robots aren’t just helpers; they’re the heroes of our technological saga.

So, as we bid farewell to this robot-filled adventure, let’s carry the excitement of what’s to come. The future is unfolding, and it looks pretty darn cool with these robotic marvels leading the way. Until next time, keep dreaming, keep innovating, and who knows – your next big idea might just be the missing piece in the puzzle of tomorrow’s robotics magic!

Frequently Asked Questions

How does robotics impact daily life beyond industries.

Robotics permeates daily life through smart devices, home automation, and even entertainment, making tasks more efficient and enjoyable.

What are some challenges in developing autonomous vehicles?

Challenges include creating robust AI systems for complex decision-making, ensuring safety measures, and addressing legal and regulatory frameworks.

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A Decade Retrospective of Medical Robotics Research from 2010–2020

Pierre e. dupont.

1 Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.

Bradley Nelson

2 Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Systems, Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering, ETH Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland.

Michael Goldfarb

3 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235, USA.

Blake Hannaford

4 Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.

Arianna Menciassi

5 The Biorobotics Institute, Scuola Superiore Sant’anna, Pisa, Italia.

Marcia K. O’Malley

6 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005, USA.

Nabil Simaan

7 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235, USA.

Pietro Valdastri

8 Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK.

Guang-Zhong Yang

9 Medical Robotics Institute, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, CN.

Author contributions : All authors assisted in writing and editing the paper.

Associated Data

All data presented in the paper can be reproduced as described in the Materials and Methods section.

Robotics is a forward-looking discipline. Attention is focused on identifying the next grand challenges. In an applied field like medical robotics, however, it is important to plan the future based on a clear understanding of what the research community has recently accomplished and where this work stands with respect to clinical needs and commercialization. This Review article identifies and analyzes the eight key research themes in medical robotics over the last decade. These thematic areas were identified using search criteria that identified the most highly cited papers of the decade. Our goal for this Review article is to provide an accessible way for readers to quickly appreciate some of the most exciting accomplishments in medical robotics over the last decade, for this reason we have focused only on a small number of seminal papers in each thematic area. We hope that this article serves to foster an entrepreneurial spirit in researchers to reduce the widening gap between research and translation.

One-Sentence Summary:

Eighty percent of medical robotics papers have been published in the last decade – what has been accomplished?

INTRODUCTION

Just over three decades ago the first roboticists began to explore the use of robot manipulators for performing surgical procedures. Two decades ago, the first commercial systems were installed in hospitals. In the past decade, the field of medical robotics has gained momentum, and thousands of robotic surgical systems are now installed in clinics around the world, and many millions of procedures have been performed. As the acceptance of surgical robots by our healthcare systems has become clear, robotics researchers have increasingly focused their attention on what the next generation of medical robots might look like. Their attention is not limited to surgical robots, and other areas of medicine are also being investigated including robots to perform physical rehabilitation, telepresence robots for patient interaction with off-site healthcare workers, pharmacy automation, robots for disinfecting clinics, and more.

Medical robots were first developed to allow surgeons to operate remotely and / or with improved precision on their patients, and the history of the field is well documented in the literature ( 1 – 3 ). The earliest efforts can be traced back to applications in neurosurgery ( 4 ) and orthopaedic surgery ( 5 ). The first truly long-distance telesurgery was a transatlantic cholecystectomy performed twenty years ago ( 6 ). While early progress in the field was somewhat unsteady, as is to be expected with the introduction of any radically new technology, medical robotics has reached a level of maturity that has encouraged the healthcare industry to make substantial investments in development activities.

Researchers, however, generally look farther into the future and beyond commercial development activities. As we consider some of the key research activities in the past decade, we obtain a glimpse of where medical robotics will head in the coming decades. This article focuses on the last ten years and provides a retrospective assessment of the major accomplishments in medical robotics. We employ an inclusive definition for what constitutes a medical robot which is intended to cover all material that would be appropriate for inclusion in a major robotics research journal or conference. This encompasses single-and multi-degree-of-freedom motorized systems with motions that may be pre-programmed, joystick-prescribed, autonomous or some combination of the three. We define medical robotics research as the creation of new robots and robotic technologies for medical interventions. A large body of medical journal papers devoted to the evaluation of existing medical robots has also been published over the last decade. Since these robots largely represent technologies developed during prior decades, they are not discussed here.

In this paper, our goal was to identify the major research themes or “hot topics” in medical robotics over the decade and to summarize the seminal research papers that concisely highlight these themes.

HOT TOPICS OF THE DECADE

We identified eight hot topics by searching Web of Science for the most highly cited papers on medical robotics published in 2010–2020 ( Table 1 and Fig. 1 ). These hot topics can be related to specific clinical applications (e.g. topic 1, robotic laparoscopy), or to enabling technologies that find broad applications in medicine (e.g. topic 7, soft robotics).

Starting at 8 o’clock and proceeding clockwise: Laparoscopic robots are the success story of medical robotics with applications including radical prostatectomy, radical cystectomy for bladder cancer, rectal cancer resection and hysterectomy. Continuum robots are robotic versions of manual medical instruments including catheters, bronchoscopes, uteroscopes and colonoscopes. Non-laparoscopic robots have been developed for varying applications including electrode implantation in the brain and microsurgery inside the eye. Soft robots have been used, e.g., to create soft sleeves to assist heart contraction and for hand rehabilitation of daily living tasks. Assistive wearable robots are used to augment or replace arm and leg motion in the cases of motion impairment or amputation. Capsule robots are pill-sized devices that are swallowed for endoscopic diagnosis and treatment of the alimentary canal. Therapeutic rehabilitation robots assist patients with neurological injuries in performing repetitive movements to relearn tasks such as walking and grasping. Magnetic actuation enables the wireless generation of forces and torques inside the body to actuate an untethered robot or to orient the tip of a catheter.

Hot topics of the decade.

To illustrate how the number of publications in medical robotics has evolved over time, the total number of publications for engineering and medical journals is plotted in Fig. 2 . The total number of publications for all but one of the hot topics is also reported in Figs. 2 – 3 . (Total publications for non-laparoscopic robots for minimally invasive surgery are not reported since satisfactory search criteria could not be identified.) Note that the vertical scales for Figs. 2 and ​ and3 3 differ by an order of magnitude.

Curves report total numbers along with subsets corresponding to hot topics of laparoscopic robots, therapeutic rehabilitation robots and assistive wearable robots. Note that 2020 publications are potentially reduced by COVID-19 shutdowns. (Data from Web of Science: see Materials and Methods ).

Curves report paper numbers for hot topics of soft robotics, magnetic actuation, capsule robots and continuum robots. Note that 2020 publications are potentially reduced by COVID-19 shutdowns. (Data from Web of Science: see Materials and Methods ).

From Fig. 2 , the number of publications on medical robotics in engineering and medical journals has grown exponentially from a total of 6 in 1990 to over 3500 in 2020. Medical journal papers are dominated by publications on laparoscopic robots (60–70% of total) with over 1300 published in 2020 owing to the success of Intuitive Surgical’s da Vinci robot. In line with the maturity of this technology, engineering papers on laparoscopy, in contrast, peak at 126 in 2019.

Engineering papers are dominated by therapeutic rehabilitation and assistive wearable robots. This pair of hot topics represents about 80% of the engineering-journal medical robotics papers published over the last decade. While these two topics entered the decade with an equal number of papers, therapeutic rehabilitation has subsequently notably outpaced assistive wearable robots. It is interesting to note, however, that the number of medical papers on these topics is less than 25% of the number of engineering papers. This is likely due to the fact that medical journal papers often report the results of clinical trials, which are much more costly and time consuming to perform than engineering studies.

The technologies plotted in Fig. 3 are less mature than those of Fig. 2 and consequently are the subject of fewer engineering and medical journal papers. Of these, magnetic actuation is the most mature and exponential growth in both engineering and medical papers can be observed with medical papers lagging engineering papers. Continued growth of this topic to some extent hinges on whether or not clinically viable applications of microrobots can be developed.

The plots of soft robotics papers show this topic to be early in its development cycle. It should be noted, however, that we excluded the large numbers of fundamental articles on soft actuators and sensors appearing in materials journals that suggest medical robotics as a potential application. The mapping of these broadly applicable technologies into medical robots over the next decade will likely produce the exponential growth suggested by the curves in Fig. 3 .

Continuum robot technology is unusual in that manually actuated continuum-style medical instruments existed long before 1990. While new continuum robot architectures have been developed in recent decades, the critical advance to make these devices robotic was not one of mechanical design, but rather of mathematical modeling. This work is largely complete as described in its hot topic section below and future growth in engineering papers will likely describe clinical robot designs incorporating continuum components. Medical papers on this topic have been slow to take off because commercial efforts, e.g., Hansen Medical’s cardiac ablation catheters have been unsuccessful. New clinical systems, such as Intuitive Surgical’s Ion robot and Auris Healthcare’s Monarch platform (the latter based on Hansen Medical’s robotic catheter technology), both for performing distal lung biopsies, will lead to increasing numbers of medical papers in the coming decade.

Capsule robots are the least mature and perhaps the most specialized of the hot topic technologies. Their capabilities, as reported in the publications of Fig. 3 , have improved substantially over the last decade. This technology may be at an inflection point. If the capabilities of these robots can be proven sufficient to displace current clinical approaches, interest in this topic will accelerate enabling its further development. There is some evidence that this is the case for soft capsule robots under magnetic actuation, an approach that has potential for noninvasive diagnosis and therapy inside the digestive tract.

The following sections describe each hot topic, provide a summary of the most important accomplishments over the decade and include insights on current and future research directions. As represented in Figs. 2 and ​ and3, 3 , many papers have been published on each topic. With the goal of highlighting a focused reading list for readers who wish to most rapidly come up to speed on a topic only a few highly cited papers are provided as references. The bibliography at the end of the paper is divided into sections by hot topic. Each entry includes the number of times the paper was cited by other papers (Web of Science) and by patents ( Lens.org ) at the time this paper went to press.

Robotic Laparoscopy

Laparoscopic robotics is perhaps the most mature and certainly the most commercially successful subfield of medical robotics. Over the last decade, progress has been made on three fronts: clinical, commercial and academic. A rapidly growing majority of research in laparoscopic robots has been clinical. Many studies aim to compare the efficacy of the robot to standard (usually manual laparoscopic) techniques for different surgical procedures. Examples include studies on radical prostatectomy, radical cystectomy for bladder cancer, rectal cancer resection and hysterectomy.

Commercially, the decade has seen continuing evolutionary development of the da Vinci robot made by Intuitive Surgical. This system now offers the ability to mount endoscopic and laparoscopic instruments on any arm (earlier models had a specialized endoscope arm), semi-automated arm and patient cart positioning and improvements to the instrument coupling. Over the last decade, at least 50 different instruments have been released for the da Vinci. Furthermore, the da Vinci’s use has grown rapidly with over 1.2 million procedures completed in 2019 according to their annual report. At the same time, the initial patents which had given Intuitive Surgical a monopoly position in robotic laparoscopic surgery began to expire during the last decade resulting in several large medical device companies launching initiatives to develop their own robots which are currently being introduced.

Academic research progressed on two fronts over the decade. The first has used laparoscopic robots as a platform for developing enhanced capabilities. Major subtopics on this front include the introduction of open platform robots for research use, initial efforts into the development of surgical automation and continuing work on the integration of force sensing into laparoscopic tools. The second research direction in laparoscopic surgery has considered new robot architectures that might reduce procedural invasiveness. Single port systems have received the most attention, including a recently introduced commercial system from Intuitive, the da Vinci SP. There has also been some research into robots that are inserted into the body and then detached mechanically, powered by tethers or external fields. Each of these topics is described below.

Open platform laparoscopic robots.

New robot capabilities cannot typically be developed and tested in isolation. For results to be reproducible and comparable, it is important for such research to be performed on high-performance test platforms that are well characterized. It is a huge and duplicative undertaking for an individual research group to develop their own laparoscopic robot system. Recognizing this need, two groups introduced open-source robot platforms for the research community. The first was the Raven II, a non-clinical robotic surgery research platform which compactly supports two to four laparoscopic instruments (including daVinci SI instruments) in a work volume typical of abdominal laparoscopic surgery ( 7 ). Intuitive Surgical collaborated with several academic researchers to then introduce a research platform consisting of refurbished da Vinci Si patient and surgeon-side mechanisms, steroscopic display hardware with a custom electronics and a control package, the da Vinci Research Kit or dVRK ( 8 ). Neither system is certified for human use, but both have performed animal procedures with IACUC approval.

Surgical automation.

Laparoscopic robot systems are used to perform a wide range of standard surgical tasks. They also inherently provide complete actuation of instrument motion as well as high quality video and rich data sets describing instrument motion. As commercial offerings such as da Vinci have attained excellent levels of user-interface transparency, research focus has turned to use cases which might require supplementing teleoperated robotic surgery with automated assistance. Potential benefits of safe and effective automation of sub-tasks of a surgery include increased precision, fusion of non-visual or haptic sensor information, adherence to precise pre-operative plans, and amelioration of repetitive stress injury and other ergonomic hazards to surgeons. Barriers to safe and effective automation of selected surgical tasks are pronounced and include accurate 3D reconstruction of the (changing) surgical field, repeatable and accurate control of elongated and flexible endoscopic mechanisms, accurate situational awareness by the agent of the overall operation’s state, robustness of task plans to sensor errors, unusual tissue properties, and emergency events. Work on this topic extends from developing 2D and 3D computer vision techniques to detect and localize robotic tools ( 9 ) to learning from observation of surgical subtasks( 10 ). It also includes semi-automated in vivo ( 11 ) suturing although the technologies in these studies required simplified visual environments. The development of autonomy remains a very active research frontier.

Navigation, Intraoperative Imaging and Visualization.

While surgical automation is often regarded as a novelty, some of the earliest medical robots, e.g., for milling cavities in bone in joint replacement, offered a level of automation comparable to machine tools [5]. Pre-operative CT or MR images were used to generate operative plans that were carried out under computer control while the clinician provided general supervision. As the field began to focus on soft tissue surgery, preprogrammed motions gave way to clinician-guided teleoperative control. Despite the change in control paradigm, the incorporation of image guidance, using either intraoperative or preoperative data, has become increasingly important for all types of robotic surgery – not just in laparoscopy. These techniques enable assessment of tissue perfusion as well as visualization of anatomical details below the tissue surface, minimizing the risks of damaging underlying vital structures such as nerves and blood vessels. For example, Intuitive Surgical has integrated near-infrared imaging with indocyanine green (ICG), allowing real-time assessment of microcirculation in vivo. ICG is a tricarbocyanine compound that is water-soluble and can be injected intravenously. This “firefly” technology absorbs near-infrared light and when injected remains intravascular and can be used to assess blood perfusion, allowing, for example, the detection of decreased blood perfusion at an intestinal anastomosis that may result in anastomotic dehiscence ( 12 ).

Contact force sensing and control.

Both manual and laparoscopic instruments remove the surgeon’s hand from tissues being manipulated and thus distort or completely suppress force and tactile sensations. To preserve safe handling of tissues in tasks such as retraction, interaction forces must be sensed and controlled. Furthermore, tactile sensing would allow the recreation of tissue palpation at the manipulator during robotic surgery. Technical barriers to such sensing include the small (5–10mm diameter) size of laparoscopic instruments, heat and corrosiveness of sterilization measures in re-usable instruments and cost in single-use instruments as well as the mechanics imposed between sensing point and the tool-tissue contact point or area. Progress to address this limitation has been made through the use of clever mechanical designs to separate pulling and grasping forces ( 13 ) as well as the introduction of new sensing technologies such as capacitive compliant polymer load cells ( 14 ).

Single Port Laparoscopic Robots.

As much as laparoscopic surgical approaches reduced invasiveness compared to standard open procedures, a typical manual or robotic procedure requires three or four incisions for individual instruments and the visualization endoscope. Combining multiple instrument controls, drives, and endoscopic visualization into a single access port require increased mechanical complexity and density. Notable innovative single-port prototypes include ( 15 , 16 ).

Detached surgical robots.

The classic laparoscopic paradigm involves elongated instruments each inserted at a pivot point in the abdominal wall through a port/trocar. This geometry fundamentally constrains the motion by which a surgeon can approach the surgical task. Research to break this constraint faces the challenges of implementing all actuation and sensing inside the body itself, supplying suitable power and communication, and safe deployment and retrieval of an independently deployed robot from the surgical site. Prototypes demonstrating removal of the trocar-pivot constraint include endoscopes and robotic instruments inserted through a port and then attached to the abdominal wall using either magnetic forces ( 17 ) or a needle-sized puncture which is also used for power transmission ( 18 ).

Robots supporting laparoscopic surgery are the most advanced in terms of application to medicine with over 5 million people treated suggesting rapid momentum heading into the next decade. This volume allows medical innovations and the proliferation of new instruments which is expected to continue. New sensors, and better estimation and modeling data and algorithms will allow precise control of force. Gradual introduction of automation to support laparoscopic and other robotic surgeons will allow seamless integration of novel imaging and treatment modes increasing the surgeon’s role as a supervisor and monitor of advanced surgical instruments.

The most important advancements in laparoscopic robotics will be those with the most direct patient benefits including better treatment of tumor margins with less need to resect healthy tissue, detection and reduction of rare surgical errors, and reducing the trauma and risk of infection from surgical procedures.

Non-laparoscopic procedure-specific robots

Inspired by the success of the da Vinci robot for laparoscopic procedures, the past decade has also witnessed surgeons and engineers exploring new robotic solutions for non-laparoscopic procedures. Key areas of focus have included endoluminal and natural orifice interventions as well as robots for microsurgery.

Endoluminal and Natural Orifice Surgery.

Of the nascent applications of surgical robots explored in the past decade, we note works on endoluminal and endoscopic robots seeking to further reduce morbidity by eliminating the need for skin incisions to access internal anatomy and by offering solutions allowing for deeper access along tortuous anatomical passages. Shang et al. ( 19 ) presented a highly articulated endoscopic platform for endoluminal surgery and demonstrated peritoneal cavity and trans-vaginal access. Burgner et al. explored the potential use of concentric tube robots for transnasal pituitary gland surgery ( 20 ). Rivera-serrano et al. ( 21 ) presented the use of highly articulated robotic probe (HARP) for transoral access and delivery of manual tools.

New commercial systems focused on steerable catheters for natural orifice minimally invasive biopsy also have recently been launched. Perhaps the most notable of these systems are the Ion ® system by Intuitive Surgical and the Monarch ® system by Auris Healthcare. The Ion and Monarch systems employ dexterous catheter articulation to enable peripheral lung biopsy that would otherwise be very difficult to achieve safely. These systems leverage previously developed modeling and design technology of tendon-actuated continuum robots.

Micro-surgery.

Retinal micro-surgery poses unique challenges that exceed the capabilities of existing manual surgical systems. Researchers have taken three approaches to addressing these challenges. They have developed hand-held robots with tremor filtering. They have also created hand-on-hand (cooperative) robots. As a third approach, they have developed telemanipulated robots with a remote center of motion. Hand-held robots with active tremor cancellation have been refined for retinal surgery as in ( 22 ). In this approach, the surgeon-produced tremor in the handheld tool is sensed and a robot at the tip of the tool moves to oppose it such that most of the tremor is cancelled out.

Cooperative robots provide an alternative approach to tremor suppression while also offering additional capabilities. These robots hold the surgical tool together with the surgeon and operate under admittance control – producing motions based on the forces applied by the surgeon to the tool. The robot’s motions can be more precise than what the clinician can perform freehand and are also tremor free. Furthermore, assistive control laws, based on active constraints/virtual fixtures, can be implemented to help the surgeon follow a desired path, avoid dangerous tool excursions and to provide physiological relief from having to hold the surgical tool for extended periods of time. This approach has been applied to vitreoretinal microsurgery ( 23 ). It also being commercialized for tool stabilization in the upper airway where the length of needle drivers and graspers due to the trans-oral access makes it challenging to achieve precision manipulation (Galen Robotics, Inc.). The system has also been tested for applications involving use of image-guided barrier virtual fixtures for safe bone deburring during mastoidectomy where the risk of damaging the facial nerve is mitigated by the image-guided robotic system.

A third approach to robotic microsurgery is to use teleoperation. In this approach, the clinician does not need to hold the tool at all, but rather controls the robotic tool through an input device. This technology provides all of the advantages of cooperative robots with the addition of motion scaling and the potential for reduced inertial and frictional effects. Such a system for intraocular surgery has undergone first in human testing ( 24 ).

What the future holds:

There are several exciting developments that will enable a new wave of innovation of procedure-specific robotic platforms. In the past decade, we have seen some works in the area of electrode array steering and insertion for cochlear implants. These examples point to the potential of harnessing soft robotics and possibly magnetic actuation for creating new platforms for deep navigation. We also have seen some works on robotic systems that combine manipulation and sensing/diagnostics and imaging. We believe that there is still a need for solutions enabling in-vivo sensing and use of in-vivo sensing for improving surgeon performance. Systems that can use intraoperative sensing with adaptive assistive behaviors (virtual fixtures or shared control) will also allow surgeons to achieve rapid clinical deployability and improved perception and performance.

Assistive wearable robotics

Assistive wearable robotics focuses on the design and control of wearable robotic devices intended to improve the mobility or functionality of individuals with musculoskeletal or neuromuscular impairment. Areas of contribution in this field include the development of robotic limbs (also called powered prostheses) for individuals with upper and lower extremity amputation, and the development of exoskeletons (also called powered orthoses) for individuals with neuromuscular impairment, such as those with spinal cord injury, stroke, multiple sclerosis, or cerebral palsy. Although the field has historic roots dating at least to the early 1960s (see, for example, the Proceedings of the International Symposium on External Control of Human Extremities, 1963), the decade between 2010 and 2020 saw the fully-realized emergence of it.

Although an enumeration of research in the field is beyond the scope of this short summary, three major categories of research include: 1) powered lower limb prostheses; 2) neurally-controlled upper limb prostheses; and 3) lower limb exoskeletons. In the area of lower limb prosthetics, the state-of-the-art prior to (circa) 2010 were energetically-passive devices. The past decade saw the introduction of power into prosthetic knee and ankle joints. Since powered devices have volition, new control methods are required that ensure coordination between human and device. Approaches to doing so include piecewise passive impedance control, such as that described in ( 25 ) which provides assurances of locally passive behavior, and phase variable control, such as that described in ( 26 ), which supplants finite-state structures with a uniform control policy. Further, since powered devices substantially increased the range of activity-specific behaviors of such devices, methods of activity recognition are required to determine a current activity state, and intent to change activity state. Pattern recognition structures consisting of data reduction and classification methods were established, in which a given movement activity is inferred in real-time based on patterns of movement, such as the methods described by ( 27 ).

Unlike lower limb devices, the state-of-the-art prior to 2010 in upper limb prosthetics was powered (i.e., myoelectric prostheses). However, these devices typically employed single degree-of-freedom (DOF) hands and sequential myoelectric control. The past decade has seen the emergence of several multi-grasp hands and the development of corresponding multigrasp and/or multi-DOF hand and arm control methods. Such control methods include EMG-based pattern recognition approaches, in which multi-channel EMG is used as input to a pattern classifier, which in turn selects a corresponding desired grasp posture or arm movement, and subsequently executes the corresponding coordinated hand and/or arm movement ( 28 ). The decade also saw the use of implanted electrodes used for the efferent motor control of a multi-grasp arm prosthesis ( 29 ), and importantly, to provide meaningful neural sensory feedback corresponding to a hand prosthesis, such as the impressive work reported by ( 30 ) and ( 31 ).

Scholarly research and development in the area of lower limb exoskeletons (LLEs) over the decade has seen dramatic growth, particularly research associated with developing best practices for design and control of such systems, which varies depending on impairment and objective. Efforts describing exoskeletal designs emerged early in the decade, including methods of movement intent and control. A method of user intent that has gained widespread popularity is the use of body posture, as measured via IMUs, to infer intent to walk (or perform a different activity) ( 32 ). In addition to exoskeletons, soft “exosuits” were introduced during the decade ( 33 ). (See also the section Soft Robotics for Medicine .) Relative to exoskeletons that employ rigid links, soft exosuits employ low-modulus materials, often along with tendon actuation, to transmit movement assistance without imposing substantial movement constraint along non-actuated DOFs. Although methods for LLE control for non-ambulatory individuals became established during the decade, e.g., ( 32 ), the field has yet to fully establish corresponding best practices for providing gait assistance for poorly ambulatory individuals. In the case of non-ambulatory individuals, no joint-level cooperative control is required between human and machine, while assisting a user capable of movement generally entails a high degree of joint-level coordination between device and human. Presumably the field will, in the coming decade, establish methods for assisting poorly-ambulatory individuals without jeopardizing the user’s agency or ability to maintain balance, particularly in the absence of a stability aid, with the aspirational objective of also improving balance.

Therapeutic rehabilitation Robots

While assistive exoskeletons and prosthetic limbs are intended to replace lost function, rehabilitation robots are designed to deliver repetitive movement therapy to the limbs following neurological injuries, most commonly stroke and spinal cord injury, so that the individual’s capabilities are restored. These robotic devices enable the execution of reaching, grasping, walking, and ankle movements in a manner that induces or facilitates neuroplasticity, which can result in recovery of range of motion and movement coordination. When these gains are realized, the patient experiences restored limb function and, in some cases, is able to provide self-care, live independently, and even return to the workforce following their injury without the support of the robotic device.

Some rehabilitation robots take the form of exoskeletons that fit around the leg, arm, or hand, while others are end-effector type robots that interface with the human body through a handle or foot platform. Devices target either lower limbs, with the primary objective being the restoration of mobility, or the upper limb, with the objective being the restoration of dexterity. The robot becomes a reliable tool for the physical therapist, providing precise and repeatable movement support to the patient with a level of intensity that can be modulated either through variable resistance, assistance, or number of repetitions. Integrating robotic devices in a rehabilitation regimen can reduce personnel costs, minimize work-related injuries, and improve the consistency by which training is delivered. Robots for rehabilitation can serve both as the means to deliver therapy and as a tool for assessment, since on-board sensors can measure features of movements over the course of the therapeutic intervention, providing a fine-grained view of the progress in movement capability that traditional clinical assessment scales, which are coarse and focused on functional ability, fail to capture.

Since the introduction of rehabilitation robots in the early 1990s as a means to provide precise, repetitive movement therapy, there have been important advances made in their design, fabrication, control, and clinical translation. In the decade prior to 2010, the major research accomplishments included the clinical assessment and commercialization of the first generation of robotic devices developed for neurorehabilitation, including treadmill-based exoskeletons for gait rehabilitation, such as the Lokomat, and end-effector type robots for upper limb rehabilitation, such as the InMotionARM robot. Since these initial developments, in the early 2000s, researchers began to develop new exoskeleton-type robots for the upper limb that could target specific joint movements distal to elbow and shoulder, while lower-limb exoskeletons that could facilitate over ground walking were introduced. This decade saw foundational work in the development of control algorithms that were designed to enable better coordination of movement between robot and patient.

During the decade 2010–2020, rehabilitation robotics research was primarily focused on four areas. The first was novel device design, increasingly of the exoskeleton form and focused on the distal joints of the upper limb and incorporating compliance and soft materials for both actuation and structure. The second was the development of new control algorithms to modulate the interaction between human and robot to elicit maximum participation from the human. The third was the creation of methods of intent detection to infer and support the patient’s desired movements, rather than prescribed or preprogrammed trajectories. The fourth was the expanded use of robotic devices for objective and quantitative assessment of neurorecovery, not just the delivery of therapy.

In the last ten years, researchers have increasingly focused on the design of rehabilitation robots for the hand and wrist, since the ability to self-feed, groom, and care necessitates recovery of hand function and dexterity. In contrast to the periodic nature of walking, upper limb and hand movements involve dozens of degrees-of-freedom, leading to complex kinematic designs of rigid arm and hand exoskeletons and tendon or cable-based actuation schemes that attempt to reduce device weight and inertia by remotely locating the actuators ( 34 ). Some groups have embraced soft robotic technologies for glove-based designs that focus on functional grasps, using pneumatic actuation that may even facilitate home-based rehabilitation ( 35 ).

There have been impressive advances in control methods for rehabilitation robots in the past decade, predominantly those that facilitate cooperation between robot and patient. Increasingly advanced methods to estimate the capability of the patient to initiate or execute reaching movements or gait trajectories have been proposed, which are coupled to adaptive control schemes for the robotic device to automatically adjust the amount of robot support on the fly, maximizing the patient’s contribution to movement execution (see ( 36 ) for an example in upper limb rehabilitation, and ( 37 ) for lower limb rehabilitation). This strategy is known to promote neuroplasticity, which is critical to recovery of movement coordination ( 38 )

Patient engagement, both cognitive and physical, is another factor known to promote neuroplasticity during rehabilitation ( 39 ). In the past decade, researchers have developed new methods to detect movement intent from patients using surface electromyography (EMG) to measure electrical activity of the muscles themselves, or electroencephalography (EEG) to infer intent from changes in the electrical potentials recorded from the surface of the scalp. Clinical evaluation of these techniques is in the early stages, though some initial findings show that outcomes for EEG-based intent detection are comparable to robotic therapy without intent detection (see, for example,( 40 )). While this may at first seem to be a disappointing outcome, the number of movement repetitions achieved in a single therapy session using this technology is substantially lower than robotic rehabilitation alone given the complexity of the experimental set-up and computational overhead. Despite this, the clinical gains are comparable, meaning that such technologies may enable more severely impaired individuals who cannot initiate movement to benefit from robotic rehabilitation.

A final area of advancement in the past decade is in the application of robotic rehabilitation devices as assessment tools. Clinical assessment scales are known to be relatively coarse in their ability to detect improvements in motor function. Robotic devices, outfitted with high resolution sensors, can be used to assess range of motion, intra- and inter-limb coordination, and movement smoothness, among other features ( 41 ). Additionally, these devices can track recovery over higher-resolution time scales, since data can be collected at each treatment session. There is great potential for robotic assessment of neurorecovery to influence the intervention itself, which gives promise to the potential for robotic devices to appreciably improve rehabilitation outcomes in the future.

The developments of the past decade are starting to be assessed clinically, using both research grade devices and those that have been commercialized. Clinical studies aimed at the evaluation of efficacy of novel devices, controllers, and methods for detecting user intent for stroke and spinal cord injury rehabilitation are in some cases actively recruiting participants, while other studies are listed in the clinical trials database but are not yet recruiting. Example clinical studies include investigations of soft robotic gloves, interactive exoskeletons for gait rehabilitation, and the potential for using EMG or EEG to control a rehabilitation exoskeleton. Although not directly related to advances in robotics, there are additional clinical studies that aim to determine the efficacy of existing devices for treatment of different neurological impairments. For example, devices developed to treat stroke populations are being evaluated on spinal cord injury populations. Another notable ongoing effort is the evaluation of the efficacy of combining robotic rehabilitation with other therapeutic interventions, such as spinal stimulation or pharmacological treatments.

While robotic devices have been shown to effectively deliver therapy to both the upper and lower limbs following stroke and spinal cord injury, the improvements in clinical outcome measures of function to date have been modest when compared to traditional therapy ( 38 ). Future research efforts are increasingly focused on gaining a better understanding of the mechanisms of neuroplasticity, including how it can be reliably induced and exploited to maximize therapeutic outcomes. Such efforts are increasingly dependent on advances in neuroscience, including new techniques for recording neuronal activity. Advances in robotic technologies are also vital to achieving these goals, including the development of better fitting devices and more precise sensing and actuation embedded in devices to target the distal degrees of freedom of the upper and lower limbs that are most likely to facilitate a return of function and independence. Finally, advanced control algorithms that can more precisely characterize the patient’s capabilities in real-time and adjust not only the level of support needed to complete movements, but also impose appropriate resistance or challenge are needed.

Capsule robots

At the dawn of the new millennia, Given Imaging (now Medtronic) introduced wireless capsule endoscopy as a minimally invasive method of inspecting the gastrointestinal tract. The possibility of collecting images deep inside the bowel just by swallowing a “pill” revolutionized the field of gastrointestinal endoscopy and sparked a brand-new field of research: medical capsule robots .

It was quickly understood that conventional capsule endoscopes – which move passively through the gastrointestinal tract – were limited in their inability to interact with the bowel and carry-out interventions. A natural first approach to address this was to adopt “on-board actuation”: actively controlling the capsule using internal, miniature locomotion mechanisms (e.g. legs) ( 42 ).

However, enthusiasm for this approach declined rapidly as the research community realized a major challenge: integrating complex mechanisms, including an adequate power supply, into a “pill-sized” device (typically 24mm length, 11mm diameter) was an impractical solution using available technology.

The alternative approach of magnetic actuation was explored to solve this limitation. The use of magnetic coupling bypasses the need for intricate mechanisms, reduces on-board power needs and hence the overall size and complexity of the device. This form of actuation manipulates the capsule (containing an embedded magnet) via an externally generated magnetic field. This mechanically simple arrangement can precisely control capsule orientation and induce relative motion. The field may be generated by permanent magnets or electromagnets. In comparing the two: electromagnets provide an additional degree of control in varying the magnitude of magnetic field, though the volumetric magnetic flux density generated is lower than that of permanent magnets. Medical capsule robots are now a clinically viable alternative to standard interventional endoscopy.

While offering an elegant mechanical solution, researchers in the area were faced with the challenge of developing reliable control strategies – a complex task owing to the highly nonlinear properties of magnetic fields. These evolved from manual manipulation of a hand-held external permanent magnet, to robotic control of the magnetic field ( 43 , 44 ). This was shown to be both clinically and commercially effective for the exploration of the stomach and is now available in hospitals (NaviCam, Ankon).

Effective interventional capabilities using magnetic actuation were successfully demonstrated in pill-size robots by combining it with soft robotics. A smart, compliant device operated by external magnetic fields showed the feasibility of actively moving to a site of interest and delivering a drug ( 45 ) or collecting tissue biopsies ( 46 ).

With a market pressure towards ease-of-use, combined with the complexities of magnetic actuation, the role of robot assistance in magnetic control of capsule endoscopes increased substantially. A key enabler for this was the introduction of real-time localization techniques. Knowing position and orientation (i.e. pose) of the capsule is crucial to plan the application of magnetic force and torque for the desired motion ( 47 ). Clinically-viable examples of localization are mainly based on magnetic localization ( 48 ). This is now enabling researchers to explore different levels of computer assistance, moving towards the ultimate goal of making endoscopy as intuitive as driving a car in a videogame.

As we begin the next decade, intelligent magnetic control of pill-sized robots may offer unprecedented diagnostic and therapeutic capabilities when combined with multimodal imaging (e.g. multi-spectral, auto-fluorescence, micro-ultrasound) and micro/nano-robotics. Aside from the clinical uses, this could provide a research platform to reach deeper into the human body to address other scientific questions related to, for example, our microbiome.

The future may also hold exciting advances in energy storage or wireless power transfer, which revive on-board actuation approaches, or “multi-scale operation”, as suggested in ( 46 ), where a pill-sized robot deploys an army of interventional micro-robots. Whatever lies ahead, medical capsule robotics remains an exciting, fast-moving and highly influential field of research.

Magnetic actuation for medicine

Long before magnetic fields were used to create images of the inside of the body, they were used to perform surgery. Evidence of the use of magnetic fields for extracting iron shavings accidently embedded within the eye dates back to at least the 17 th century and also during the industrial revolution. In the 1950’s, the first research into their use for guiding catheters with magnets mounted on the tip began. However, a commercially available system did not appear until 2003 with Stereotaxis’ Niobe robotic magnetic navigation system, which uses two moving permanent magnets to generate changing magnetic fields for guiding endocardial ablation catheters to treat cardiac arrhythmias (Electrophysiology (EP) procedures). While the market penetration of this magnetically-guided catheter system has been slow, the past decade has seen increasing interest from researchers as well as medical device companies, and we see a linear increase in the number of papers published on the topic and an exponential increase in citations.

Modeling multi-DOF electromagnetic navigation systems.

One important breakthrough in magnetic actuation from the past decade, and the most highly cited paper in the field of magnetic actuation and microrobotics, is ( 49 ). This work generalized the physics and mathematics of an arbitrary number of geometrically arranged electromagnetics to exert a magnetic force and torque on a given magnetic body. This led the way for the robotics community to bring over fifty years of work in robotic manipulator control and design to bear onto the magnetic actuation problem. The patents that were generated from this work formed the basis for one company to develop a seven-electromagnet system that has been used to perform endocardial catheter ablations on several patients.

Magnetically guided microrobots.

As discussed in the previous section, capsule robots are relatively large devices enabling larger permanent magnets to be mounted in them allowing for magnetic field gradients to provide appreciable actuation force ( 43 ). As free-swimming devices become less than a millimeter in size, the amount of magnetic material that can be affixed to them makes field-gradient approaches challenging, and new magnetic actuation strategies are required. Inspired by the helical motion of flagellated bacteria as well as the traveling wave motion of flagellated eukaryotes such as spermatozoa, the first microrobots appeared prior to 2010. Helical structures, in particular, are well suited to magnetic actuation as rotation fields generated torque, which scales well with fluidic drag torques. In the past decade, robust fabrication techniques and effective models have been developed that have created opportunities for developing microrobots capable of performing useful medical tasks ( 50 ). A number of efforts continue in this direction with new impetus on using materials that will eventually biodegrade in the body without harm to the patient, or on developing magnetic tools for retrieving magnetic microrobots from the body after use.

Magnetic locomotion strategies at millimeter scales.

If the constraints on magnetic material selection are relaxed such that toxic hard magnetic particles are incorporated into flexible polymeric structures, millimeter-scale robot designs can be created that exhibit a number of new and exciting locomotion strategies. Many of these techniques culminated in recent work from Sitti’s group on a single device capable of multi-modal locomotion enabled by using a variety of dynamically varying magnetic fields ( 51 ). An impressive number of rolling, walking, jumping, and crawling motions were experimentally demonstrated in the paper.

Magnetically guided catheters.

Current trends in magnetic actuation show a return to its roots in which magnetically tipped catheters and endoscopes are being increasingly investigated. Zhao’s recent work ( 52 ) demonstrates the potential for magnetic actuation to be used to guide sub-millimeter hydrogel-covered catheters with embedded hard magnetic particles. This work identifies a number of medical procedures that could be performed with such devices in the future. Undoubtedly, the reason for this increasing interest is the promise for more maneuverable medical devices, at smaller scales, that can be manufactured more economically than complex pull-wire or motor-based devices.

The past decade has seen a number of advances in magnetic actuation for medicine. We have gained a deeper understanding of how to generate dynamically varying magnetic fields and field gradients that can harmlessly penetrate the entire human body. We have seen an increase in the use of soft polymeric materials, following the trends we see in Soft Robotics, with the goal of creating safer more maneuverable magnetic medical devices ( 48 , 49 ). Finally, we have also seen many of these efforts move to in vivo trials and even into humans. Certainly, the next decade will see more efficacious medical therapies realized using this technology, resulting in the rapid acceleration of commercial efforts.

Soft robotics for medicine

Defining which achievement in robotics launched the field of soft robotics for medicine is not trivial. Robotics based on soft concepts, intrinsically compliant structures, and smart materials was strictly joined to biomimetics and bioinspiration, from the beginning. On the other hand, the growing interest for bioinspired robots with compliant bodies has promoted the research on smart materials which could be adopted for fabricating soft robots or for providing soft robots with sensing and actuation capabilities, from the macroscale down to the nanoscale ( 53 ). Just to make an example, most works on artificial skins with sensing capabilities can be found in literature with application into soft robots and soft devices.

Looking at the literature of the last 10 years, there are many fundamental review or survey papers about soft and bioinspired robotics for a lot of applications (including medicine, where the issue of intrinsic safety is extremely relevant), and many material-science papers and reviews on novel smart materials, where traditional silicon -based technologies for sensing are replaced by silicone -based technologies with smart behavior.

Considering the most highly cited papers of the last decade and excluding materials papers and survey papers, two types of works related to medicine can be identified: one includes wearable soft robots for rehabilitation or human augmentation which have been covered in the previous sections. The second includes robots for intervention and surgery, or components for intervention and surgical robotics. Concerning the field of surgery and intervention, three parallel subtopics can be identified: i) soft devices for surgery or intervention, where the entire traditional device is replaced by a soft robotic design, both at the macro and miniature scale ( 54 ), and ( 45 ); ii) soft, bioinspired or compliant components, which can work as standalone devices or can be integrated into more traditional systems ( 55 , 56 ); iii) soft components and systems for advanced simulators, both for training and for studying specific physiological functions ( 57 – 59 ), between robotics and bioartificial organs.

In the first category, some interesting designs of modular and tunable stiffness devices for surgery and endoscopy have been developed and have reached the pre-clinical or the cadaver test level ( 54 ). The main idea is transforming surgical manipulators into elephant trunks or octopus arms with the ability to do more tasks with the same arm, by simply changing the stiffness of the different segments. Relevant results have been achieved also applying soft robotics technology to gastrointestinal capsule endoscopy, with the development of soft-body capsules for performing targeted drug delivery, as already mentioned above( 44 , 54 ).

For the second category, bioinspired components – in some cases with a soft body or with a biomimetic safe interaction with the environment – have demonstrated superior capabilities in comparison with traditional devices ( 55 , 60 ), e.g. in biopsy. But a soft and bioinspired design was already explored more than 20 years ago for advanced endoscopes with the attempt to adapt the shape of the medical tool to the features of the explored human environment (as in ( 45 , 46 ) mentioned above).

Finally, there is a recent research direction, not easily falling into any categories, where soft robots are used for in vivo assistive or therapeutic devices ( 59 , 61 ).

With the exception of some studies at the intersection between magnetic micro robotics and soft robotics, which have already reached the clinical stage, most of the presented technologies still need an extensive pre-clinical and clinical validation.

The field of soft robotics, even if it has not produced paradigmatic examples of medical robotic systems yet, is steering the design and development of most medical instrumentation. In parallel, soft robotics is also nurturing the research in soft materials and novel fabrication technologies, which can open unexpected avenues in biomedical applications.

Continuum robots for medicine

Continuum robots change shape through flexural deformation rather than through discrete joints. Their ability to take the shape of three-dimensional curves enables this type of robot to perform procedures through smaller surgical corridors than would be required by traditional robotic mechanisms. They can enter the body through natural orifices, navigate through body lumens and steer around critical structures when passing through solid tissue. The flexural compliance of continuum robots in contrast to conventional designs also enhances their safety.

Continuum robots can be characterized by the actuation method used to produce flexural shape change. The most common approach to shape control is by varying the displacement or tension force applied to one or more tendons arranged around a central flexible backbone. A variation on this technique, called multibackbone designs, replaces the tendon strings with rods which can apply both tensile and compressive forces. A third type, concentric tube robots, blurs the roles of the actuation elements and backbone by using the relative translation and rotation of pre-curved concentrically-combined superelastic tubes to effect shape changes. Magnetic actuation, discussed in detail in another section of this paper, is a fourth technique in which external magnets positioned around the patient are used to produce the desired deflection of a magnetically-tipped flexible tube.

In the decade preceding 2010, the major research progress involved the development of design principles and mechanics-based kinematic models for tendon- and multibackbone-actuated continuum robot architectures. This work led to important medical robot commercialization efforts such as Hansen Medical’s tendon-actuated cardiac catheter. In addition, a tendon-actuated design was proposed in which the flexible backbone was replaced by a series of short cylindrical links connected by spherical joints. This design became the basis of the surgical robot currently being commercialized by Medrobotics. During this decade, the concept of concentric tube robots was first introduced, but a more complete description of the design principles and kinematic model for this architecture only became complete in 2010 ( 62 ).

During the decade 2010–2020, continuum robot research was focused in four areas: (1) incorporating external contacts and loads in robot modeling and control, (2) developing methods to control robot stiffness, (3) creating “soft” continuum robots, and (4) the design of continuum robots for specific clinical applications. Each is described below.

Extending kinematic models to consider external contacts and loads.

In many medical applications, a robot will contact tissue not only at its tip, but also at many locations along its length. Unlike rigid robots, these contact forces can produce appreciable deformation of a continuum robot leading to large errors in the kinematic map relating, e.g., tendon tension to tip position and orientation. An important research thrust has been to include external loading in the kinematic model ( 63 ) as well as to infer external loads from the kinematic input variables, e.g., tendon tension forces ( 64 ). Alternatively, a model-free approach has been proposed in which the contact-constrained kinematic model is estimated during task execution ( 65 ). For model-based control methods, an alternative to inferring external loads from kinematic inputs is to directly sense them. While the creation of a distributed sensing skin at the size scale and price point appropriate for medical interventions remains an open problem, noteworthy effort over the decade has gone into the development of sensors that can estimate robot shape ( 66 ).

Stiffness control.

In contrast to rigid robots, the inherent flexibility of continuum robots enhances their safety during navigation through the body to a surgical site. Surgical tasks, however, involve applying forces to tissue and the lower tip stiffness of continuum robots require larger robot displacements to produce a given force. The task-based force level together with limited volume available to maneuver the robot define a minimum tip stiffness needed to perform the task. Important work over the decade has developed mechanical design methods for enhancing and controlling continuum robot stiffness, e.g., by incorporating layer jamming in the flexural components ( 67 ). For those situations when the inherent stiffness is sufficient, control algorithms have been developed which modify the kinematic inputs to achieve a desired tip stiffness ( 68 ).

Soft continuum robots.

Continuum robots are often fabricated from compliant polymeric materials and some of the earliest examples were actuated pneumatically or hydraulically – the two features typically used to define “soft” robots. With a few exceptions, however, medical continuum robots have eschewed gas or fluid actuation which tend to increase modeling complexity and response time. With the explosive growth in soft robotics over the last decade, however, these actuation methods as well as the use of even more compliant materials are now being explored for medical applications ( 69 ).

Application-specific continuum robot design.

In addition to deepening the technological toolbox, researchers have also collaborated with clinicians to create robotic systems designed to perform specific procedures. For example, ( 16 ) produced a single-port system for abdominal surgery. Once inserted into the abdomen, two multibackbone continuum arms along with a conventionally-jointed stereo endoscopic arm extend from a single sheath to create an anthropomorphic representation of the surgeon’s head and arms. This technology was licensed for commercialization by Titan Medical. As a second example, the system of ( 20 ) explores the use of two concentric tube robots together with a separate passive endoscope for transnasal skull-base surgery. This system was an important early demonstration of how the concentric tube architecture, along with the theoretical modeling developed to support it, could provide the workspace, stiffness and manipulability necessary to perform actual neurosurgical tasks.

The last decade has provided a maturation of the fundamental techniques for designing and modeling the various continuum robot architectures. Although this research is largely complete, the availability of new sensing technologies will likely spur the development of improved sensor-based control techniques. For example, Fiber Bragg Gratings (FBGs), a very expensive technology, is the main shape-sensing modality that has been investigated ( 66 ). An inexpensive alternative technology would likely result in a new generation of control algorithms. Furthermore, we will likely see continued interest in applying soft robotics to produce alternative robot designs as well as learning / AI applied to robot navigation and control. While this work will largely be driven by research novelty rather than clinical need, it will add to the technological toolbox.

While early validation experiments were academic in nature with little attention paid to eventual medical applications, there was a growing emphasis over the decade toward creating prototype systems such as those noted above that could perform actual medical procedures. For continuum robots to reach the clinic, this line of research will be increasingly important in the years ahead. There are several reasons for this. First, the creation and demonstration of a procedure-specific prototype is the fundamental step required to de-risk the technology for commercialization. It also enables a first-cut cost-benefit comparison with current clinical practice. Thus, these technology demonstration projects can directly lead to commercialization efforts. Equally important, procedure-specific prototypes serve to identify critical knowledge gaps that spur future fundamental research.

The number of papers on medical robotics has grown exponentially from less than 10 published in 1990 to more than 5200 in 2020. Consequently, the fraction of papers published during the last decade is over 80% of the total. These publications span the entire range of the research pipeline. Engineering journal publications have covered the creation of new robotic technologies for medical applications as well as the design of new medical robots. Medical journal publications have completed the research process by evaluating existing robot designs in human patients.

While the field cannot yet point to comprehensive clinical trials which show that robotic surgical procedures provide improved procedural outcomes for patients ( 70 ), or reduced procedure cost compared to non-robotic surgery ( 71 ), a number of patient benefits have been demonstrated. These include shorter hospital stays, faster recuperation, fewer reoperations and reduced blood transfusions ( 71 ). For surgeons, robots provide improved ergonomics, leading to reductions in neck and back pain ( 72 ) as well as hand and wrist numbness ( 73 ) with less physical and mental stress compared to direct hand-controlled procedures ( 74 ). These factors increase a surgeon’s quality of life and could potentially lengthen their career. Studies have also shown that robotics can dramatically reduce radiation exposure to both the surgeon and the patient ( 75 ).

To further this progress, it would be beneficial to channel future engineering research efforts in the most promising directions. This requires developing an understanding of how robots and their underlying technologies add value in medicine. While in almost all other industries, robots are employed as autonomous agents to reduce human labor costs, medical robots, at least to date, have been developed to add value in other application-dependent ways.

For example, all the benefits mentioned in the preceding paragraph arise in laparoscopic surgery except for reduced radiation exposure which applies to cardiac catheterization procedures. In therapeutic rehabilitation, it can be argued that the value currently added is in providing a larger number of repetitions rather than in improving the quality of the repetitions. On the other hand, energy-delivery robots, e.g., for radiotherapy, provide a combination of precision, repeatability and speed that is hard to match by other means. Similarly, a powered prosthesis can directly improve patient outcomes by expanding both the number and quality of daily living tasks that can be performed compared to a non-robotic device. In the same way, capsule robots may eventually replace some open bowel procedures, improving the diagnostic possibilities in hard-to-reach body regions and reducing the discomfort of existing endoluminal bowel procedures.

In directing robotic technology research to maximize value added, the most important technology targets are those that will enable new types of interventions that are either currently impossible or impractical based on current technology. Magnetic actuation is an example of such a technology that is enabling for capsule robots and medical microrobots. This technique has allowed miniaturization by moving actuation and power supplies outside the body. Soft robotics is likely to be a very important enabling technology over the next decade. Much of the most promising work is currently being performed in the materials community and relates to the creation of thin polymer layers with embedded sensors and actuators. While this work seems far from medical application now, these capabilities will likely have a large influence on interventional, rehabilitative and assistive robots. Other enabling technologies in sensing, imaging, actuation and energy storage may arise as crossovers from consumer electronics.

As an alternative to enabling new procedures, a technology can have a major influence if it provides a new way for a medical robot to add value. The effective synergy of pre-operative and intra-operative imaging integrated with flexible, ergonomically enhanced surgical tools is an important example of this approach which represents a substantial contribution over the last decade. The value of this approach will likely continue in the future. Translating cellular and molecular imaging modalities from the laboratory to an in vivo - in situ surgical setting will further expand the functional capabilities of surgical interventions by providing improved tissue detection, labelling, and targeting for both macroscopic and cell-based therapies. This approach can fundamentally alter the planned surgical pathways by streamlining intraoperative surgical decision making and optimization with increased consistency and accuracy, circumventing potential post-operative complications and revisions.

Another way for robots to add value is through autonomy. While the development of autonomous automotive driving capabilities has been perhaps the hottest topic in all of robotics over the decade, its use in medical robots is currently limited. Examples include assistive wearable robots and rehabilitation robots. These systems produce preprogrammed motions that can be switched between and altered based on user inputs. Similarly, orthopedic robots mill out preprogrammed cavities in bone and radiosurgery robots play back preprogrammed trajectories to produce the desired x-ray exposures of internal lesions. While these preprogrammed motions represent a very simple form of autonomy, they are enabling for these applications. For example, an assistive lower leg prosthesis would be useless if the operator had to actively control the ankle motion during walking.

The technological frontier in medical robot autonomy corresponds to endowing the robot with the capability to formulate and alter its plans and motions based on real-time sensor data. Examples could include autonomous laparoscopic surgery to remove cancerous lesions or autonomous transcatheter repair of a heart valve. This level of autonomy brings with it not only technical challenges, but also regulatory, ethical and legal challenges – which have yet to be fully resolved and will raise commercialization costs. Consequently, it will be much easier to incrementally add such autonomous functionality to pre-existing medical robots whose value can be justified without consideration of autonomous functionality. Examples include automated suturing for laparoscopic surgery, autonomous navigation of flexible endoscopes or autonomous electrophysiological catheter mapping inside the heart.

An evolutionary trend toward progressive automation as suggested by Fig. 4 will provide time for the necessary technological developments in algorithms and sensors while allowing stakeholders time to progressively construct an appropriate regulatory and legal framework. Medical applications for which autonomy is necessary to justify the robot will be more challenging to commercialize in the short term but may be of highest value in the long term. Lower hanging fruit of this type could include simple time-critical endoluminal interventions while bionic implants represent a more complicated class of devices.

In current use, the level of autonomy is typically the minimum needed to be clinically useful. For example, radiotherapy robots operate at a level of conditional autonomy computing and executing a radiation exposure trajectory to provide the desired radiation dose inside a patient while minimizing exposure of surrounding tissues. Orthopedic robots are capable of autonomously milling out a prescribed cavity for knee and hip implants. In contrast, laparoscopic surgical robots have proven successful under continuous operator control and so currently offer only limited robotic assistance. Transcatheter mechanical thrombectomy and heart valve repair are examples of clinical applications for which robotic solutions have yet to be developed although both could potentially benefit from robotic solutions. In the future, it is anticipated that the level of autonomy of current robotic systems will increase. The biggest increases will be for those applications for which autonomy is vital to their function. For example, highly autonomous systems for remotely performing emergency mechanical thrombectomies to treat stroke would significantly increase the accessibility of this treatment while also decreasing the time to treatment. As a second example, bionic implants which improve or restore body functions will be sufficiently integrated with their host to not require continuous conscious control.

Of the more than 19,000 engineering papers published on medical robotics since 1990, only a handful can be considered enabling for existing commercial medical robots. Even the papers of high technological influence comprising the bibliography have modest numbers of patent citations. In part, this may be due to the substantial lag that can occur between technology development and its commercial application. Perhaps an equally important contributor is the mismatch between technology research and the realities of medical device commercialization.

Bringing robotic technology to clinical use requires much more than simply well-cited research articles. A genuine clinical need must be identified. A relevant technology must be developed to address this need that considers the specifics of how the robot adds value for the clinician and for the patient. Medical doctors must be convinced of this value proposition. The technology must also be developed with hospital administrative and financial constraints well-considered, and without hindering well established clinical workflows. Potential risks must be identified early on so that ethical approvals can be obtained. Finally, attractive business models must be developed to ensure that sufficient investment can be obtained to bring the technology through the complex pathways that must be navigated for any medical device to make it to commercial success. Maximizing the chance of success suggests that technology researchers stray from their ivory towers to form deep collaborations with clinicians, regulators, investors and the business community.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The manuscript is not intended to be a traditional survey that provides sweeping coverage of medical robotics over the decade nor to provide an exhaustive bibliography of the field. Instead, our goal was to provide a focused view of the most important research advances of the decade and to point the reader to a small set of papers that are seminal with respect to these advances. Research was defined as the development of new robots and robotic technology. Clinical evaluation papers using existing robots were excluded unless they conveyed an important translational result.

This approach, by its nature, injects some subjectivity into the paper, however, we attempted to be as objective as possible. Our approach was as follows. We first developed an initial list of prospective hot topics based on author consensus. This list of topics was then validated and refined by performing a broad search of medical / surgical robotics using Web of Science and then grouping the results by topic. This resulted in dropping some candidate topics while subdividing others into multiple topics. For example, while there has been important work in orthopedic and spinal procedure robots, the highly cited papers were published prior to 2010. Furthermore, we observed that there was important research on procedure-specific robots that did not fit into any of the hot topics. This included robots developed for endoluminal and NOTES procedures along with robots for microsurgery. To include this work, we added a final hot topic on non-laparoscopic procedure-specific robots.

Given this list of hot topics, we then sought to identify topic-specific search terms for use with Web of Science that would provide comprehensive coverage for that topic. Our goal was two-fold. First, we wished to identify the total number of papers published on each hot topic as reported in Figures 2 and ​ and3. 3 . Second, for inclusion in our bibliography, we wished to identify the most influential papers for each topic based on citation count.

Identification of the topic-specific search terms meeting these two goals was an iterative process. Initially, each search was formulated by building a set of common terms related to medical robots that returned the most comprehensive set of relevant references:

(medical* OR medicine OR surgical OR surgery OR surgeon (in TOPIC) AND robot* OR manipulator (in TOPIC)).

This search was then further constrained using keywords for each hot topic. The keywords were tested and revised by reviewing the search results based on the authors’ knowledge of the field to ensure that the results for the top 100 cited papers returned by the search were both relevant and comprehensive. This approach worked well for 4 out of the 8 topics. For the remaining 4 topics, it was also necessary to adapt the common search terms along with topic-specific keywords in order to identify a search that yielded relevant and comprehensive results.

Each section of the paper was then composed based on the authors’ knowledge of the topic as supported by the search results. For each hot topic, a small number of the most highly cited research papers were selected to support the major concepts. These are the papers included in the bibliography. While in some cases, papers had similar numbers of citations and subjective decisions were made to pick one over another, the overall selection process was objective. Survey papers were excluded.

Paper citation counts included in the bibliography are from Web of Science. Patent citation counts are from Lens.org . Data was collected on October 11, 2021.

Data within Figs. 2 and ​ and3 3

Figs. 2 and ​ and3 3 report the year-by-year numbers of publications resulting from the Web of Science searches for the individual and combined hot topic searches. The results are further broken down by publication type (engineering vs. medical journals). Searches were performed on October 11, 2021.

Web of Science search terms

The sets of search terms for each hot topic which are listed below were used with Web of Science to identify the most highly cited papers for each topic.

Robots for laparoscopic surgery

medical* OR medicine OR surgical OR surgery OR surgeon (in TOPIC) AND robot* OR manipulator (in TOPIC) AND laparoscop* (in TOPIC and TITLE)

medical* OR medicine OR surgical OR surgery OR surgeon (in TOPIC) AND robot* OR manipulator (in TOPIC) NOT laparoscop* (in TOPIC and TITLE)

(prosthe* OR orthos* OR orthot* OR exoskelet* OR exosuit*) AND (robotic OR powered), all in TOPIC 2010–2020 Figure search: (prosthe* OR orthos* OR orthot* OR exoskelet* OR exosuit*) AND (robotic OR powered), NOT (rehab*), all in TOPIC 2010–2020

Therapeutic rehabilitation robots

(robot* OR exoskelet*) AND (rehab*)), all TOPIC 2010 – 2020

Medical capsule robots

(robot* ) AND (pill OR capsul*) AND (medic* OR endoscop* OR intestin* OR surg*) all TOPIC 2010 – 2020

(robot* OR microrobot* OR nanorobot* OR manipulat* OR actuat*) AND (magnet* OR micromagnet* OR nanomagnet*) AND (medical* OR medicine* OR surgical* OR surgeon* OR surgery*) all in TOPIC 2010 – 2020

(medical* OR medicine OR surgical OR surgery OR surgeon) AND (robot OR robotics) AND (soft) NOT (materials OR material) NOT (rehabilitation), all in TOPIC 2010 – 2020

WoS Search: (medical* OR medicine OR surgical OR surgery OR surgeon) AND (robot* OR manipulator) AND (continuum OR snake) all in TOPIC 2010 – 2020

Supplementary Material

Annotated bibliography, acknowledgements:.

We thank Dr. Margherita Mencattelli for her assistance with the figures and references.

Partial support for PED was provided by the National Institutes of Health under grants R01NS099207 and R01HL124020.

Competing interests : None specific to the content of the paper.

Data and materials availability:

Bibliography and references cited.

150+ Easy Robotics Research Topics For Engineering Students In 2024

Learning about robots and how they work is really interesting. It involves using new and advanced technology. Robots are made by combining different types of engineering and smart computer programs. This blog talks about how robots communicate, explains the basics of robotics, and shows how important it is for students. We help students choose from 150+ topics about robots that are easy to understand and study in 2024.

We cover a wide range of topics, from how robots think and interact with people to working together in groups and the moral questions involved. We talk about why studying robots is good, the problems students might face, and suggest five great research topics for success in school. Stick around with us to learn a lot about the exciting world of Robotics Research Topics research!

What Is Robotics?

Table of Contents

The goal of robotics is to build devices that are capable of autonomous tasks. These machines are designed to do things that humans can’t or prefer not to do. They are made to work in different places, from the deep sea to outer space. These robots can have arms, wheels, sensors, and computers that help them move and think.

Robots can do numerous tasks, from assembling cars in factories to exploring distant planets. They can assist in surgeries, clean floors, or even deliver packages. The field of robotics involves designing, building, and programming these machines to perform specific tasks, making our lives easier and sometimes even safer.

Importance And Impact Of Robotics Research In Student’s Life

Here are some importance and impact of robotics research in students’s life:

1. Skill Development

Robotics research allows students to develop crucial skills like problem-solving, critical thinking, and creativity. It challenges them to think innovatively, design solutions, and apply theoretical knowledge into practical scenarios, fostering a hands-on learning experience.

2. Future Career Opportunities

Engaging in robotics research equips students with skills highly sought after in various industries. Understanding robotics opens doors to diverse career opportunities in fields like engineering, technology, healthcare, and even entrepreneurship, preparing students for the job market of the future.

3. Technological Advancements

Through research, students contribute to the advancement of technology. Their discoveries and innovations in robotics research can lead to breakthroughs, new inventions, and improvements in existing systems, benefiting society and shaping the future.

4. Problem Solving and Innovation

Robotics research challenges students to solve real-world problems creatively. It encourages them to think outside the box, invent new solutions, and create technologies that can positively impact society, fostering a mindset for innovation.

5. Personal Development

Engagement in robotics research boosts students’ confidence, fostering a sense of achievement and a willingness to take on new challenges. It encourages self-motivation, perseverance, and adaptability, shaping well-rounded individuals ready to tackle future endeavors.

Tips For Choosing The Right Robotics Research Topics

Here are some tips for choosing the right robotics research topics: 

Tip 1: Follow Your Passion

Choose a robotics research topic that excites and interests you. When you’re passionate about the subject, you’ll stay motivated throughout the research process, making it easier to explore and understand the complexities of the topic.

Tip 2: Assess Available Resources

Consider the resources available to you, such as access to equipment, tools, and expert guidance. Select a topic that aligns with the available resources to ensure you can conduct your research effectively and efficiently.

Tip 3: Relevance and Impact

Opt for a robotics research topic that has real-world relevance and potential impact. Focusing on topics that address current problems or future technological advancements can make your research more meaningful and valuable.

Tip 4: Scope and Manageability

Pick a subject that is in between too wide and too specific. Ensure it’s manageable within the given time frame and resources, allowing you to explore and delve deep into the subject without overwhelming yourself.

Tip 5: Consult with Mentors and Peers

Discuss potential research topics with mentors or peers. Seeking advice and feedback can provide valuable insights, helping you refine and select the most suitable and intriguing robotics research topic.

In this section, we will provide 150+ robotics research topics for engineering students:

I. Artificial Intelligence and Robotics

• Cognitive Robotics: Emulating Human Thought Processes
• Ethical Implications of AI in Autonomous Robotics
• Reinforcement Learning Algorithms in Robotics
• Explainable AI in Robotics: Ensuring Transparency
• Deep Learning Techniques for Object Recognition in Robotics
• AI-Enabled Medical Robotics for Enhanced Healthcare
• AI-Driven Social Robotics for Improved Interaction
• Evolution of AI in Self-driving Vehicles
• Robotics as a Tool for AI Education in Schools
• Integrating AI with Robotics for Enhanced Predictive Capabilities

II. Human-Robot Interaction

• Emotional Intelligence in Human-Robot Interaction
• Impact of Social Robotics in Elderly Care
• Personalization in Human-Robot Interaction
• Enhancing Trust and Communication in Human-Robot Relationships
• Cultural Adaptation in Human-Robot Interaction
• The Role of Ethics in Human-Robot Interaction Design
• Non-verbal Communication and Gestures in Human-Robot Interaction
• Augmented Reality and Human-Robot Collaboration
• Designing User-Friendly Interfaces for Robotic Interaction
• Evaluating User Experience in Human-Robot Interaction Scenarios

III. Swarm Robotics

• Swarm Robotics in Surveillance and Security
• Dynamic Task Allocation in Swarm Robotics
• Emergent Behavior in Swarm Robotics Systems
• Cooperative Swarm Robotic Systems in Environmental Cleanup
• Bio-inspired Swarm Robotics: Learning from Nature
• Coordination and Communication Protocols in Swarm Robotics
• Optimization Algorithms for Swarm Robotic Systems
• Swarm Robotics in Underground Mining Operations
• Robotic Swarms for Disaster Response and Rescue Missions
• Challenges in Scalability of Swarm Robotic Networks

IV. Soft Robotics

• Bio-inspired Soft Robotic Grippers for Delicate Object Handling
• Soft Robotics in Biomedical Applications
• Wearable Soft Robotics for Rehabilitation and Assistance
• Soft Robotics for Prosthetics and Exoskeletons
• Advancements in Soft Robotic Material Science
• Adaptive Soft Robots for Unstructured Environments
• Designing Soft Robots for Underwater Exploration
• Challenges in Control and Sensing in Soft Robotics
• Soft Robotic Actuators and Sensors
• Soft Robotics in Food and Agriculture Industry Innovations

V. Autonomous Navigation and Mapping

• Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) in Autonomous Vehicles
• Advances in LIDAR and Radar Technologies for Navigation
• Mapping and Navigation Techniques in GPS-denied Environments
• Robustness of Autonomous Navigation in Dynamic Environments
• Learning-based Approaches for Adaptive Autonomous Navigation
• Ethics and Legalities in Autonomous Navigation Systems
• Human Safety in Autonomous Vehicles and Navigation
• Multi-modal Sensor Fusion for Precise Navigation
• Challenges in Weather-Adaptive Navigation for Autonomous Systems
• Social and Ethical Implications of Autonomous Navigation in Urban Environments

VI. Robotic Vision and Perception

• Object Detection and Recognition in Robotic Vision Systems
• Enhancing Robotic Vision through Deep Learning
• Perception-based Grasping and Manipulation in Robotics
• Visual SLAM for Indoor and Outdoor Robotic Navigation
• Challenges in Real-time Object Tracking for Robotics
• Human-Centric Vision Systems for Social Robots
• Ethics of Visual Data and Privacy in Robotic Vision
• Advancements in 3D Vision Systems for Robotics
• Vision-based Localization and Mapping for Mobile Robots
• Vision and Perception Challenges in Unstructured Environments

VII. Robot Learning and Adaptation

• Reinforcement Learning for Robotic Control and Decision-making
• Transfer Learning for Robotics in Real-world Environments
• Adaptive Learning Algorithms for Robotic Systems
• Continual Learning and Long-term Adaptation in Robots
• Ethical Considerations in Robot Learning and Autonomy
• Learning-based Techniques for Human-robot Collaboration
• Challenges in Unsupervised Learning for Robotic Applications
• Lifelong Learning in Robotic Systems
• Balancing Stability and Exploration in Robot Learning
• Learning Robotic Behavior through Interaction and Imitation

VIII. Robotic Manipulation and Grasping

• Dexterity and Precision in Robotic Manipulation
• Grasping Strategies for Varied Objects in Robotics
• Multi-fingered Robotic Hands and Adaptive Grasping
• Haptic Feedback for Enhanced Robotic Grasping
• Challenges in Grasping Fragile and Deformable Objects
• Grasping and Manipulation in Cluttered Environments
• Learning-based Approaches for Adaptive Grasping
• Robotic Manipulation for Assembly and Manufacturing
• Human-Robot Collaboration in Grasping Tasks
• Ethical Considerations in Robotic Manipulation and Grasping

IX. Robotic Sensing and Sensory Integration

• Sensor Fusion Techniques for Comprehensive Robot Perception
• Role of LIDAR, RADAR, and Cameras in Robotic Sensing
• Challenges in Sensor Data Integration for Robotic Decision-making
• Ethical Implications of Sensory Data Collection in Robotics
• Tactile Sensing and Haptic Feedback in Robotic Systems
• Multi-modal Sensing for Robotic Perception in Dynamic Environments
• Role of Environmental Sensors in Autonomous Robotics
• Neural Networks for Sensor Data Interpretation in Robotics
• Sensor Calibration and Accuracy in Robotic Systems
• Sensory Integration Challenges in Unstructured Environments

X. Multi-Robot Systems and Coordination

• Coordination Mechanisms in Heterogeneous Multi-robot Systems
• Cooperative Task Allocation in Multi-robot Systems
• Communication Protocols in Multi-robot Coordination
• Role of AI in Dynamic Multi-robot Collaboration
• Challenges in Scalability and Robustness of Multi-robot Systems
• Ethics and Security in Multi-robot Networked Systems
• Hierarchical and Decentralized Approaches in Multi-robot Systems
• Multi-robot Systems in Infrastructure Maintenance and Inspection
• Collaborative Multi-robot Systems for Search and Rescue Missions
• Learning-based Coordination in Swarms of Robots

XI. Robot Ethics and Governance

• Ethical Decision-making in Autonomous Robotics
• Legal and Ethical Frameworks for Robotic Systems
• Accountability and Transparency in Robotic Decision-making
• Ethical Implications of AI in Robotic Systems
• Ensuring Fairness and Bias Mitigation in Robotic Algorithms
• Ethical Considerations in Robotic Assistive Technologies
• Designing Ethical Guidelines for Human-Robot Interaction
• Governance of Robotic Systems in Public Spaces
• Robotic Data Privacy and Security: Ethical Perspectives
• Societal Impact and Responsibility in the Development of Robotic Technologies

XII. Robotic Assistive Technologies

• Robotics in Prosthetics and Rehabilitation
• Assistive Robotics for Elderly and Disabled Individuals
• Human-Centric Design in Assistive Robotic Devices
• Social and Psychological Impact of Assistive Robotics
• Robotics in Cognitive and Physical Therapy
• Customization and Personalization in Assistive Technologies
• Challenges in Implementing Assistive Robotics in Healthcare
• Ethical and Legal Considerations in Assistive Robotics
• Continuous Learning and Adaptation in Assistive Robots
• Human Empowerment through Assistive Robotic Devices

XIII. Robotics in Healthcare and Medical Applications

• Surgical Robotics: Advancements and Future Prospects
• Robotics in Telemedicine and Remote Healthcare
• Robotics in Drug Delivery and Therapy
• Robotics in Imaging and Diagnosis in Medicine
• Ethical Considerations in Robotic Medical Procedures
• Assistive Robotics in Hospitals and Healthcare Facilities
• Robotic Technologies in Emergency Response and Medical Rescue
• Robotics in Rehabilitation and Physical Therapy
• Human-Robot Collaboration in Healthcare Settings
• Challenges and Future Trends in Robotic Healthcare Applications

XIV. Robotics Research Topics for High School Students

• Introduction to Basic Robotic Programming and Control
• Exploring Simple Robotic Mechanisms and Prototyping
• Designing and Building Miniature Robotic Vehicles
• Understanding the Basics of Robotic Sensors and Actuators
• Introduction to Ethical Considerations in Robotics
• Robotics in Everyday Life: Applications and Implications
• Introduction to Human-Robot Interaction and Safety
• Introduction to the World of AI and ML in Robotics
• Robotics in Environmental Conservation and Sustainability
• Career Prospects and Opportunities in Robotics for High School Students

XV. Robotics Research Topics for STEM Students

• Advanced Programming in Robotics: Algorithms and Applications
• Design and Development of Autonomous Robotic Systems
• Innovations in Bio-inspired Robotics: Learning from Nature
• Data Science and AI Integration in Robotics
• Robotics and Industry 4.0: Future Trends and Transformations
• Advanced Control Systems for Robotic Manipulation
• Robotics and Ethics: Societal Impact and Responsibilities
• Robotics in Space Exploration and Astronaut Assistance
• Robotic Vision and Perception: Deep Dive into Sensing Technologies
• Advanced Topics in Swarm Robotics and Multi-Robot Coordination
• The Impact of Robotics in Aerospace Industry Advancements

Read More 

• Robotics Project Ideas
• Programming Languages For Robotics

Benefits Of Working On Robotics Research Topics

Here are some benefits of working on robotics research topics:

1. Practical Application

Working on robotics research topics allows individuals to apply theoretical knowledge to practical scenarios. It bridges the gap between learning in classrooms and real-world implementation, offering hands-on experience and a deeper understanding of concepts.

2. Skill Enhancement

Engagement in robotics research topics hones various skills like problem-solving, critical thinking, and teamwork. It fosters creativity, technical proficiency, and the ability to innovate, preparing individuals for diverse challenges in their academic and professional lives.

3. Career Development

Working on robotics research topics enhances one’s career prospects. It equips individuals with sought-after skills in industries like engineering, technology, and research, opening doors to diverse career opportunities and establishing a strong foundation for future professional growth.

4. Contribution to Innovation

Robotics research allows individuals to contribute to innovation. Their findings and discoveries may lead to technological advancements, new inventions, and improved methodologies, shaping the future landscape of robotics and its applications.

5. Problem-Solving and Creativity

Engaging in robotics research encourages individuals to think creatively and find solutions to real-world problems. It cultivates an environment where individuals can explore new ideas, tackle challenges, and contribute to advancements in the field of robotics.

Challenges Face By Students During Robotics Research

Students often face limitations in accessing necessary resources, such as advanced hardware and software. The complexity of problem-solving within robotics requires high-level analytical skills , and the rapidly evolving nature of technology demands constant adaptability. 

• Resource Limitations: Inadequate access to cutting-edge hardware and software can impede the experimentation and implementation phases of robotics research.
• Complex Problem-solving : Tackling intricate technical issues within robotics demands high levels of analytical skills and critical thinking.
• Adaptability to Technological Changes: Keeping pace with rapidly evolving technology in the robotics field presents a consistent challenge for students.
• Theory-Practice Integration: Bridging the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical application poses difficulties in robotics research.
• Time Constraints: Meeting project deadlines while ensuring quality research and development often creates pressure for students.
• Interdisciplinary Knowledge: Robotics research necessitates a blend of engineering, computer science, mathematics, and AI, which can be challenging to integrate.
• Trial and Error Process: Experiments may result in failures, requiring an iterative approach and patience during the research and development process.

Bonus Tip: 5 Must-Have Things For Robotics Research Titles to Achieve High Scores

• Clarity and Precision: Ensure the title clearly conveys the essence of your research topic without ambiguity.
• Captivating and Engaging Language: Craft a title that sparks interest and draws attention to the significance of your robotics research.
• Reflect Innovation and Novelty: Highlight the originality and innovative aspects of your research to captivate the audience.
• Incorporate Relevant Keywords : Use specific and relevant keywords to make your title easily discoverable and reflect your research area.
• Reflect the Core Purpose: Ensure your title encapsulates the primary focus of your robotics research, providing a glimpse of its importance and relevance.

Robotics research presents an exciting journey, from understanding the transactional communication model to exploring the vast world of robotics. This exploration emphasizes the pivotal role of robotics in students’ lives, offering guidance on choosing appropriate research topics. With over 150 easy-to-pick ideas for aspiring engineers in 2024, it covers crucial areas like AI, human-robot interaction, and ethical considerations. 

Moreover, highlighting benefits such as skill development and career opportunities, it also acknowledges the challenges students face during research. Overall, this comprehensive guide caters to high school and STEM students, concluding with valuable tips for crafting compelling robotics research titles, enhancing the learning experience.

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• Frontiers in Robotics and AI
• Field Robotics
• Research Topics

Robotics for Smart Farming

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Robotics in agriculture explores the potential of robotics and artificial intelligence to revolutionize the way farming is done. It looks at the possibilities for automation in crop production and livestock farming, as well as the implications for farming and rural communities. It examines the ways in which robotics could reduce costs, increase yields, and improve safety and sustainability. It also considers the potential risks and drawbacks associated with the use of robotics and AI in agriculture, such as the potential for job losses and the vulnerability of robotic systems to cyberattack. This Research Topic (Robotics for Smart Farming) aims to highlight the latest research in robotic technologies relevant to agriculture and farming processes. It will focus on agricultural robotics covering different fields of robotics, intelligent perception, manipulation, control, path planning, machine learning, and the applications of robotic and control systems in agriculture. The goal of this Research Topic is to explore the potential of robotics for smart farming and to bring together the latest developments in the field of robotics for agriculture and food production. We aim to provide a comprehensive overview of the current state of research and applications in this field, and to identify the challenges, opportunities and future trends in robotics for smart farming. We also aim to promote collaboration between researchers and practitioners, and to provide a platform for exchanging ideas and experiences. The scope of this Research Topic is to review the latest developments in the field of robotics for smart farming. We invite original research papers, review articles, and technical notes on topics related to the following, but not limited to: • Robotics and UAVs in Smart Farming • Robotics for crop production, harvesting, and post-harvest processing • Autonomous navigation and control of agricultural robots • Machine learning and artificial intelligence for agricultural robotics • Deep learning and reinforcement learning for agricultural robotics • Robotic Applications in Agriculture for Land Preparation before Planting • Robotic Applications in Agriculture for Sowing and Planting • Robotic Applications in Agriculture for Plant Treatment • Robotics for Yield Estimation and Phenotyping • Robotic Applications in Agriculture for Harvesting • Robotic Systems for Food Production • Robotic Livestock Farming • Robotic Fish Farming • Robotic Crop Plantation and Weeding • Robotic Harvesting • Robotic Crop Sensing and Monitoring • Robotic Disease Detection • Robotics in Precision Agriculture • Robotics in Food Processing • Social and ethical implications of robotics in agriculture

Keywords : Robotics, Smart Farming, Autonomous Navigation, Sensor Technologies, Machine Learning

Important Note : All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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Three reasons robots are about to become way more useful 

We're inching ever-closer to them being able to handle household tasks.

• Melissa Heikkilä archive page

This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get stories like this in your inbox first, sign up here .

The holy grail of robotics since the field’s beginning has been to build a robot that can do our housework. But for a long time, that has just been a dream. While roboticists have been able to get robots to do impressive things in the lab, such as parkour, this usually requires meticulous planning in a tightly-controlled setting. This makes it hard for robots to work reliably in homes around children and pets, homes have wildly varying floorplans, and contain all sorts of mess. 

There’s a well-known observation among roboticists called the Moravec’s paradox: What is hard for humans is easy for machines, and what is easy for humans is hard for machines. Thanks to AI, this is now changing. Robots are starting to become capable of doing tasks such as folding laundry, cooking and unloading shopping baskets, which not too long ago were seen as almost impossible tasks. 

In our most recent cover story for the MIT Technology Review print magazine, I looked at how robotics as a field is at an inflection point.  You can read more here . A really exciting mix of things are converging in robotics research, which could usher in robots that might—just might—make it out of the lab and into our homes. 

Here are three reasons why robotics is on the brink of having its own “ChatGPT moment.”

1. Cheap hardware makes research more accessible Robots are expensive. Highly sophisticated robots can easily cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, which makes them inaccessible for most researchers. For example the PR2, one of the earliest iterations of home robots, weighed 450 pounds (200 kilograms) and cost $400,000. 

But new, cheaper robots are allowing more researchers to do cool stuff. A new robot called Stretch, developed by startup Hello Robot, launched during the pandemic with a much more reasonable price tag of around $18,000 and a weight of 50 pounds. It has a small mobile base, a stick with a camera dangling off it, an adjustable arm featuring a gripper with suction cups at the ends, and it can be controlled with a console controller. 

Meanwhile, a team at Stanford has built a system called Mobile ALOHA (a loose acronym for “a low-cost open-source hardware teleoperation system”), that learned to cook shrimp with the help of just 20 human demonstrations and data from other tasks. They used off-the-shelf components to cobble together robots with more reasonable price tags in the tens, not hundreds, of thousands.

2. AI is helping us build “robotic brains” What separates this new crop of robots is their software. Thanks to the AI boom the focus is now shifting from feats of physical dexterity achieved by expensive robots to building “general-purpose robot brains” in the form of neural networks. Instead of the traditional painstaking planning and training, roboticists have started using deep learning and neural networks to create systems that learn from their environment on the go and adjust their behavior accordingly. 

Last summer, Google launched a vision-language-­action model called RT-2. This model gets its general understanding of the world from the online text and images it has been trained on, as well as its own interactions. It translates that data into robotic actions. 

And researchers at the Toyota Research Institute, Columbia University and MIT have been able to quickly teach robots to do many new tasks with the help of an AI learning technique called imitation learning, plus generative AI. They believe they have found a way to extend the technology propelling generative AI from the realm of text, images, and videos into the domain of robot movements. 

Many others have taken advantage of generative AI as well. Covariant, a robotics startup that spun off from OpenAI’s now-shuttered robotics research unit, has built a multimodal model called RFM-1. It can accept prompts in the form of text, image, video, robot instructions, or measurements. Generative AI allows the robot to both understand instructions and generate images or videos relating to those tasks. 

3. More data allows robots to learn more skills The power of large AI models such as GPT-4 lie in the reams and reams of data hoovered from the internet. But that doesn’t really work for robots, which need data that have been specifically collected for robots. They need physical demonstrations of how washing machines and fridges are opened, dishes picked up, or laundry folded. Right now that data is very scarce, and it takes a long time for humans to collect.

A new initiative kick-started by Google DeepMind, called the Open X-Embodiment Collaboration, aims to change that. Last year, the company partnered with 34 research labs and about 150 researchers to collect data from 22 different robots, including Hello Robot’s Stretch. The resulting data set, which was published in October 2023, consists of robots demonstrating 527 skills, such as picking, pushing, and moving.  

Early signs show that more data is leading to smarter robots. The researchers built two versions of a model for robots, called RT-X, that could be either run locally on individual labs’ computers or accessed via the web. The larger, web-accessible model was pretrained with internet data to develop a “visual common sense,” or a baseline understanding of the world, from the large language and image models. When the researchers ran the RT-X model on many different robots, they discovered that the robots were able to learn skills 50% more successfully than in the systems each individual lab was developing.

Read more in my story here . 

Now read the rest of The Algorithm

Deeper learning.

Generative AI can turn your most precious memories into photos that never existed

Maria grew up in Barcelona, Spain, in the 1940s. Her first memories of her father are vivid. As a six-year-old, Maria would visit a neighbor’s apartment in her building when she wanted to see him. From there, she could peer through the railings of a balcony into the prison below and try to catch a glimpse of him through the small window of his cell, where he was locked up for opposing the dictatorship of Francisco Franco. There is no photo of Maria on that balcony. But she can now hold something like it: a fake photo—or memory-based reconstruction.

Remember this:  Dozens of people have now had their memories turned into images in this way via Synthetic Memories, a project run by Barcelona-based design studio Domestic Data Streamers.  Read this story by my colleague Will Douglas Heaven to find out more . 

Bits and Bytes

Why the Chinese government is sparing AI from harsh regulations—for now The way China regulates its tech industry can seem highly unpredictable. The government can celebrate the achievements of Chinese tech companies one day and then turn against them the next. But there are patterns in China’s approach, and they indicate how it’ll regulate AI. ( MIT Technology Review ) 

AI could make better beer. Here’s how. New AI models can accurately identify not only how tasty consumers will deem beers, but also what kinds of compounds brewers should be adding to make them taste better, according to research. ( MIT Technology Review ) 

OpenAI’s legal troubles are mounting OpenAI is lawyering up as it faces a deluge of lawsuits both at home and abroad. The company has hired about two dozen in-house lawyers since last spring to work on copyright claims, and is also hiring an antitrust lawyer. The company’s new strategy is to try to position itself as America’s bulwark against China. ( The Washington Post ) 

Did Google's AI actually discover millions of new materials? Late last year, Google DeepMind claimed it had discovered millions of new materials using deep learning. But researchers who analyzed a subset of DeepMind’s work found that the company’s claims may have been overhyped, and that the company hadn’t found materials that were useful or credible. ( 404 Media ) 

Artificial intelligence

Large language models can do jaw-dropping things. but nobody knows exactly why..

And that's a problem. Figuring it out is one of the biggest scientific puzzles of our time and a crucial step towards controlling more powerful future models.

• Will Douglas Heaven archive page

Google DeepMind’s new generative model makes Super Mario–like games from scratch

Genie learns how to control games by watching hours and hours of video. It could help train next-gen robots too.

What’s next for generative video

OpenAI's Sora has raised the bar for AI moviemaking. Here are four things to bear in mind as we wrap our heads around what's coming.

The AI Act is done. Here’s what will (and won’t) change

The hard work starts now.

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Undergraduates to design robots for Appalachia’s challenges at WVU summer research program

Wednesday, April 17, 2024

From experimenting with robots that off-road autonomously down country roads, to designing drones that can fly through Appalachia’s dense forest canopies, students who join the WVU Undergraduate Research Experience this summer will do hands-on, real-world work aimed at solving the problems of remote mountain communities. (WVU Photo/Guilherme Pereira)

Starting this summer, undergraduate students will perform hands-on, cutting-edge robotics research that solves real-world problems in Appalachia while working in the five robotics labs at West Virginia University .

The WVU Research Experience for Undergraduates program is funded by a $454,000 grant from the National Science Foundation and is accepting applications from undergraduates in the U.S. through May 10.

Participants in the 10-week program, which starts May 20, will perform experimental research that responds to several challenges of using mobile robotics for field applications within rural environments like Appalachia’s dense forests and harsh terrains.

Mentored by faculty members from the robotics program within the WVU Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources , the undergraduates will conduct independent research in areas such as drone navigation in forests, using autonomous blimps to monitor a farm or helping robots make decisions when driving on forest trails.

“This project aims to open opportunities for participants, largely from the Appalachian region, to use robotics as a tool to enable change,” said Jason Gross , principal investigator, REU site director, and associate professor and chair of the Department of Mechanical, Materials and Aerospace Engineering .

“As an NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates site, we’ll be investigating practical questions that must be addressed to enable the use of robotics in rural settings like much of Appalachia. We are excited that the project focuses on robotics application domains that are relevant to the state and region and that we have this opportunity to explore how robotics can better contribute to the WVU land-grant mission.”

Students from institutions in Appalachia are especially encouraged to apply.

Application reviews will start immediately and positions will be filled on a rolling basis .

According to Gross, participants will study how a drone can fly through vegetation, how to track GPS under a forest canopy and how robotics can adapt swarming behaviors from models found in nature, among other topics critical to building robots that can function in remote, mountainous regions.

For example, Gross explained, “Flying drones is complicated under forest canopies because the availability and quality of the Global Navigation Satellite System are hindered by the signal attenuation of dense forests. On the other hand, this presents an interesting problem, because GNSS is not completely unavailable for use — it can be made available when going above tree cover. Since the nature of tree cover is that some light shines through, students who work on this problem will explore solutions like pairing a fisheye camera with GNSS signals to predict signal quality.”

Guilherme Pereira , associate professor in the Department of Mechanical, Materials and Aerospace Engineering, is co-principal investigator and associate director of the REU site. Pereira pointed to the fact that although important management and preservation activities in Appalachian forests rely on surveying large areas to detect invasive species, fires and tree diseases, current surveying approaches are limited.

“Surveying of our forests is limited in scale by human resources,” Pereira said. “It’s limited by safety when it’s done with manned airplanes and it’s limited by accuracy when we rely on satellite imagery. To overcome these limitations, the use of drones flying under the canopy of the forests has been suggested — but flying in a forest is challenging both due to the large number of unmapped obstacles that need to be avoided and the presence of small flexible obstacles like leaves and twigs that can trap the drone.

“Our student researchers will solve this problem by developing a resilient, intelligent drone that can collide with obstacles to classify them. Once the objects are classified, the drone can deal with them by avoiding or pushing them away.”

All students receive a $700 weekly stipend in addition to coverage of their lodging, meals, travel and training. The program will host ten students a year over the summers of 2024, 2025 and 2026.

Applicants will have the opportunity to specify their research interests and to be assigned to work with mentors including Gross, Pereira, professor Yu Gu , assistant professor Nicholas Szczecinski , research assistant professor Cagri Kilic , assistant professor Xi Yu and teaching assistant professor Dimas Abreu Archanjo Dutra in the WVU Navigation Lab , Field and Aerial Robotics Laboratory , Neuro-Mechanical Intelligence Laboratory , Autonomous Multi-Agent Systems Lab and Interactive Robotics Laboratory .

“The undergraduates who join us this summer will conduct independent research on problems with significant societal impact,” Gross said. “They’ll participate in panel discussions, weekly research presentations, a research symposium, and many other activities — but most of all they will advance the state of the art of mobile robotics.”

Find the program application.

MEDIA CONTACT: Micaela Morrissette Research Writer WVU Research Communications 304-709-6667; [email protected]

Call 1-855-WVU-NEWS for the latest West Virginia University news and information from  WVUToday .

An ink for 3D-printing flexible devices without mechanical joints

EPFL researchers are targeting the next generation of soft actuators and robots with an elastomer-based ink for 3D printing objects with locally changing mechanical properties, eliminating the need for cumbersome mechanical joints.

For engineers working on soft robotics or wearable devices, keeping things light is a constant challenge: heavier materials require more energy to move around, and -- in the case of wearables or prostheses -- cause discomfort. Elastomers are synthetic polymers that can be manufactured with a range of mechanical properties, from stiff to stretchy, making them a popular material for such applications. But manufacturing elastomers that can be shaped into complex 3D structures that go from rigid to rubbery has been unfeasible until now.

"Elastomers are usually cast so that their composition cannot be changed in all three dimensions over short length scales. To overcome this problem, we developed DNGEs: 3D-printable double network granular elastomers that can vary their mechanical properties to an unprecedented degree," says Esther Amstad, head of the Soft Materials Laboratory in EPFL's School of Engineering.

Eva Baur, a PhD student in Amstad's lab, used DNGEs to print a prototype 'finger', complete with rigid 'bones' surrounded by flexible 'flesh'. The finger was printed to deform in a pre-defined way, demonstrating the technology's potential to manufacture devices that are sufficiently supple to bend and stretch, while remaining firm enough to manipulate objects.

With these advantages, the researchers believe that DNGEs could facilitate the design of soft actuators, sensors, and wearables free of heavy, bulky mechanical joints. The research has been published in the journal Advanced Materials.

Two elastomeric networks; twice as versatile

The key to the DNGEs' versatility lies in engineering two elastomeric networks. First, elastomer microparticles are produced from oil-in-water emulsion drops. These microparticles are placed in a precursor solution, where they absorb elastomer compounds and swell up. The swollen microparticles are then used to make a 3D printable ink, which is loaded into a bioprinter to create a desired structure. The precursor is polymerized within the 3D-printed structure, creating a second elastomeric network that rigidifies the entire object.

While the composition of the first network determines the structure's stiffness, the second determines its fracture toughness, meaning that the two networks can be fine-tuned independently to achieve a combination of stiffness, toughness, and fatigue resistance. The use of elastomers over hydrogels -- the material used in state-of-the-art approaches -- has the added advantage of creating structures that are water-free, making them more stable over time. To top it off, DNGEs can be printed using commercially available 3D printers.

"The beauty of our approach is that anyone with a standard bioprinter can use it," Amstad emphasizes.

One exciting potential application of DNGEs is in devices for motion-guided rehabilitation, where the ability to support movement in one direction while restricting it in another could be highly useful. Further development of DNGE technology could result in prosthetics, or even motion guides to assist surgeons. Sensing remote movements, for example in robot-assisted crop harvesting or underwater exploration, is another area of application.

Amstad says that the Soft Materials Lab is already working on the next steps toward developing such applications by integrating active elements -- such as responsive materials and electrical connections -- into DNGE structures.

• Materials Science
• Civil Engineering
• Engineering and Construction
• Electronics
• Spintronics Research
• Mobile Computing
• Computer Programming
• Humanoid robot
• Wind turbine
• Mechanical engineering
• Materials science
• Power station
• Photography
• Industrial robot

Story Source:

Materials provided by Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne . Original written by Celia Luterbacher. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Journal Reference :

• Eva Baur, Benjamin Tiberghien, Esther Amstad. 3D Printing of Double Network Granular Elastomers with Locally Varying Mechanical Properties . Advanced Materials , 2024; DOI: 10.1002/adma.202313189

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