Systems designed for marine and underwater environments face special challenges for real-world adoption. We study how the fluid dynamics of operating underwater changes dexterous manipulation, and test novel robotic mechanisms in the field.
Sampling coral reefs
Coral reefs are severely threatened, with an estimated loss of 50% of corals globally over the past three decades. Current methods of evaluating reef health are insufficient in measuring key species-level changes for scientists to interpret. Studies are in part limited by a lack of technology suitable for collecting large numbers of tissue samples quickly, especially at larger depths. The goal is to enable an affordable remotely operated vehicle (ROV) to effectively collect coral tissue samples for large-scale genetic studies.
Publications:
Enhanced grasping with fingertip suction flow
Publications:
The Ocean One hands: An adaptive design for robust marine manipulation
Tunable Contact Conditions and Grasp Hydrodynamics Using Gentle Fingertip Suction
Tactile sensing based on fingertip suction flow for submerged dexterous manipulation
Suction helps in a pinch: Improving underwater manipulation with gentle suction flow
A compliant underactuated hand with suction flow for underwater mobile manipulation