The GummiArm Project: A Replicable and Variable-Stiffness Robot Arm for Experiments on Embodied AI
Stølen, Martin Fodstad; de Azambuja, Ricardo; Lopez Rodriguez, Beatriz; Bonsignorio, Fabio; Cangelosi, Angelo
Peer reviewed, Journal article
Published version
View/ Open
Date
2022Metadata
Show full item recordCollections
Original version
Stoelen, M. F., de Azambuja, R., López Rodríguez, B., Bonsignorio, F., & Cangelosi, A. (2022). The GummiArm Project: A replicable and variable-stiffness robot arm for experiments on embodied AI. Frontiers in Neurorobotics, 16. 10.3389/fnbot.2022.836772Abstract
Robots used in research on Embodied AI often need to physically explore the world, to fail in the process, and to develop from such experiences. Most research robots are unfortunately too stiff to safely absorb impacts, too expensive to repair if broken repeatedly, and are never operated without the red kill-switch prominently displayed. The GummiArm Project was intended to be an open-source “soft” robot arm with human-inspired tendon actuation, sufficient dexterity for simple manipulation tasks, and with an eye on enabling easy replication of robotics experiments. The arm offers variable-stiffness and damped actuation, which lowers the potential for damage, and which enables new research opportunities in Embodied AI. The arm structure is printable on hobby-grade 3D printers for ease of manufacture, exploits stretchable composite tendons for robustness to impacts, and has a repair-cycle of minutes when something does break. The material cost of the arm is less than USD 6000, while the full set of structural parts, the ones most likely to break, can be printed with less than USD 20 worth of plastic filament. All this promotes a concurrent approach to the design of “brain” and “body,” and can help increase productivity and reproducibility in Embodied AI research. In this work we describe the motivation for, and the development and application of, this 6 year project.