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BE Seminars
Soft Robots for Hard-to-Reach Places: Design and Deployment at CERN
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Europe/Zurich
774/R-013 (CERN)
Description
Abstract:
To maximize operational safety and availability in the accelerators and experiments at CERN, robots are deployed for maintenance, inspection, and repair tasks in environments where human access is restricted by risks such as radiation or oxygen deficiency. Many of these areas are also confined and cluttered with fragile equipment. Soft robots, built from deformable materials and capable of biologically inspired motions reminiscent of tentacles, snakes, and elephant trunks, offer the compliance and dexterity these conditions demand. In the BE-CEM-MRO section, we have developed a series of low-cost, adaptable soft robots, engineering their mechanical architectures, mathematical models, control strategies, and sensing systems. Mounted on larger robotic platforms, these robots perform intervention tasks where conventional rigid tooling falls short. Two CERN applications will be presented: a quadruped soft tail for beryllium contamination surveys, and a soft-robot helium sprayer for leak detection on collimator vacuum systems. We will also present the technical foundations behind these systems: our three design topologies, a reproducible design pathway based on Cosserat-rod modeling and CAD automation, and shape and contact sensing using conductive soft polymers.