Project start: 1.10.2025.

In recent years, research into nature-inspired soft robots has rapidly advanced, driving significant innovations in engineering and medical applications. Due to their flexibility, low stiffness, and lightweight design, soft robots enable safe human interaction, making them particularly valuable in rehabilitation robotics. However, key challenges remain in selecting suitable materials and optimizing structural designs to ensure functionality, durability, and biocompatibility. In this context, hyperelastic materials, with their high resistance to deformation and biocompatibility, form the foundation for developing soft robotic systems.

Simultaneously, additive manufacturing (AM) has gained prominence for its ability to create complex geometries, accelerate production, and optimize structural designs. Nevertheless, ensuring the reliability and longevity of materials requires detailed investigation into the impact of AM process parameters on their mechanical properties.

The Finite Element Method (FEM) has proven to be a reliable tool for analyzing and optimizing soft robotic structures. Precise material modeling is essential to ensure the credibility of numerical simulations, which necessitates comprehensive experimental testing. The primary goal of this project is the experimental characterization of hyperelastic materials produced via AM and the development of advanced numerical models to simulate their behavior realistically. Collected data will be used to calibrate constitutive material models and develop numerical simulations using FEM. The project’s innovative approach incorporates the Koopman operator and Dynamic Mode Decomposition (DMD) to model hyperelastic materials. Special emphasis will be placed on optimizing the geometry of soft robotic actuators based on experimental data and simulation results.

Expected Outcomes:

• Development of a methodology for selecting and characterizing hyperelastic materials,
• Enhanced numerical models that accurately replicate material behavior,
• Optimized structural designs for soft robotic actuators.