The second Public Lecture organized by Mechanical Engineering Sectional Committee for year 2018 on “Soft Robotics: future of robotics technology?” was successfully held at the Wimaladharmasuriya Auditorium of Institute of Engineers Sri Lanka from 5.30 pm onwards on 12th March 2018.

The resource person was Dr. Damith Chathuranga who graduated from the Moratuwa University with an undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering and completed his master’s and PhD in Mechanical Engineering Specialized in Robotics from Ritsumeikan University, Japan. He is currently working at University of Moratuwa as a senior lecturer. He has worked in Mitsubishi Electric Corp., Japan, Tachibana Electric Corp., Japan, and Aerosense Pvt Ltd. He has published number of articles in journals and conferences in soft robotics.

During the lecture basics of Soft Robotics was clearly explained which is the specific subfield of robotics dealing with constructing robots from highly compliant materials such as silicon rubber and powered by the flow of fluids such as air. These structures allow robots to have unique movement, which often mimic the human or animal behavior. These soft and deformable robots are well suited for systems that deal with uncertain and dynamic task-environments such as grasping and manipulation of unknown objects (ex: food or fabrics), locomotion in rough terrains, and physical interaction with humans in collaborative robotic applications. Furthermore, these new technologies will lead to more visionary research topics like self-repairing, growing, and self-replicating robots.

From this perspective, this presentation brought together the science, engineering and applications in household and industry of soft robotics as well as how Sri Lanka can take advantage of this trending technology.

The Mechanical Engineering Sectional Committee wishes to convey it's gratitude to all the parties who for their valuable contribution to make this event a great success.

Randika Amarasuriya
MESC Public Lecture Team Leader