Astract-Recent advances in foundation models are significantly expanding the capabilities of AI models. As part of this progress, this paper introduces a robot design framework that uses a diffusion model approach for generating 3D mesh structures. Specifically, we focus on generating directly fabri-cable robot structures that require no post-processing guided by human-imposed design constraints. Our approach can find the optimal design of the robot by optimizing or composing embedding vectors of the model. The efficacy of the framework is validated through an application to design, fabricate, and evaluate a jumping robot. Our solution is an optimized jumping robot with a 41% increase in jump height compared to the state-of-the-art design. Additionally, when the robot is augmented with an optimized foot, it can land reliably with a success ratio of 88% in contrast to the 4% success ratio of the base robot.

The natural flexibility of soft robotic grippers allows for versatile and compliant grasping. However, this same flexibility can restrict the gripper’s strength. Striking a balance between compliance and strength is essential for effective soft grippers. In this work, we present Flexible Robust Observant Gripper (FROG), a soft gripper that is both compliant and strong. We describe the mechanical design of the gripper, characterize the soft flexures used in the design, and analyze the grasp forces generated by the gripper. Utilizing the structure of the gripper, we develop feedforward grasp controllers and a classifier to distinguish between grasp types. Grasping experiments show that FROG can effectively grasp a variety of objects, including very soft or delicate items. Holding force tests show that our gripper can conform to the grasped object and exert large grasp forces.

Nature evolves creatures with a high complexity of morphological and behavioral intelligence, meanwhile computational methods lag in approaching that diversity and efficacy. Co-optimization of artificial creatures' morphology and control in silico shows promise for applications in physical soft robotics and virtual character creation; such approaches, however, require developing new learning algorithms that can reason about function atop pure structure. In this paper, we present DiffuseBot, a physics-augmented diffusion model that generates soft robot morphologies capable of excelling in a wide spectrum of tasks. \name bridges the gap between virtually generated content and physical utility by (i) augmenting the diffusion process with a physical dynamical simulation which provides a certificate of performance, and (ii) introducing a co-design procedure that jointly optimizes physical design and control by leveraging information about physical sensitivities from differentiable simulation. We showcase a range of simulated and fabricated robots along with their capabilities. Check our website: https://diffusebot.github.io/

We introduce a method to design manufacturing shapes of ship plate parts that considers weld-induced deformation. The design shape of a bracket is counter-deformed by a pure geometric method. Deformation quantities are estimated based on data captured in the field, and a manufacturing design shape is obtained by counter-deforming an original design shape by the proposed geometric deformation method.

Web services for CAD (WSC) aims at interoperation with a commercial CAD system based on Web services. This paper introduces one improvement of WSC which enables remote users to retrieve assembly model data using Web services. Much time is required in retrieving assembly model data. To resolve this problem, this paper proposes to use the parallel Web services. As assembly model comprises a set of part models, it is easy to subdivide the problem into smaller sub-problems. In addition, Web services inherently support distributed computing. This characteristic makes the parallel processing of Web services possible. The data model, interface and implementation are shown. Results of experiments on the retrieval performance of assembly model data are also shown.