Venture

“Venture” is a Chameleon inspired hybrid quadrupedal robot, designed to realize various dynamic capabilities to sustain in extreme conditions.

"Venture - DREAM, impossibilities and beyond" Hybrid robot Chameleon design focused on concurring unpredictable challenges in autonomous missions using integrated design of biological mimicking.

Since many years ago humans have ventured beyond their comfort zone to explore the unknown and lost many lives in hazardous environments. As a solution they invented mechanization and later robotics was enriched as a result of diversification. With advancements of technology, we have already experienced bipedal robot designs such as ASIMO (Honda), Atlas (Boston Dynamics)  HRP-2 (KAWADA Industries) which has designed and tested over many different conditions. Now as cutting edge technology, Oregon State University presents Cassie (Agility Robotics) with many human like features in the robot gait. In similar, various robotics groups all over the world has explore the possibilities beyond bipedalism but many designs were unable to showcase enough robustness in many extreme conditions. Recent Fukushima incident and DARPA challenge evident the requirement of thinking of a whole new dimension in robotics designing.

Instead of compromising the safety of human lives for these ventures, our solution is the “Chameleon Inspired Hybrid Quadrupedal Robot ” that has the ability to move on substrates smaller than the diameter of the soft robot’s body and many other unpredictable terrains. The adaptation in climbing and walking of aborals is unique, especially for chameleons. Chameleon is a type of lizard which is small with strong grasping abilities and possesses a prehensile tail and their toes are fused into two opposable units which gives them superior abilities for locomotion on complex terrains and grasping capability to hold its body against falling. “Venture” is designed as a robot chameleon (a scale up version) which is capable of mimicking the gait pattern of the Chameleon equipped with a hybrid leg design. These legs are combination of motorized limbs with a pneumatically controlled soft feet.

“Venture” is designed with the focus of using in explorations, rescue and surveillance missions.  This robot is capable of moving in different terrain situations with its biological mimicking features. 

Moreover, our design is not limited to situations mentioned above.  The chameleon inspired soft robot can be used for scientific research on terrains such as volcanic sites, archaeological mines, surface ice controlling on Arctic regions without risking the safety of human lives, since modern day robots are not capable of overcome many of these unpredictable conditions. 

A four legged robotic Chameleon was designed  to represent for quadrupedal animal by a designed kinematics attached to an elastomer based feet with five toes. Each leg is a hybrid element which contains a servo controlled kinematic link (5 DoF) with a pneumatic controlled soft feet at the end. Electro-mechanical part is responsible for clearance and moving forward while pneumatic part is used to grasp the surface. This prototype claims the novelty of presenting a hybrid robot with greater flexibility which helps to survive in complex terrains and locations such as tree branches while focusing on its main mission.

Integral technology of Venture consists soft robotics and biological mimicking. To enhance the flexibility, it is designed as discrete sub systems such for power generating, sensing, actuation and controlling separately. This technique is used to limit the mathematical complexities in designing process. Fist we assessed Chameleon movement and declassify the motions. A mathematical model was then developed for combination of leg movements sequences using soft robotics actuators. During fabrication, CAD modelling, MATLAB simulations, FEM simulations, 3D printing, Soft-lithographic techniques and electronic robot part fabrication was used as key technologies.

Currently we have developed the initial version of the prototype which we planned to use as the platform for the planned development. Within the next 12 months  period we are planning to add more dynamics and robust capabilities to the system by continues implementations. Also we are expecting to reach investors, funding organizations and research partnerships to accelerate the development process of the Venture.

1stY.  Venture 1.0– Test platform, will use to testing and validation

2ndY. Venture 1.1 – Improving dynamics and robust capabilities

3rdY. Venture 1.2 – Introducing full autonomous capabilities and remote navigation, miniaturization and optimizing the robot.

4thY. Venture 2.0 – Limited edition will be distributed as a controlled field experiment to different organization for field testing.

5thY. Venture 3.0 – Based on the feedback received from the version 2.0 a finalized product will be introduced to the market and distributed with requested customization of the customer.

We expect to share our portfolio on platforms such as this competition where we can engage with an audience who are interested in technological development that would benefit mankind. Furthermore, we hope to reach out to a wider scope of enthusiastic, once we have established this venture successively through media campaigns. We have plans to offer more personalized and customized designs, adapting to the needs of our beneficiaries through market segmentation. By bench marking with leading research and development units over the world, we expect to align our KPIs, for win-win situations. 

For the moment we are working on the development of first versions, upon the successful completion of later stages we will be able to introduce this system to the open market which then will serve many people around the world.

After reaching to Venture 2.0 (in the 4th year - 2.5 years from now) we will be distributing these robots to several organizations for field tests in their day to day activities and then this robot will serve the people associated with them. Firstly we will target on potential customers in Mining, Nuclear and Wildlife photography based industries and potential applications in rescue missions. Later we will asses and upgrade Venture designs for space explorations, low gravity maintenance tasks and many other complex requirements.

Our team comprises of a group of people committed towards achieving a common research goal, complete with investigators, technical assistants, and postgraduate/undergraduate research students, with different disciplinary backgrounds, motivations and aspirations, with the perfect balance between skills and expertise. We have published and been awarded in many national and international forums for the carrying out research in the field of robotics. Mainly we have been received 1st Runners up in the Soft-robotics toolkit design competition organized by Harvard University and REFERENCA award in the Academic Economic Congress held in Slovenia.    

We expect  to have agreements relying on relatively intimate and long-term relationships with customers as our product is innovative and is still in it’s progressive stage and the goal of our  marketing strategy is to drive a deep understanding of the potential applications of our innovation among key industry insiders. While achieving that goal through many forums,  for long term sustainability, we hope to create visibility for the technology through a collaborative industry and establish a presence in academic and industry journals.

With the successful completion of Venture 4.0 and 5.0 we will introduce our product to various industrial applications starting from mining and nuclear based industries. We expect to use the profit generated by selling the product with required services and consultancy to drive the enterprise and later to develop more customize products to industries such as space explorations and space maintenance works.      

Ergonomics have become a highlight in modern day manufacturing and R&D units, therefore achieving excellence without compromising neither productivity nor safety has become a major trend. Since our innovation has the capability to meet those demands, with are in a position to seek long term sustainability while fulfilling the customer satisfaction to the fullest.

Solve is the challenge host by MIT one of the prestigious technological institution in the world. Previous Solve competitions shows the support given to the participants to overcome their hurdles and to be success. So we believe, this forum would enlighten the possibilities of revealing new opportunities for "Venture"  to go beyond its present limitations and accelerate the development process with bright insights.

The key barriers we currently faces are access for the modern technologies, fabrication facilities and better funding. We are currently utilizing our maximum available resources in our full capacity and we believe it is integral to have the accessibility for quality resources and funding for a better and fast breakthrough.