Kick-off 4TU Soft Robotics
Today, we presented the plans of the Soft Robotics programme – in which the Delft Haptics Lab participates – to about 150 representatives from academia, industry and government. This was done in the kick-off meeting to the 4TU funding initiative “High-tech for a sustainable future”, held in The Hague. This initiative provided funding for tens of tenure track positions and postdocs, to enable high-tech solutions for societal challenges such as health, safety, and food. For more info, see also the article by Delta, or the UToday.nl article.
Five research programs were funded by the 4TU federation in this context, and we are proud our Soft Robotics programme is one of them. The Soft Robotics research program lasts for 4 years, unites the efforts of the four technical universities in the Netherlands, and is led by colleague Herman van der Kooij.
About the programme The best way to illustrate the aims and approach of the Soft Robotics programme is through this great animation.
About the team The Delft Haptics Lab participates in the Soft Robotics programme through the efforts of professor David Abbink and two new funded positions: a tenure-track assistant professor (for which we were able to recently hire Michaël Wiertlewski) and a postdoc to be hired beginning of 2020. They will work on haptics for soft robots, and human control over flexible arms. At 3mE, we closely collaborate with Herman, and our colleagues from the BITE group: prof Paul Breedveld and the funded tenure track position on which Aimee Sakes was hired. Outside of Delft, we collaborate with colleagues in Wageningen, Twente and Eindhoven.
