Planning Grant: Engineering Research Center for Symbiotic Systems

This Planning Grant will support efforts to create a new NSF Engineering Research Center on Symbiotic Systems. Symbiotic Systems are machines and robotic systems that assist humans with daily tasks in a harmonious manner that does not create unnecessary physical impediments, constraints, or distractions. The purpose of these systems is to improve productivity, mobility, health, and quality of life through the aid of assistive robotics and wearable technologies.

An important scientific challenge in developing these technologies is to introduce new types of soft material motors, sensors, and electronics that mimic the properties of natural muscle, skin, and nervous tissue. Another challenge is to introduce integrated material architectures, models, and data-driven algorithms that allow these robotic systems to provide active support and motor assistance only when intended by the human user.

Beyond its potential impact on human well-being, the intelligent symbiotic systems developed by this center also represent opportunities for interdisciplinary scientific education and workforce training as well as broadened inclusion. Such opportunities leverage the rich diversity of stakeholders, societal endeavors, and technical disciplines that relate to human-centered wearable technologies.

The proposed ERC will establish a scientific and technological framework for creating assistive robotic technologies that will be personalized, dynamically responsive and reconfigurable, and compatible with daily human activity outside of a laboratory or clinical setting. Such systems will be “symbiotic,” engaging in intimate physical interaction with the body and assisting in rehabilitation, neuromuscular function, disease screening and diagnostics, and therapy without impairing natural bodily function.

This will be achieved through the use of soft material architectures that allow for selective mechanical impedance and actuation along with shape reconfigurability and reversible stiffness tuning. Achieving these goals requires the convergence of several disciplines, including materials science and engineering, robotics, medicine, biomechanics, mechanical engineering, human-computer interaction, electrical and computer engineering, human psychology, and artificial intelligence.

During the planning phase of this effort, we will pursue the following objectives: (i) Identify and engage with stakeholders in research, healthcare, industry, and society to refine the ERC vision; (ii) Establish partnerships to create a diverse, interdisciplinary team of experts to tackle the various facets of scientific challenges and discovery, technology translation, and societal impact; and (iii) Create a framework for workforce training, entrepreneurial activity, and educational outreach to ensure comprehensive and sustainable impact.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.