[robocup-worldwide] [journals] CFP: Special Issue: "Soft Perceptive Robots" - an open access, journal publishes its 7th volume by MDPI

[Karina Gao]

Dear Colleagues,

In the past few years, soft robotics has been rising up rapidly as an
emerging research topic with some remarkable achievements, which are
opening new possibilities for a safe robot-enabled society. Unlike their
rigid counterparts, soft robots can actively and passively change their
shape for safe, robust and effective interactions by simple control
methods. Obtaining autonomy and going beyond open-loop control requires
the integration of multi-modal sensors into these soft-bodied systems.
In particular, mechanical sensing (pressure, strain, etc.) plays a vital
role. To perform their tasks as smoothly as biological systems, soft
robots need tactile sensibility to gather external cues while dealing
with exploratory movements, and the grasping and manipulation of unknown
objects. At the same time, body movements in space must be known in
order to provide spatial context to exploration and to underlie control
policies. More physical sensing modalities (temperature, light, etc.),
as well as chemical sensing capabilities could help soft robots to merge
in the real-world in the near future. All this is highly challenging and
requires a strong interplay among the actuation mechanics of soft
bodies, the sensing morphology and functionality, and the soft robotic
interaction with the environment. To meet these challenges, novel
deformable materials, novel composites and structures, fabrication
techniques, and transducer mechanisms are explored. In particular for
tactile sensors, a variety of soft material and transducer mechanisms
(resistive, piezoresistive, capacitive, optical, magnetic, etc.) are
available, but there is still a gap to effectively utilize them in soft
robots for real-world applications. New flexible/deformable strategies,
from 2D to 3D, have to be exploited to pursue a symbiotic integration of
sensing and body, aiming for soft robots with more sensing
functionalities with low computational cost.

This Special Issue solicits papers that cover recent developments,
demonstrations, and applications for soft sensorized robots and the
enabling sensing materials and technologies. Topics of interest include
(but are not limited to):

-Soft sensorized robots
-Proprioception and/or exteroception of soft robots
-Soft tactile sensing
-Soft physical and chemical sensors
-Modeling of sensorized soft robots
-System integration of soft sensors and actuators
-Soft smart materials coupling sensing and actuation
-Biomimetic soft sensing
-Multimodal soft sensors
-Sensing data interpretation
-Flexible and stretchable electronics
-2D and 3D fabrication technologies of soft sensors

Dr. Lucia Beccai
Dr. Kathryn Daltorio
Dr. Barbara Mazzolai
Dr. Hongbo Wang
Guest Editors

For further reading, please follow the link to the Special Issue Website
at: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/robotics/special_issues/SPR

The submission deadline is 30 June 2019. You may send your manuscript
now or up until the deadline. Submitted papers should not be under
consideration for publication elsewhere. We also encourage authors to
send a short abstract or tentative title to the Editorial Office in
advance (karina.gao at mdpi.com).

 From Volume 6, all published papers will be added in Scopus. The journal
is also indexed in Web of Science (Thomson Reuters), as part of the ESCI
database.

Robotics is fully open access. Open access (unlimited and free access by
readers) increases publicity and promotes more frequent citations, as
indicated by several studies. Open access is supported by the authors
and their institutes. An Article Processing Charge (APC) of CHF 350
currently applies to all accepted papers. You may be entitled to a
discount if you have previously received a discount code or if your
institute is participating in the MDPI Institutional Open Access Program
(IOAP), for more information see: http://www.mdpi.com/about/ioap.

For further details on the submission process, please see the
instructions for authors at the journal website
(http://www.mdpi.com/journal/robotics/instructions).

We look forward to hearing from you.

Best regards,
Karina Gao
Assistant Editor

--
Robotics Editorial Office
MDPI
Klybeckstrasse 64
CH-4057 Basel, Switzerland
E-mail: robotics at mdpi.com
http://www.mdpi.com/journal/robotics/