11. SOFT ROBOTICS#

Pictures from Cultura Conectada

As I have got deeper and deeper into sexuality for the final project I started discovering a lot of interesting information. In my research I found out that the clitoris is an erectile structure, homolog to the male penis, formed by two corpora cavernosa and the glans, covered by the prepuce. Through excitation, clitoris swells by the accumulation of blood, exposing the 7 thousand nerves endings in the clitoris and making the pleasure much more intense. Most of woman can get an orgasm by the clitoris stimulation.

Click here if you want to learn more about clitoris

I found this so important and interesting that decided to take it as inspiration for this week´s project, as the basic function of the soft robotics depends on a fluid that goes through a cavernous structure changing its shape.

“Soft fluidic actuators consisting of elastomeric matrices with embedded flexible materials (e.g. cloth, paper, fiber, particles) are of particular interest to the robotics community because they are lightweight, affordable and easily customized to a given application. These actuators can be rapidly fabricated in a multi-step molding process and can achieve combinations of contraction, extension, bending and twisting with simple control inputs such as pressurized fluid.”

Experimentation#

At the begining I wanted to do the folding technique to represent labia minora but with vinil is difficult to follow the vulva´s shape without breaking.

So I decided to make it more simple.

As I didn´t have baking paper I decided to use common paper, which was a mistake as the vinil pasted into the paper. If you are in the same situation, you can try adding to the comon paper glycerin or olive oil. I also used too much heat which made the vinil to shrink.

At the end I was able to get baking paper and set up the right temperature for the iron (set up for artificial clothes) and this was the result:

Tips:

Cut the corners of the protection film that comes with the vinil so it would be easier to remove after ironing. Protect the vinil with a piece of natural fabric while ironing to avoid plastic melting and pasting in the iron.

Here teh fun result: