Eunice Esomonu - Week 11: Soft Robotics

Eunice Esomonu - Fabricademy 2018-2019

Soft Robotics

For week 11, we explored soft robotics.Soft Robotics is the specific subfield of robotics dealing with constructing robotics from highly compliant materials, similar to those found in living organisms. Soft Robotics draws heavily from the way in which living organisms moving and adapting to their surroundings.

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Finish mold of the Soft Robotics

Research

Doing research on this assignment, I looked at examples of soft roboticis and how they were made. I also want to explore the way that soft robotics moved and trying to find ways to create shapes that moved in interesting ways.

Materials

  • Trotec Laser Cutter
  • Acrylic
  • Adobe Illustrator
  • Eco-Flex Silicone Rubber 00-50
  • Pump/Syringe
  • (Optional) Automatic Pump with Arduino

Procedures

Creating the Mold

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Acrylic Mold for Soft Robotics

I used the Trotec Laser Cutter to create a mold of my soft robotics

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Acrylic Pieces
  1. I gathered all my materials.
  2. Create the design with Adobe Illustrator.
    3. mold
    Mold 1 created in Adobe Illustrator
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    Mold 2 created in Adobe Illustrator
  3. Used the Trotec Laser Cutter to make the layers for the mold.
  4. After Laser Cutting the mold, glue the acrylic pieces with acrylic glue.
  5. Let it dry.

Soft Robotics

With the Eco-Flex Silicone Rubber, I created the soft robotics and made it moveable with an airpump.

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Eco-Flex Silicone Rubber
Create Silicone Robotics
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Silicone Rubber in the Mold
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The Finish Product
  1. Gather your materials materials.
  2. Mix the two parts of the Eco-Flex Silicone Rubber.
  3. While Mixing the Silicone Rubber, make sure there is no air bubbles.
  4. Pour the mixture into acrylic mold.
  5. Pour the rest of silicone rubber on a flat surface. (I cut an acrylic slab.)
  6. When both pieces dry, connect the two with th Silicone Rubber.
  7. Puncture a whole, and use an airpump to move the Soft Robotic you created. (It can be automated with an arduino)
  8. See how the Soft Robotic moves and functions.

Testing

I tested it with a blow pump and an automatic pump which was created with an Arduino..

Results

The Results is that the Soft Robotics was successful. I was able to see it move with both the blow pump and the automatic pump. However, with the automatic pump, the results were more noticeable and easier to show. The Soft Robotics was able to move and function dependent on the air.