FABRICADEMY WEEK11 ASSIGNMENT
-Document the concept, sketches, references also to artistic and scientific publications
-Make a soft robotic sample, develop the pattern for the Inflatable and draw a sketch of the air flow
-Build a pneumatic wrist brace (basic level) or thermovinyl sample
-Build a Soft Gripper (intermediate level) or
-Build and document a Pneumatic, digitally controlled system , electronics schematic, electronic control and code (advanced level)
-Experiment with different materials, such as silicones, 3d printing, parchment paper, thermoadesive vynil, bioplastic , document your achievements and unexpected outcomes
-Upload a small video of your inflatable working
EXTRA POINT Integrate it into a project
I am trying to avoid the classical SoftRobotic Gripper for something more complex. I want to use the 3D file of a Clitoris you can find anywhere on the web now and design a mold to make an inflatable version of it. The file is HighRes so the mesh has 10th of thousands of triangles which complexifies the options to work with it. Even after reducing the amount of triangles down to 2000, it makes FUSION 360 freeze when I try to select it entirely to pull the whole surface to create an offset for the counter shape of the mold. This is very very frustrating and represents a lot of time lost waiting for FUSION to - eventually - proceed and comeback to life.
In 2017, to wrap my head around designing my own inflatable design, I started to draw a segment of an octopus arm. The software I used at the time is now deprecated and offered a lot less options to design something complex. It would always freeze.
Octopus-Like Soft Robot Tests
Octopus-Like Soft Robot Tests
Octopus-Like Soft Robot Tests
Octopus-Like Soft Robot Tests
2 | Struggling on modifying a HiRes file of clitoris |¶
Like I said, everytime I use FUSION 360 to import complex vectors or very HighRes .STL files, is ceases to work properly. So I opened it in Meshmixer to turn it into a solid for sure.
HiRes .stl in MeshMixer
HiRes .stl in MeshMixer
HiRes .stl in MeshMixer
Then I turned it into a BRep. The body had 47592 faces.
HiRes .stl in FUSION 360
HiRes .stl in FUSION 360
HiRes .stl in FUSION 360
Then I changed the scale because - by default - FUSION imports objects in inches.
HiRes .stl in FUSION 360
HiRes .stl in FUSION 360
HiRes .stl in FUSION 360
HiRes .stl in FUSION 360
HiRes .stl in FUSION 360
I was never able to cut the BRep in 2 parts to substract them from the bodies around it. FUSION kept failing me over and over again. I had to give up on this.
I had a side-plan for the Parametric Design Week. I might have to resurrect it.
3 | Soft Inflatable Pattern from 3D-printed Mold on Copper-Fabric |¶
On week7, I have 3D-printed a thin mold on copper fabric. I want to pour 2 silicon layers with a PET pattern in between to inject air and get a piece of fabric that has an inflatable pattern on it. The mold was printed in PVA and is therefore soluble in water. I higly doubt the silicon will stay on the copper-fabric for ever but I want to try it.
First, I laser-cut a skull-pattern I will later use to isolate the part in the thickness of the silicon I want to inflate.
Laser-cut Pattern
Laser-cut Pattern
Laser-cut Pattern
I designed and 3D printed a very thin border - nozzle diameter = .25mm - to pour the silicon inside. It press-fits with the PVA-cylinders I had 3D-printed on the copper fabric.
I have bought good vacuum pumps for the Fabricademy. There are pretty big. They can pump air so they can send air. I didn’t need to use it to inflate my logo. Here is how I connected it directly on a power-supply to make send air in a softrobot system in 2017.
