8. SOFT ROBOTICS¶
REFERENCES & INSPIRATION¶
Going into this week I had a vague understanding of what soft robotics were or could be, but i was blown away by the advancements of this field.
I knew of inflatables and that idea of soft robots aka the robot from big hero 6 - Baymax but never thought of all of the possibilities, like using heat or temperature to actuate these robots.
Credits: AISHWARYA PANTULA / JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
TOOLS¶
- Vinyl Sheets
- Parchment paper
- 3d Printer
- Silicone: Ecoflex / Dragon Skin
- Adafruit Flora
- Soft circut / mosfet
- Laser Cutter
PROCESS AND WORKFLOW¶
For this week, I made 3 prototypes:
- A vinyl graffiti inflatable
- A silicone logo inflatable
- A siliconne graffiti inflatable
We also were able to build a circut and use our adafruit flora with a mosfet to control the inflatables with an electronic pump
VINYL¶
Arguably the easiest method to make a soft robot.
- Cut your shape that you want to inflate out of parchment paper
- Sandwhich between two pieces of heat transfer vinyl
- Use a heat press or iron to join/melt the pieces together
SILICONE MOULD #1¶
I created this mould in Rhino and then 3d printed it using the Bambu A1
To make a silicone mould: - mix equal parts A & B - added charcoal for color - pour into mould - pour onto flat surface to create the top - let cure, and then with more silicone, glue both pieces together
SILICONE MOULD #2¶
For my second silicone mould I used the Rayjet 400 laser cutter to cut a mould out of an acrylic sheet.