Skip to content

8. SOFT ROBOTICS

REFERENCES & INSPIRATION

Diesel X Dennis Vanderbroeck

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.

3D MODELS & VIDEOS

RESULTS