8. Soft robotics¶
Research¶
1- Julia Fox sports inflatable slides at Milan Fashion Week
2- Sam Smith at the 2023 Brit Awards
3- Louis Vuitton Mens Inflatable Puffa Spring '21
4- Craig Green FW '22 London Fashion Week
These examples are fashionable representations of inflatable designs, however the focus this week is more functional and process oriented.
Pneumatic wrist brace¶
image from alumni Adriana Cabrera.
I used vynil and baking paper with a hot press. None of them worked. They failed as the TPU layer was too stretched, so it ripped & the baking paper was exposed. Extra TPU to cover the gaps did not work.
I mixed cutting baking paper with laserprinting for more precision by using this file[^1]
Soft grip¶
Kirigami inspired test :
For this you will need paper and a cutter. I followed the video to cut accordingly.
Pneumatic circuit¶
Inflating air digitally would look like this :
+V (Battery +)
|
|
(+)
[ DC AIR PUMP ]
(-)
|
|--------|<|--------+
| Flyback |
| Diode |
| |
+---- Drain Source ---- GND (Battery -)
| |
[ MOSFET ] |
|
Gate
|
[ Push Button ]
|
+V
|
[10kΩ]
|
GND
This diagram was obtained thanks to Chat GPT.
Experimenting with materials¶
Photo credits to Annabel Fournier.
We tried to make silicone moulds unfortunately the air went through the sides because the glue did not stick parts of the mould together strongly enough.
Recipe 2/3 water + 1/3 silicone Let it dry for 24h