Robots immediately bring up connotations of hard metal, whirling motors
and precise movements. The rapidly developing field of ‘soft robotics’
is bending that notion by combining pneumatics, 3D printing, silicone
rubber and the locomotion of jellyfish and octopi. Air or liquid is
forced into specially designed rubber forms, following particular
channels to bend the piece or make it rigid in a controllable manner.
Who said you had to use metal to make a robot!
It’s a new field and researchers are exploring new possibilities. The
video below is of a simple 6-point gripper picking up an egg. On the
up-facing side, air fills small cavities in each point whilst air is
evacuated on the other side, creating enough force to grip the uncooked
egg, lift it and gently return it again.
One exciting possibility is using conductive fluids like salt-water or
lesser known compounds like Galinstan, a room-temperature liquid metal
alloy made of Tin, Indium and Gallium. Soft robots that carry signals
for sensors, or pick up signals themselves as antennas or conduct power
are a very real possibility. Strain, stress, compression or force could
be measure by such ‘stretchable circuits’. Soft robotic hands could be
given to those disabled people. If strong enough, it could be used to
augment hand strength, although the materials themselves limit that
application at the present moment.
The key use at the moment is fitting through small holes, going
underneath objects or choosing the right colour to blend in with the
surroundings. That is the aim of recent DARPA funding for the Whitesides Research Group at
Harvard University. The future will likely be a combination of hard
robotics and soft robotics, buttressing each other’s inherent advantages
and become more versatile.
Soft robots are easy to make – usually a CAD design, a 3D printer and
silicone or rubber is all that is needed. If you have 15 minutes, I
recommend watching this rapid-fire lecture by industrial designer and
maker Matthew Borgatti. He describes
in great detail what you need to do to create your own soft robot and
waxes lyrically on Open Engineering and 3D Printing.
Source : Grab Cad Blog news ( 1st Feb 2013 )
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