How to Control a Soft Robot

Kari Love joined us to talk about soft robotics, robots in religion, and squishiness.

Kari co-authored Soft Robotics: A DIY Introduction to Squishy, Stretchy, and Flexible Robots. Her website is karimakes.com. She was previously on Embedded 189: The Squishiness Factor

One of the pneumatic drives that we mentioned was a Hackaday Prize Winner: FlowIO. Another was the Soft Robotics Toolkit. However, Kari recommended Amitabh Shrivastava’s Programmable Air (Crowd Supply page for Programmable Air).

Some search terms for getting started with soft robotics: “DIY Jamming gripper”,  “Positive pressure gripper”, and “bendy straw robot joints”. (That last one leads you to the delightful video Make a Robotic Hand with Straws.)

Polysense conductive dye for making sensors out of found objects. (On Hackaday.)

Simulation of Soft Bodies in Real World Applications (for squish and stretch) include SOFA, Abaqus, and DiffPD.

Transcript

An incomplete list of power systems people have used for generating soft robotic motion:

• Pneumatic - air and vacuum

• Hydraulic - using liquid

• Electrical - using currents

• Thermal - using temperatures

• Cable control - using motor control

• Magnetic - using magnets

• Chemical - using reactions

• Photonic - using light

• Biological - using living cells

• Hybrid systems - multiple sources in tandem

   

An incomplete list of things people have used to make soft robots:

• Fabric

• Silicone or other rubbers

• Flexible plastic

• Plastic films

• Metallic films

• Paper

• Carbon fiber

• Silly Putty

• Shape-changing alloys

• Electroactive polymers

• Liquid metals

• Gelatin or Gluten

• Cell tissue