Collaborate Disseminate
Building a future where robots work alongside humans relies heavily on soft robotics. Typically this means there will be an air compressor or a hydraulic system nearby, taking up precious space. But it doesn’t have to.
Engineers at the UC-San Diego Jacobs School have created a soft robotics system that …read more
Continue reading Electricity Makes Soft Robotics More Like Us Meatbags
It is an old movie trope: a robot grips something and accidentally crushes it with its super robot strength. A little feedback goes a long way, of course, but futuristic robots may also want to employ soft grippers. [Jessica] shows how to build soft grippers made of several cast fingers. …read more
Jumping probably isn’t an ability that most people would associate with tiny creepy crawlies like maggots, but some, such as the larva of the goldenrod gall midge, can actually leap distances far greater than their microscopic bodies might su… Continue reading High-speed cameras show maggots forming "transient legs" to leap into the air
We’ve seen robots that can respond to touch, to visual cues and of course voice commands, but what about a robot with a sense of taste? Scientists have developed an experimental device built to explore this possibility, and in its current for… Continue reading Robotic arm taste tests its own bathwater for dangerous chemicals
Soft robotics is an exciting field. Mastering the pneumatic control of pliable materials has enormous potential, from the handling of delicate objects to creating movement with no moving parts. However, pneumatics has long been overlooked by the hacker community as a mode of actuation. There are thousands of tutorials, tools …read more
Continue reading Bringing Pneumatics To The Masses With Open Source Soft Robotics
Although we’ve been seeing a lot of robots that are designed to deliver packages to peoples’ homes, most of those bots are stymied by houses’ front steps. Tokyo-based Amoeba Energy is developing a solution, in the form of a tracked robot that… Continue reading Soft-bodied robot could soon be climbing up to your door
Carl Sagan one said “If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.” It might not be a very accurate description of the relative difficulty level of baking, but the logic is sound enough: there’s often a lot of ground work that needs …read more
Continue reading Custom Inflatables Are Only A Laser Beam Away
When we think of pneumatic actuators, we typically consider the standard varieties of pneumatic cylinder, capable of linear motion. These can be referred to as “hard” actuators, made of rigid components and capable of great accuracy and force delivery. However, “soft” actuators have their own complementary abilities – such as being able to handle more delicate tasks and being less likely to injure human operators when used in collaborative operations. The Whitesides Research Group at Harvard University has undertaken significant research in this field, and released a paper covering a novel type of soft pneumatic actuator.
The actuator consists of …read more
The field of soft robotics sure seems a lot less mature than your standard servo motor and metal framed robot arms. Maybe that’s because building a robot to flex is harder, and maybe it’s because the best methods of constructing soft robotics have only been around for a decade or so. Maybe, though, it’s because it’s hard to control air.
For this week’s Hack Chat, we’re going to be discussing Air Hacking with [Amitabh Shrivastava]. [Amitabh] is a grad student at ITP, NYU studying creative technology, where he makes interactive art, tools for research, and experiments with various materials. Lately …read more
The field of soft robotics sure seems a lot less mature than your standard servo motor and metal framed robot arms. Maybe that’s because building a robot to flex is harder, and maybe it’s because the best methods of constructing soft robotics have only been around for a decade or so. Maybe, though, it’s because it’s hard to control air.
For this week’s Hack Chat, we’re going to be discussing Air Hacking with [Amitabh Shrivastava]. [Amitabh] is a grad student at ITP, NYU studying creative technology, where he makes interactive art, tools for research, and experiments with various materials. Lately …read more