Designing a soft robot that can
bend like a finger or knee may seem simple but the motion is actually
incredibly complex. The design is so complicated because one actuator type is
not enough to produce complex motions. The method developed by the team uses
mathematical modeling of fluid-powered, fiber-reinforced actuators to optimize
the design of an actuator to perform a certain motion.
The team used this model to
design a soft robot that bends like an index finger and twists like a thumb
when powered by a single pressure source. The new methodology will be included
in the Soft Robotic Toolkit, an online, open-source resource developed at SEAS
to assist researchers, educators and budding innovators to design, fabrication,
model, characterize and control their own soft robots.
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