Soft Robotics

612 Soft Robotics

Chantilly Robotics Team 612 has started a multi year initiative to research the new field of soft robotics and implement it into future robot design. We have created this page to document our efforts and ensure that other FRC teams and engineers are able to understand this exciting new field of technology.

What is Soft Robotics?

Soft robotics is a type of robotics wherein the actuators are pliable, such as a polymer or cloth. This can be used to create robot parts that are adaptable to a myriad of situations and stipulations. For instance, we designed a soft robotics system for FIRST: Destination Deep Space to grip hatch panels by inflating a ring to fill a hole inside of it. The pliability of the ring allows for the robot to adapt to more situations wherein the ring could grab the hatch.

Our Motivation

We decided to research soft robotics after the kickoff of the 2019 FRC season. One of our mentors brought forth the idea after hearing of the abilities of soft-robotic fingers to pick up objects. A team was assembled to research and create soft-robotic systems in order to use them in FIRST: Destination Deep Space. In our studies, we realized that soft robotics have far more potential than the competition, and that it was a field in relative infancy. As a result, we decided to make the research of this system into an ongoing project.
Materials Materials are one design parameter for developing Soft Robotics. The material used to make the bladder is just one factor. Other materials provide movement control and reinforcement for the Soft Robotics grippers and actuators. There are other materials required to support the construction of Soft Robotics articles.
Design Inflating a flexible bladder with air is the basic concept of Soft Robotics. The key design parameters are: 1. the materials used, 2. the shape of the bladder, 3. the size and shape of the air cavity in the bladder, and 4. the volume and pressure of the air inflating the bladder. We continue to develop different designs for different purposes.
Research Our initial research started with YouTube videos by a company called Soft Robotics. Digging deeper, we found a treasure of videos created by high school and college students demonstrating their work in Soft Robotics.
Methods Just as Design and Materials are important, the Methods used to make the Soft Robotics articles are important. The difference between success and failure of two different copies of the same design depends on consistent replication of methods of construction.
Application Soft Robotics opens new applications for machines and automation to replicate the physical actions of humans, and perhaps perform actions that humans and machines cannot perform. While science and technology research can be fun, the results need to address practical applications to create purpose.