A couple months back, I saw the videos of Matthew Borgatti’s soft robots on the Adafruit website and was really captivated by them. They inspired me to think about building a soft robot using pneumatic pressure for motion for my final project. Plus, I was really thrilled when I found out that our guest critic last week was Matt (thank you Becky)!
CONCEPT 1- RESCUE ROBOT WORM
I looked at the locomotion of worms as one idea. Worms move by stretching out one end of their body while the contracted end holds onto the earth with little setae feet. They keep alternating this front-back stretching to propel forward. This soft robot worm that could be perhaps used for emergency situations to rescue victims that are buried in rubble, snow, mud, etc.
CONCEPT 2 – ELEPHANT TRUNK INTERACTIVE TOY
CONCEPT 3- MEDUSA TENTACLES INTERACTIVE DEVICE
CONCEPT 4- PNEUMATIC THERAPY DEVICES
One version would be a seat or bed lined with silicone bubble surface. Air pressure would push out the bubbles in a rhythmic pattern. I could see this helping patients that needed acupressure or massage therapy. Or for patients that are bed-ridden and need a moving surface to prevent bed sores. A more practical size might be a glove for the hand.
