Kari Love

The dirty, open secret of soft robotics is that no one has monetized it yet. Precisely because the full potential of emerging field of soft systems, particularly soft actuators, is unrealized, there are countless opportunities for curious innovators to discover or develop novel soft systems. This course teaches hands-on fabrication techniques for constructing simple pneumatic actuators from cast silicone and heat-sealed mylar, and challenges participants to design and build their own. Lectures and discussion center on concepts from soft innovation history, the current state-of-the-art, and sister disciplines of bio-inspired and hybrid (soft/hard) robotics. Consideration of both brand new soft materials, from a class visit to Material ConneXion, and everyday overlooked soft mechanisms, found in average retail stores, will require participants to look at softness through a new lens. Final projects will be the development of an original soft/flexible/hybrid research concept presented with context, material swatches with justifications for choices, and physical or modeled proof-of-concept.

This course will discuss ideas from simulations and control systems, but will not be hands-on in these topics.