Domesticating Soft Robotics Research and Development with Accessible Biomaterials

Abstract

Current robotics design and engineering trends typically focus on high-value applications where high performance, precision, and robustness precede cost, accessibility, and environmental impact. In this paradigm, the capability landscape of robotics is largely shaped by access to capital and the promise of economic return. This thesis explores an alternative paradigm in which the broader utility of robots is achieved via expanding the design space available for building robots using low-cost, accessible, and environmentally sustainable materials. Specifically, I focus special attention on soft robotic systems in which robot capabilities are achieved using rubbers, gels, and other compliant materials. This approach aims to lower the cost-of-entry to creating robots such that the technology is accessible to those outside highly resourced academic and corporate organizations. In particular, I explore how creating robots with soft and biologically-derived materials achieves these aims.

In the first part of the thesis, I apply well-established sensing and control methods to soft robotic platforms constructed from silicone rubber and other commonly used synthetic soft materials. We adapt these methods to account for the robots’ soft material morphologies, sensors, and actuators and characterize the resulting challenges to performance and long-term use.

In the second part, I design and implement a modular robotics research platform that enables data collection across multiple soft material systems. In particular, I demonstrate the ability to collect longer-term data to address the challenges of using soft materials beyond short-term experimentation.

In the third part of the thesis, I examine the mechanics and functional capabilities of a class of gelatin-based biomaterials with potential applications in robotics. The purpose of this is to explore the reduction of costs and barriers associated with creating robots via biomaterial composites with the potential to function as various components of an embodied robotic system. Specifically, I formulate composites composed of readily available food-grade materials, agricultural waste, and overabundant by-products, which display physical properties that can be tuned via composition and processing.

Finally, I use this class of biomaterials to create a conductive gelatin-based composite with high electrical conductivity and robust mechanical properties. I fabricate this composite with ingredients and tools that are accessible to a broad population and demonstrate its application in soft and wearable electronics.