A new online resource developed by researchers from Harvard University labs in collaboration with Trinity College Dublin has been set up to provide researchers with the intellectual raw materials needed to design, build, and operate robots made from soft, flexible materials.
The Soft Robotics Toolkit is repository of downloadable, open source plans, how to videos, and case studies to assist users in the design, fabrication, modeling, characterisation, and control of soft robotic devices. It will provide researchers with a level of detail not typically found in academic research papers, including 3D models, bills of materials, raw experimental data, multimedia tutorials, and case studies of various soft robot designs.
Using principles drawn from conventional rigid robot design, but working with pliable materials, engineers are pioneering the use of soft robotics for assisting in a wide variety of tasks such as physical therapy, minimally invasive surgery, and search and rescue operations in dangerous environments.
By creating a common resource for sharing design approaches, prototyping and fabrication techniques, and technical knowledge, the toolkit’s developers hope to stimulate the creation of new kinds of soft devices, tools, and methods.
Donal Holland, a lecturer in Engineering Design at SEAS and one of the lead developers of the toolkit, said: “One thing we’ve seen in design courses is that students greatly benefit from access to more experienced peers – say, postdocs [post-doctoral researchers] in a research lab – who can guide them through their work, but scaling that up is difficult; you quickly run out of time and people. The toolkit is designed to capture the expertise and make it easily accessible to students.”
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